Red Dawn Trivia

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey made this film immediately before starting work on "Dirty Dancing".

"Red Dawn" was Charlie Sheen's big screen debut.

Among the reviews for the film was one from National Public Radio (of all groups) which unexpectedly raved about it. The reviewer was a former World War II resistance fighter in Holland who was amazed at the portrayal's accuracy of how these groups came to be and what it was like inside them.

A remake for This gem is scheduled to hit theaters Sept. 24, 2010.

The "portrait" of Ghengis Khan in the classroom, shown briefly just before the invasion, is director John Milius. It is his way of making a Hitchcock-style cameo in the film.

Ronald Reagan's former Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, went on the record to state that Red Dawn "...is one of the most realistic and provocative films that I have ever seen..."

Someone I used to be acquainted with, who worked in the intelligence community, confided in me that scenarios such as "Red Dawn" were actually contemplated by upper-echelon personnel in both military and intelligence agencies. The basic premise of the movies is correct in that many resistance groups, from all parts of the world, during most of the wars of the 20th century, were comprised of average citizens (what the founding fathers intended), including children, and the parents that would rather see death than live in subjugation. This is why the rallying cry of many survivalists of the 80's (I used to be one) was "Live free, or die!"

Frank Yablans, head of MGM/UA Entertainment at the time, was said to remark about the many elements involved in the high budget, "You've got enough people and equipment down there to start World War Three"... Ironic, no?

For more stories behind "Red Dawn", and for that matter, pretty much everything MGM/UA made in the 80s, I recommend Peter Bart's book "Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days Of MGM".

In response to the outcries about the right-wing pro NRA message of the film, Milius replied that his film could also be perceived as a leftist film, citing that kids younger than his characters are doing the same things in the movie but in real life in places like Afghanistan; and perhaps by viewing Red Dawn Americans could get a better perspective about "rebel forces" around the world when foreign super powers such as the United States and USSR exert their influence upon smaller nations.

The capture of Saddam Hussein was under Operation "Red Dawn". The objectives were Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. Guess what movie THOSE troops had been watching.

Know some cool trivia for Red Dawn?
Use our simple iRewind system to add more trivia to this page in just a few clicks.

Click here to start...