Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. It stars Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey. It was the first film to be released with the MPAA rating of PG-13. The film is set in an alternate 1980s in which the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union and its Latin American allies . However, the onset of World War III is merely in the background and not fully elaborated. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, calling... themselves Wolverines, after their high school mascot. An introductory text explains how the USA gradually became strategically isolated when several European nations, except the United Kingdom, withdrew their membership in NATO. At the same time, the Warsaw Pact are aggressively expanding their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails and a communist coup occurs in Mexico. On a September morning in the small town of Calumet, Colorado, a local high school teacher pauses mid sentence when he sees paratroopers landing in a nearby field.
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| Release date: | August 10, 1984 |
| Directed by: | John Milius |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 114 Minutes |
| Producer: | Buzz Feitshans, Barry Beckerman |
| Editor: | Thom Noble |
| Music by: | Basil Poledouris |
| Cinematography: | Ric Waite |
| Screenplay by: | John Milius, Kevin Reynolds |
| Estimated budget: | $4,200,000 |
| Genre: | Disaster, Thriller, Action |