Review of Red Dawn (1984) by Steve S — 09 Apr 2012

As a pure popcorn, suspend-all-critical-judgment kind of movie, Red Dawn excels. As a realistic study of guerrilla warfare, it's abysmal. First off, the Cuban Army of the day would not have been logistically capable of striking deep into US territory, nor would they have been able to cope with the harsh terrain and weather. Now, the Russian troops shown in the film would have been a different matter, but they seemed to be too few in number and too poorly equipped to matter.

Second, the paratroops depicted in the movie are specialist forces used to achieve strategic aims - they would not be tasked with seizing a school and a small town in the middle of nowhere that have absolutely no strategic value.

The teenagers-turned-insurgents would have lasted maybe a day and would have had some success harassing the Cuban troops. Maybe some of the kids were good shots, but they had no meaningful knowledge of military tactics and lacked discipline. And the idea that a downed US fighter pilot would have been able to teach the kids even basic infantry tactics is shamefully laughable. In fairness, though, some of the guerrilla tactics shown were fairly realistic and plausible.

Also realistically portrayed was the extreme difficulty the kids-turned-guerrillas had surviving in the woods with no reliable source of supplies or food. Their inability to replenish their rations and ammunition would have quickly forced them to surrender. At best it would have made them spend an inordinate amount of time foraging and hunting for food, which would have increased their risk of being caught and reduced their combat effectiveness.

Notwithstanding the difficult terrain and weather, a company or two of well-trained paratroops would have easily found the meddlesome kids and put paid to them very quickly.

The acting in the movie is quite dated and stilted, even by Eighties standards, and the cheap special effects seem simply ridiculous in this day and age of CGI effects. But it is rather neat seeing Charlie Sheen and Lea Thompson in the early stages of their acting careers.

But don't let what I've said stop you from watching Red Dawn. As bad as it is, it has some merit in the sense that it's a classic piece of 80s Americana, and Cold War paranoia to boot, and effectively captures the mood of the time. In other words, look upon it as a roughly-hewn period piece that has lots of imperfections.