10 Things to Know About 'Red Dawn' (1984)

10 Things to Know About Red Dawn

10 “Quiet on the Set”

Actor Darren Dalton played Darryl in Red Dawn and said of director John Milius

“John has these little fanatical qualities. The way he asked for quiet on the set was to shoot off a machine gun.”

As for Milius’ instructions to his young cast, Dalton stated “He put a gun in your hand and said go learn what you have to learn.”

9 One or Two Takes and that’s it

Jennifer Grey spoke about working with John Milius on Red Dawn, comparing him to Francis Ford Coppola with whom she’d worked on The Cotton Club.

“John is a very different director from, for instance, Francis, who’s entirely improvisational. John would set up a scene, there would be one or two takes, and that was it.”

8 War Games

Actor Brad Savage played Danny, the Preacher’s Kid, in Red Dawn and shared with reporters that the young cast was sent into the mountains with guns to play war as part of their preparation for Red Dawn. According to Savage, Miliius claimed that Red Dawn would become

“President Reagan’s favorite movie of the year.”

7 “No one wants to go to war, except John Milius”

In an August 1984 interview, actor C. Thomas Howell shared his experience on Red Dawn stating:

“I don’t want to go to war. I don’t think anyone does… except John Milius.” Thomas continued stating “He’s (Milius) the only guy in the world who thinks nuclear war is a good thing.”

6 “The Outsiders Go to War”

Charlie Sheen joined his Red Dawn cast members recalling working on Red Dawn for an August 1984 interview and apologized. Sheen stated that he’d previously called Red Dawn “The Outsiders go to War,” a reference to the Francis Ford Coppola movie in which C. Thomas Howell and Patrick Swayze had co-starred. He however continued, correcting himself to say “It’s more like Lord of the Flies in World War III.”

5 “It’s an Anti-War Movie”

Responding to critics during a press tour, Milius stated that, despite what many of his young stars claim, he doesn’t love war. He also said that he doesn’t see Red Dawn as a war movie. According to Milius…

“...Red Dawn is a cautionary tale. It’s really an Anti-War Movie.”

4 Milius Claims Credit for Uncommon Valor

While promoting Red Dawn, Milius was asked about his most recent success, the Vietnam P.O.W film, Uncommon Valor. As was his way, Milius used the opportunity to claim credit for himself for that film’s success. Speaking of Uncommon Valor director Ted Kotcheff, Miliius

“If Kotcheff did a good job, it’s because his hand was guided.”

3 “It’s Science Fiction, fantasy”

Director John Milius was quite earnest in his opinion of Red Dawn as a movie that portrayed a realistic scenario for a land invasion of America. His cast, on the other hand, weren’t fully convinced. Asked about the film’s controversial premise, Charlie Sheen laughed and unintentionally mocked Milius’ assertion of plausibility, stating:

“(It’s) science fiction fantasy, an epic adventure. It's totally fictitious, basically unbelievable.”

2 Nixon’s Former Chief of Staff

Alexander Haig served as Richard Nixon’s Chief of Staff after Watergate had already begun to sink Nixon’s Presidency. He then stayed in Washington through 1982 taking on various roles including becoming Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan. Ending his career in 1982, Haig chose, of all things, to go to Hollywood.

In Hollywood, Haig took a seat on the board of MGM and took a lead role in helping John Milius make Red Dawn. According to Haig, he not only consulted on the film as an MGM executive, he helped shape the story which both he and Milius saw as a plausible potential for a land invasion of America.

Haig however, stopped short of saying that if Milius had been killed or incapacitated, that he'd become the film's director. (That's a history joke for the 10 people who know why Alexander Haig was truly famous.)

2 A Satirical Scene at a McDonalds Was Filmed but Cut for a Tragic Reason

On July 18th, 1984, just less than a month before Red Dawn was to arrive in theaters, a man named James Huberty walked into a McDonald’s location in San Ysidro, California with an automatic weapon and took the lives of 22 people. Because of this horrific tragedy, MGM decided to remove a scene involving McDonald’s from Red Dawn.

The scene which had appeared in commercials and trailers for Red Dawn showed a Soviet tank going through the McDonald’s drive thru with the invading Russian soldiers shown ordering ‘Beeg Macs’ in their comical yet menacing Russian accented English.

1 John Milius versus Film Critics

John Milius had a long standing rivalry with film critics whom he claimed would hate his work no matter how good it was. According to Milius, “Everyone hates my movies, except the audience.”

On film critics Milius said in a September 1984 interview:

“The critic should be looking for higher elements, should be inspired with what they consider Art. What I disagree with the critics about is that they have an intellectual stance and if something doesn’t agree with this intellectual stance, which is largely phony, they attack it. They aren’t open-minded at all. They are responsible, in many ways, for the narrowing of cinema.”