{{operational plan | name = Operation Red Dawn | partof = the Iraq War | image = | caption = Samir, a 34-year-old Iraqi-American, the U.S.S.F. interpreter who helped find Saddam Hussein and pull him from his hideaway 13 December 2003 | scope = Operational | type = Raid | location = ad-Dawr, Iraq | coordinates = | map_type = Iraq | latitude = 34.47063 | longitude = 43.78547 | map_size = | map_caption = The town of ad-Dawr within Iraq | map_label = | planned = | planned_by = | objective = Capture of Saddam Hussein | target = | date = | time = | time-begin = | time-end = 20:30 | timezone = UTC+3 | executed_by = 4th Infantry Division | outcome = Capture of Saddam Hussein | casualties = None | fatalities = | injuries = }}

Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein, ending rumours of his death. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, commanded by Major. Gen Raymond Odierno and led by Col. James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division, with joint operations Task Force 121 - an elite and covert joint special operations team.

They searched two sites, "Wolverine 1" and "Wolverine 2," outside the town of ad-Dawr, but did not find Saddam Hussein. A continued search between the two sites discovered him in a "spider hole" hide out at 20:30hrs local Iraqi time. Despite being armed with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle, and provisioned with US$750,000 in cash, Saddam did not resist capture.

The capture was dramatized in the final episode of House of Saddam.

Background

The operation was named after the 1984 film of the same name starring Patrick Swayze.

The Operation

Reactions

Shi'ite and Kurdish

On American announcement of President Saddam Hussein's capture, pro-American Iraqis celebrated publicly. Hours later, an explosion occurred near the Palestine Hotel housing foreign reporters. After investigating, authorities determined a stray bullet had struck and detonated some fuel cans.

Jalal Talabani told the Islamic Republic News Agency, "With the arrest of Saddam the financial resources feeding terrorists have been destroyed, and his arrest will put an end to terrorist acts in Iraq." Ahmed Chalabi, of the Iraqi Governing Council, said a group, led by Kosrat Rassoul, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan helped U.S. forces find his hide out.

Sunni

Hours after the capture, but before its publication, a car-bomb exploded outside a Khaldiyah police station, killing some 10 people and wounding 20 others, mostly policemen, said U.S. officials, however, Iraqi officials reported more casualties.

International reactions

Middle East

: The Afghan government welcomed news of the capture of Saddam Hussein, deeming it a warning to opposition leaders such as Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

: The official Bahrain News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman who said [his capture] should restore unity and cohesion to the Iraqis, to build "a promising future in a prosperous Iraq enjoying security and co-operating with its neighbors to promote stability and development" in the region.

: Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said, "I don't think anyone will be sad over Saddam Hussein. His arrest does not change the fact that his regime was finished, and it is the natural consequence of the regime's fall. The Iraqi regime had harmed the Iraqi people, and had pulled the Arab region into several storms."

: Vice President Mohammad-Ali Abtahi expressed satisfaction, stating, "I am happy they have arrested a criminal, whoever it may be, and I am even more happy, because it is a criminal who committed so many crimes against Iranians." Iran joined the call for justice, adding, "Iranians have suffered much, because of him, and [the] mass graves in Iraq prove the crimes he has committed against the Iraqi people".

: The government spokeswoman said they hoped that a page has been turned and that the Iraqi people would be able to assume their responsibilities as soon as possible and build their future according to their will. The first and last word concerning the capture of Saddam Hussein or his fate must be given to the Iraqi people.

: Information Minister Mohammed Abulhassan said, "Thank God that he has been captured alive, so he can be tried for the heinous crimes he has committed. Kuwait today feels more relaxed, and assured, after the departure of this tyrant, and, after all, are certain now that he will never return. The Kuwaiti people are happy for the Iraqi people; it is the end of the rule of tyranny. Saddam's capture is a turning point and an opportunity for Iraqis to unite."

" The country was tense at news of the U.S. capture of Saddam Hussein at the weekend; people were surprised by how easily he was captured, however, it did not equal a U.S. military victory. "The capture of Saddam will not save the U.S. from the world's condemnation for supporting the greater enemy, Israeli P.M. Ariel Sharon", said Selim Al-Hoss, ex-Lebanese P.M.

: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat government had no comment, however Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior Hamas leader, said the U.S. would "pay a very high price for the mistake" of capturing Saddam Hussein.

Following Saddam Hussein's capture, the climate among Palestinians was disbelief and gloom.

: Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi ambassador to the United States, stated that "Saddam Hussein was a menace to the Arab world."

: Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan advised Syria's position on Iraq was not based on the fate of individuals. We want an Iraq that preserves its territorial integrity, its unity and its sovereignty.

Asia

: Foreign Minister Morshed Khan was quoted as saying, "We hope this will pave the way for the Iraqi people to have a government of their own, a government by the people and for the people of Iraq."

: Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao hoped that the latest development of the situation in Iraq was conducive to the Iraqi people taking their destiny into their own hands, and to realising peace and stability in Iraq.

: Sing Tao Daily editorialized: "The desperate capture of Iraqi former president Saddam symbolizes the bad fate of a corrupt dictator and also the best Christmas present this year for US President George Bush, but for the Iraqis who have undergone a baptism of fire in the war, the days of peace are still far away, and the road of reconstruction is as long and arduous as before." South China Morning Post editorialized: "With Hussein's capture, Iraqis can at last begin to close this brutal and tragic chapter in their history."

: The Indian government's response to the capture of Saddam Hussein was measured and guarded. When Secretary of State Colin Powell called Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday to discuss the capture of Saddam, whom Washington had named a tyrant, Sinha is said to have reacted in a manner that did not echo the effusion flowing from the rest of the world. In the words of an official with the foreign ministry, Sinha "maintained a stiff upper lip".

Sinha, in his brief conversation with Powell, merely expressed hope that such developments would contribute to the stabilization of Iraq. Powell told Sinha that the capture would bring "a change in the existing situation and lead to greater respect for the Iraqi Governing Council."

: In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, the reaction was muted. Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa says the arrest of the former Iraqi president had not changed how Indonesia felt about the situation in Iraq. Indonesia's leaders strongly opposed the U-S-led invasion of Iraq. Indonesian leaders also said they hoped the capture of Saddam Hussein would help bring peace to Iraq and return control of the country back to its citizens.

An Indonesian sentenced to death in 2002 Bali bombings agreed, saying Muslim militants would continue the fight against America.

"Even if 1,001 Saddam Husseins were arrested it would not weaken our struggle," Ali Ghufron shouted to reporters as he left a court on the resort island.

: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday said he hoped that Saddam Hussein's capture would lead to improvements in Iraq. He said the capture would be positive if it brings major steps toward the stability and reconstruction of Iraq. Prime Minister Koizumi's cabinet had approved a controversial plan to send troops to Iraq. He said he would continue to assess the security situation in Iraq before dispatching the soldiers. In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda agreed the arrest was "great news," but cautioned it would not necessarily lead to peace.

"The problem, however, is terrorism. I don't think the arrest of Saddam Hussein can stop all terror attacks," Fukuda said.

: The Malaysian government said the Iraqi people should decide how Saddam would be brought to justice on accusations of gross human rights violations.

Iraqis should "be given the right to decide on the manner and procedure of bringing Saddam Hussein to face justice," said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, head of the Non-Aligned Movement. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar expressed hope that the capture of Saddam Hussein would contribute towards bringing peace and stability in Iraq and the surrounding region and stated that the United Nations should now play a bigger role in achieving this objective. "With peace and stability in Iraq, we hope that an Iraqi government representing the free and independent Iraqi people could be set up to start the reconstruction process of that nationfor the benefit of its people," he said. He said the views and inputs of the Iraqis should be taken into account in deciding whatever action would be initiated against Saddam. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed urged a fair trial for Saddam Hussein.

: The response in Pakistan also was low-key. Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan called the capture an important development.

: South Korea welcomed the news, which came hours after its government made a final decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq.

: More than 46 Sri Lankan lawyers planned to defend the former Iraqi President at his trial. The inhabitants of Saddam Hussein Nagar, Sri Lanka expressed great disappointment at the news of Hussein's capture.

: An hour after U.S. announced the captured, President Chen Shui Bian congratulated the U.S. for what he called "a big victory".

Europe

: The Flemish-language De Standaard newspaper stated that "Showing degrading pictures of a prisoner, even if he was a cruel tyrant, does not increase the moral authority of those who overpowered him."

: A statement from President Jacques Chirac said,"The president is delighted with Saddam Hussein's arrest."

: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder greeted the development "with much happiness." In a telegram to George W. Bush, he called for intensified efforts to rebuild Iraq.

: Top Curia official Renato Martino, a cardinal deacon and President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, attacked the way Saddam Hussein was treated by his captors, saying he had been dealt with like an animal. Martino said he had felt pity watching video of "this man destroyed, [the military] looking at his teeth as if he were a beast." The cardinal, a leading critic of the US-led war in Iraq, said he hoped the capture would not make matters "worse." Pope John Paul II did not comment.

: Poland at the time commanded thousands of international troops in Iraq. Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdziński welcomed the news, but said the arrest could prompt retaliation from Saddam's supporters. "The coming days could be equally dangerous as these past days," he said.

: Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said, "We think the arrest of Saddam Hussein will contribute to the strengthening of security in Iraq and to the process of political regulation in the country with the active participation of the United Nations."

: Prime Minister José María Aznar said that "Saddam is directly responsible for the killing of millions of people over the last 30 years. Today, the moment has arrived for him to pay for his crimes.

: Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush's strongest Iraq War ally, called the capture good news for Iraqis, saying: "It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime."

North America

: Prime Minister Paul Martin congratulated U.S. troops Sunday and sent telegrams of congratulations to U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He would state that he was confident that the deposed Iraqi leader will be prosecuted fairly. "What's important is that he be tried before a tribunal that is just, that is credible and that has international recognition," said Martin. "I'm sure that will be the case." Martin spoke to reporters from his Montreal riding, said Saddam's capture will bolster reconstruction efforts in Iraq. "Now that he has been captured there's no doubt in my mind that we will now be able to move to a very very different level of reconstruction," he said. "This is a great victory to the coalition forces but the biggest winners of all of this will be the people of Iraq," he said.

:

President George W. Bush said that Saddam would "face the justice he denied to millions. For the Ba'athist holdouts responsible for the violence, there will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held".

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated, "Here was a man who was photographed hundreds of times shooting off rifles and showing how tough he was, and in fact, he wasn't very tough, he was cowering in a hole in the ground, and had a pistol and didn't use it, and certainly did not put up any fight at all. In the last analysis, he seemed not terribly brave." Rumsfeld said the U.S. has not decided whether to classify Saddam Hussein as a prisoner of war, but that the U.S. would abide the Geneva Conventions. More than 24 hours after his capture, the uncooperative Saddam Hussein had said little in his interrogation.

Australasia

Australia's Prime Minister John Howard reacted to the news happily. He said the Iraqi people could breathe a sigh of relief now that the former dictator was no longer at large. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation interviewed him. thumb|right|Australian Prime Minister John Howard urged the trial of Saddam.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark reiterated the New Zealand legislature's opposition to capital punishment, with such opposition extending to the treatment of Saddam Hussein.

Africa

People Daily newspaper :The capture of deposed Iraq leader Saddam Hussein is, no doubt, a major victory for the United States and the coalition of the willing, chief among which is Britain. The curtain has now fallen on one of the world's most ruthless and intriguing leaders.

International organizations

Secretary General Amr Mussa said the Iraqi people should "decide the fate of the old regime and its old leaders," alluding to the discovery of mass graves after Saddam's fall during the US invasion in April.

International Committee of the Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the US-led coalition in Iraq had given the agency the "green light" to visit Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader.

Red Cross spokesman Florian Westphal confirmed that ICRC visits to the captured Iraqi leader would go ahead according to international rules governing the detention of all prisoners of war. He said discussions are under way as to how and where those visits would take place.

A spokesman for Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General, said the capture "offers an opportunity to give fresh impetus to the search for peace and stability in Iraq".

Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said the Allied Coalition might ask Saddam Hussein meaningful questions about Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programmes, "He ought to know quite a lot, and be able to tell the story; we all want to get to the bottom of the barrel".

Prisoner abuse charges

In December 2005, Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, Esq., repeated Saddam Hussein's complaints of having been beaten and tortured by U.S. Army soldiers, saying he, himself, had seen the bruises. The US denied having harmed him; the investigating Iraqi judge said that, until that week, Hussein had never claimed mistreatment, even when asked directly. His attorney, Khalil Dulaimi, who still regarded Saddam Hussein as President of Iraq, said he revealed the torture to him in a brief interview during the trial in Baghdad.

"The President was tortured severely by the American forces, and I saw bruise marks on his body; they are visible", Dulaimi told the Associated Press in a telephonic interview, adding, "They are still torturing him psychologically". He did not describe or say where Hussein's body was bruised, neither did he detail what he meant by psychological torture.

Counsellor Dulaimi said he complained with the court on Thursday, urging its investigation. The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Mousawi, said he had not seen a complaint, adding he would visit him, and his seven co-defendants, to review their health and "listen to their demands and supply them with everything they need".

In his trial, Saddam Hussein upset listeners when he said U.S. Army soldiers beat and tortured him, insisting "the marks are still there", but didn't reveal anything in court. Judge Raid Juhi, who investigated Hussein's crimes as Iraqi President, said officials repeatedly asked him if he had ever been beaten; he answered, "No." every time, Juhi said, adding that if any defendant had complained of beatings and torture, doctors would have investigated.

POW status

A Pentagon spokesman said he was given the Prisoner of War status as he was the leader of the "old regime's military forces."

The spokesman, Major Michael Shavers, said Saddam, captured by US troops in December, was entitled to all the rights under the Geneva Conventions. The International Committee of the Red Cross had asked to visit the former Iraqi leader as soon as possible. The US spokesman did not give further details about Saddam Hussein's conditions of detention.

POW status for Saddam Hussein meant that the former Iraqi leader would be eligible to stand trial for war crimes.

Prisoners' rights under the Geneva Convention include:

Protection against violence, intimidation, insults and public curiosity,

Protection against pressure of any kind during interrogation,

Provision of valid identity documents,

Food rations and drinking water sufficient to keep prisoner in good health,

Adequate clothing and washing facilities, and

Adequate medical treatment.

There was controversy over TV pictures which showed Saddam Hussein undergoing a medical examination after his capture - footage regarded by some as a failure to protect him from public curiosity. A leading Vatican clergyman described the scenes as Saddam being "treated like a cow," and some sections of the Arab world were deeply offended by them. The US maintains that the pictures were shown to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that they no longer had anything to fear.

A senior British official said Saddam - who was being held at an undisclosed location and interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - was still refusing to co-operate with his captors, but the former president's capture last month was yielding results "far greater than we expected," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The US-led coalition had used documents found with the ex-leader to mount operations against Saddam loyalists, the official said.

See also

Trial of Saddam Hussein

Execution of Saddam Hussein

Special Activities Division

High-value target

Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present

Saddam Hussein

Tikrit

Manhunt (military)

Notes and references

External links

Searching for Saddam, A five-part series on how social networking led to the capture of Saddam. - Slate Magazine

Category:Military operations of the Iraq War involving the United States Category:Military operations of the Iraq War in 2003 Category:Intelligence operations Category:Operations involving American special forces Category:Saddam Hussein Category:Battles and conflicts without fatalities

ar:عملية الفجر الأحمر ca:Operació Alba Roja es:Operación Amanecer Rojo

name	Red Dawn
director	John Milius
writer	John MiliusKevin Reynolds
starring	Patrick SwayzeCharlie SheenLea ThompsonJennifer GreyC. Thomas HowellBrad SavageDarren Dalton
cinematography	Ric Waite
editing	Thom Noble
producer	Sidney BeckermanBuzz Feitshans
distributor	MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
released
runtime	114 minutes
country
language	EnglishRussianSpanish
music	Basil Poledouris
budget	$4.2 million
gross	$40 million }}

Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. It stars Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen.

The film is set in an alternate 1980s in which the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union and its Latin American allies (specifically Cuba and Nicaragua). 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.

Plot

An introductory text explains how the USA gradually became strategically isolated when several nations 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. These are Russian paratroopers, who promptly open fire when he confronts them. Pandemonium follows as students flee amid heavy gunfire. In downtown Calumet, Cuban and Soviet troops are trying to impose order after a hasty occupation. Shortly thereafter, Colonel Bella (a Cuban officer) instructs the KGB to go to the local sporting goods store and obtain ATF Form 4473, which names citizens who own firearms.

Jed Eckert, his brother Matt, and their friends Robert, Danny, Daryl, and Aardvark flee into the wilderness after hastily equipping themselves at Robert's father's sporting goods store. After several weeks in the forest, they return to town and Jed and Matt learn that their father has been captured and is being held in a reeducation camp. They visit the site and speak to him through the fence; Mr. Eckert orders his sons to abandon him, but to "avenge" him. They then visit the Masons and learn that they are behind enemy lines in "Occupied America" (as opposed to Free America, the unoccupied zone) and that Robert's father has been executed because the guns from his store - the ones he gave to the boys - were found to be missing by the occupation authorities. The couple also charge the boys with taking care of their two granddaughters, Toni and Erica. After killing some Soviet soldiers in the woods, the youths begin an armed resistance against the occupation forces—calling themselves "Wolverines" after their high school mascot. Initially the occupation forces try reprisal tactics, executing groups of civilians following every Wolverine attack, in hopes of intimidating the local population and compelling the Wolverines to surrender or desist from further attacks. During one of these executions the Eckert brothers' father is killed. Daryl's father, Calumet's mayor, a collaborator, tries to appease the occupation authorities.

The teenagers find a downed United States Air Force pilot, Lt.-Col. Andrew Tanner, and learn about the current state of the war: several key locations such as Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Omaha, Nebraska have been obliterated, America's Strategic Air Command has been crippled in a surprise attack by Cuban saboteurs, and the paratroopers the youths have encountered were dropped from fake commercial airliners to seize key positions in preparation for subsequent massive assaults via Mexico and Alaska. Half of America has been taken over, but American counterattacks have halted Soviet progress and the lines have stabilized. Concerned about nuclear fallout, both sides refrain from using nuclear weapons.

The colonel then assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, in a visit to the front line Tanner and Aardvark are killed in a battle between Soviet T-72s and US M1 Abrams tanks. As a result of the escalating attacks, Soviet commanders now view the Wolverines as a serious threat. Using threats of torture, KGB officers force Daryl to swallow a tracking device, then release him to rejoin the guerrillas. Spetsnaz are sent into the mountains following these signals, but are ambushed and killed by the Wolverines. The group discovers that their pursuers are carrying portable radio triangulation equipment and trace the source of the signal to their friend. Daryl confesses and pleads for mercy but is executed by Robert.

The Wolverines' morale erodes as the war of attrition takes its toll. The remaining members are ambushed by three Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships after being baited by a truck dropping supplies on the road, and Robert and Toni are killed, leaving the group reduced to four.

Determined to save at least some of their number, Jed and Matt attack the Soviet headquarters in Calumet to distract the troops while Danny and Erica escape to liberated territory. The plan works, as Danny and Erica escape, while Jed and Matt are wounded. Though Colonel Bella encounters the brothers, he cannot bring himself to kill them and lets them go. However, Matt dies in Jed's arms later in the park where the two spent time as kids. Jed's fate is left unknown.

The film's epilogue is narrated by Erica and suggests that the United States repelled the invasion some time later. A plaque is displayed with "Partisan Rock" in the background, which has been a recurring motif throughout the film as each dead comrade's name has been inscribed upon it. The plaque reads:

...In the early days of World War III, guerrillas - mostly children - placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation shall not perish from the earth.

Cast

Patrick Swayze as Jed Eckert

Charlie Sheen as Matt Eckert

C. Thomas Howell as Robert Morris

Lea Thompson as Erica Mason

Jennifer Grey as Toni Mason

Brad Savage as Danny

Powers Boothe as Lt.-Col. Andrew Tanner

Harry Dean Stanton as Tom Eckert

Darren Dalton as Daryl Bates

Pepe Serna as Mr. Mondragon

Doug Toby as Arturo "Aardvark" Mondragon

Ben Johnson as Jack Mason

Lane Smith as Mayor Bates

William Smith as Col. Strelnikov (The Hunter)

Vladek Sheybal as Gen. Bratchenko

Ron O'Neal as Col. Ernesto Bella

Roy Jenson as Mr. Morris

Greg Miller as Albert Franklin

Development

The script for Red Dawn was written by John Milius and Kevin Reynolds from a story by Reynolds. The original story, called Ten Soldiers, was more akin to Lord of the Flies, the classic novel about the aggressive nature of man, than to the action film it eventually became. Some of the changes included a shift in focus from conflict within the group to conflict between the teens and their oppressors, and the acceleration of the ages of some of the characters from early teens to high school age and beyond.

The movie was filmed in and around the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Many of the buildings and structures which appeared in the film, including a historic Fred Harvey Company hotel adjacent to the train depot, the train yard, and a building near downtown, which was repainted with the name of "Calumet, Colorado", are still there today. An old Safeway grocery store was converted to a sound stage and used for several scenes in the movie.

Before starting work on the movie, the cast underwent a realistic intensive eight-week military training course. During that time, production crews designed and built special combat vehicles in Newhall, California. Soldier of Fortune reported that the movie's T-72 tank was such a precise replica that "while it was being carted around Los Angeles, two CIA officers followed it to the studio and wanted to know where it had come from".

Reception

Red Dawn was the 20th highest grossing film of 1984, opening on 10 August 1984 in 1,822 theatres and taking in $8,230,381 on its first weekend. Its box office gross is $38,376,497. It was the first film to be released in the US with a Motion Picture Association of America PG-13 rating.

Red Dawn received mixed reviews, receiving a score of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes.

At the time it was released, Red Dawn was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute. The DVD Special Edition (2007) includes an on-screen "Carnage Counter" in a nod to this.

National Review Online has named the film #15 in its list of "The Best Conservative Movies."

Adam Arseneau at the website DVD Verdict opined that the film "often feels like a Republican wet dream manifested into a surrealistic Orwellian nightmare".

According to Brian Doherty of Reason magazine:

The film outraged liberal critics, but further to the left it had some supporters. In a piece for The Nation, Andrew Kopkind called it "the most convincing story about popular resistance to imperial oppression since the inimitable Battle of Algiers," adding that he'd "take the Wolverines from Colorado over a small circle of friends from Harvard Square in any revolutionary situation I can imagine."

References in the film

The NRA slogan "I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead fingers" is seen on a truck's bumper sticker as the paratroopers take over Calumet before a dead man's gun is taken from him. The movie being shown to American prisoners at the Soviet camp near Calumet is Alexander Nevsky (1938), Eisenstein's Soviet anti-Nazi classic. It is also playing (for free) in the town cinema across from the drugstore.

One of the radio announcements is "John has a long mustache", which is the same message the French resistance gets before D-Day in The Longest Day (1962).

In popular culture

In the Family Guy episode "Hell Comes to Quahog" Peter stars in Red Dawn: The Musical. Numerous references occur in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. In the television show Scrubs, Elliot and Turk watch and discuss Red Dawn in the episode "My Heavy Meddle". "Grey Dawn", a South Park episode which parodies Red Dawn. In the final episode of the anime Desert Punk the Machine Gun Brothers give a victory cry of Wolverines after destroying the tank Fire Dragon Kong.

Video games

The plot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 includes an invasion of the United States by an ultra-nationalist Russia, where members of the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment have to repel the attack. The achievement "Red Dawn" is awarded for completing the American "Wolverines!" and "Exodus" missions in Veteran difficulty. "Wolverines!" itself is a reference to the movie. In Fallout: New Vegas downloadable content, Old World Blues, there is a Red Dawn reference in the X-8 Testing Facility for players that have the Wild Wasteland perk. Freedom Fighters is a 2003 video game that takes place during a Soviet invasion of New York. This game is based heavily on Red Dawn in terms of characters, costumes and design, and the last mission closely resembles one of the final scenes when the Wolverines attack the Soviet base. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has several references to the film, including someone mocking the film on the radio, asking if people would go hide and call themselves Wolverines in the midst of a Soviet invasion. Homefront, a video game also written by John Milius, is about a North Korean invasion of America. Much of the plot of the video game World in Conflict involves the player fighting off a Soviet invasion of the United States in Seattle, where the Soviets occupy the area in a manner similar to that of Red Dawn, especially with the Soviets having to deal with American guerrillas in the countryside.

Operation Red Dawn

The operation to capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was named Operation Red Dawn and its targets were dubbed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. Army Captain Geoffrey McMurray, who named the mission, said the naming "was so fitting because it was a patriotic, pro-American movie." Milius approved of the naming: "I was deeply flattered and honored. It's nice to have a lasting legacy."

Remake

See also

World War III in popular culture

Culture during the Cold War

References

External links

Operation Red Dawn Irony – The Guardian

Category:1984 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:Russian-language films Category:Spanish-language films Category:Films critical of communism and communists Category:1980s action films Category:American action thriller films Category:American coming-of-age films Category:Anti-communism in the United States Category:Soviet Union war fiction Category:Cold War films Category:Films directed by John Milius Category:Films set in Colorado Category:Films set in the 1980s Category:Films shot in New Mexico Category:Political films Category:United Artists films Category:War drama films Category:War films Category:World War III speculative fiction

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