Hello, all! For the second of our two Cold War films, we’ll be looking to the 80s to lead the way against the Soviet Union [it isn’t TOP GUN; apologies to anyone who feels the need… for speed]. More specifically, we’ll be looking to the kids in America [apologies to Kim Wilde] to save the day against Soviet paratroopers, Cuban soldiers, Spetznaz troops, and T-72 mockups so convincing that CIA officers started poking around the set to see what was happening. Indeed, it’s time to rely on the “Wolverines” to help the country survive in John Milius’s Cold War classic, RED DAWN.
[Did you notice the PG-13 rating? RED DAWN was the first film ever to receive that rating from the MPAA... an organization whose decisions are only slightly less arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise "mind-bottling" than the NCAA's decrees. :-/]
It’s unfortunate that the folks in Hollyweird felt the need to revisit the 80s RED DAWN with a remake that was very much a pale imitation of the original, neutering itself before even being released by caving to pressure to change the bad guys from being North Koreans rather than Chinese. Such is the state of geopolitics, I suppose, but maybe the TOP GUN sequel can recapture the 80s glory in a way the RED DAWN remake never came close to doing.
There is something absolutely awesome to a Cold War kid like me in seeing high school students lead a successful counterinsurgency against the full military might of the Soviet military machine. Much earlier in the Cold War, the folks in Mosinee, Wisconsin staged a mock Communist invasion, and that very well may have inspired John Milius to pen this action-heavy film [which he also directed]. Rather than being taken over, as with the Mosinee “experiment,” a band of teenagers leads the way in a costly but victorious [spoiler alert, I guess, but did you really expect an 80s film to have us lose?] campaign against the “evil empire.” When it was released, I remember the folks on The Today Show talking about how uber-violent the film was [as it happens, it actually made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most acts of violence of any film (up until that point)]. As long as those acts of violence are being directed toward Spetznaz, it’s A-okay… but have some thuggish Soviet paratrooper shoot a history teacher and some of his hapless students and it’s on like Donkey Kong! [Yes, I’m indulging even now in that anti-Soviet vibe.]
As an aside, several of the actors portraying the Soviet paratroopers in the initial invasion were blown well off course, including one who wound up stuck in a tree… and having to convince locals that he wasn’t actually an enemy soldier. I thought that little nugget of trivia was worth sharing not only because it’s kind of funny, but also because it’s emblematic of just how paranoid we were that the big Russian bear was going to come over and maul all of us… with impossibly advanced technology like the superjet in FIREFOX. Given the palpable sense of paranoia extant in America at that time, it’s no surprise that a film with the relatively implausible “group of teens destroys Soviet war machine” plot would be so successful. Frankly, it’s probably the reason why the STAR WARS films did so well; they also featured a small band of rebels up against the “evil [Galactic] empire.”
Thanks largely to the relatively small cast and the amount of character development afforded to each member thereof, the losses that the insurgent “Wolverines” suffer actually have some emotional punch to them. Admittedly, some aren’t quite as well developed as others [I’m looking at you, “Aardvark”], but what happens to them on-screen never feels cheap or perfunctory. The character’s actions are at times inexplicable, such as when Jed [portrayed by Patrick Swayze] decides to trumpet “You lose” to the Soviet commander, thus giving away his position; however, the film can always say, “Hey, what do you expect from some dude that just got out of high school?” Of all the 80s films that feature kids playing critical roles in holding back the scourge of the Soviet Union – from the more serious WAR GAMES to the more goofy CLOAK & DAGGER to the somewhat sci-fi spin in D.A.R.Y.L. – this one is the one I remember best. If you haven’t seen it, grab some New Coke, throw on the parachute pants, and pop it in the newfangled laserdisc player. Enjoy!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK; Day 15 - DAS BOOT; Day 16 - SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; Day 17 - PATTON; Day 18 - CROSS OF IRON; Day 19 - SCHINDLER'S LIST; Day 20 - FURY; Day 21 - MASH; Day 22 - TAE GUK GI: THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR; Day 23 - PLATOON; Day 24 - FULL METAL JACKET; Day 25 - GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM; Day 26 - WE WERE SOLDIERS; Day 27 - DR. STRANGELOVE]
[Did you notice the PG-13 rating? RED DAWN was the first film ever to receive that rating from the MPAA... an organization whose decisions are only slightly less arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise "mind-bottling" than the NCAA's decrees. :-/]
It’s unfortunate that the folks in Hollyweird felt the need to revisit the 80s RED DAWN with a remake that was very much a pale imitation of the original, neutering itself before even being released by caving to pressure to change the bad guys from being North Koreans rather than Chinese. Such is the state of geopolitics, I suppose, but maybe the TOP GUN sequel can recapture the 80s glory in a way the RED DAWN remake never came close to doing.
There is something absolutely awesome to a Cold War kid like me in seeing high school students lead a successful counterinsurgency against the full military might of the Soviet military machine. Much earlier in the Cold War, the folks in Mosinee, Wisconsin staged a mock Communist invasion, and that very well may have inspired John Milius to pen this action-heavy film [which he also directed]. Rather than being taken over, as with the Mosinee “experiment,” a band of teenagers leads the way in a costly but victorious [spoiler alert, I guess, but did you really expect an 80s film to have us lose?] campaign against the “evil empire.” When it was released, I remember the folks on The Today Show talking about how uber-violent the film was [as it happens, it actually made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most acts of violence of any film (up until that point)]. As long as those acts of violence are being directed toward Spetznaz, it’s A-okay… but have some thuggish Soviet paratrooper shoot a history teacher and some of his hapless students and it’s on like Donkey Kong! [Yes, I’m indulging even now in that anti-Soviet vibe.]
As an aside, several of the actors portraying the Soviet paratroopers in the initial invasion were blown well off course, including one who wound up stuck in a tree… and having to convince locals that he wasn’t actually an enemy soldier. I thought that little nugget of trivia was worth sharing not only because it’s kind of funny, but also because it’s emblematic of just how paranoid we were that the big Russian bear was going to come over and maul all of us… with impossibly advanced technology like the superjet in FIREFOX. Given the palpable sense of paranoia extant in America at that time, it’s no surprise that a film with the relatively implausible “group of teens destroys Soviet war machine” plot would be so successful. Frankly, it’s probably the reason why the STAR WARS films did so well; they also featured a small band of rebels up against the “evil [Galactic] empire.”
Thanks largely to the relatively small cast and the amount of character development afforded to each member thereof, the losses that the insurgent “Wolverines” suffer actually have some emotional punch to them. Admittedly, some aren’t quite as well developed as others [I’m looking at you, “Aardvark”], but what happens to them on-screen never feels cheap or perfunctory. The character’s actions are at times inexplicable, such as when Jed [portrayed by Patrick Swayze] decides to trumpet “You lose” to the Soviet commander, thus giving away his position; however, the film can always say, “Hey, what do you expect from some dude that just got out of high school?” Of all the 80s films that feature kids playing critical roles in holding back the scourge of the Soviet Union – from the more serious WAR GAMES to the more goofy CLOAK & DAGGER to the somewhat sci-fi spin in D.A.R.Y.L. – this one is the one I remember best. If you haven’t seen it, grab some New Coke, throw on the parachute pants, and pop it in the newfangled laserdisc player. Enjoy!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK; Day 15 - DAS BOOT; Day 16 - SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; Day 17 - PATTON; Day 18 - CROSS OF IRON; Day 19 - SCHINDLER'S LIST; Day 20 - FURY; Day 21 - MASH; Day 22 - TAE GUK GI: THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR; Day 23 - PLATOON; Day 24 - FULL METAL JACKET; Day 25 - GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM; Day 26 - WE WERE SOLDIERS; Day 27 - DR. STRANGELOVE]
