quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I probably saw this movie 20 times when I was a kid. I watched it recently with my Russian wife and it was a completely different experience.

Please, you need to tell us about her reaction.

Basically, she thought it was silly. I still think it's a classic.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I probably saw this movie 20 times when I was a kid. I watched it recently with my Russian wife and it was a completely different experience.

Please, you need to tell us about her reaction.

Basically, she thought it was silly. I still think it's a classic.

For those who aren't old enough to live through and remember the Cold War, or even know anything about it, it would be easy enough to simply watch it without any context and dismiss it for it's underwhelming acting, action, or story.

Red Dawn won't ever be mistaken for Academy Award worthy acting or story...but as someone who grew up during the Cold War, it still remains a guilty pleasure of mine...and admittedly, maybe even serves as a bit of a reminder in general preparedness and rebellion.

Wolverines!

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I probably saw this movie 20 times when I was a kid. I watched it recently with my Russian wife and it was a completely different experience.

Please, you need to tell us about her reaction.

Basically, she thought it was silly. I still think it's a classic.

For those who aren't old enough to live through and remember the Cold War, or even know anything about it, it would be easy enough to simply watch it without any context and dismiss it for it's underwhelming acting, action, or story.

Red Dawn won't ever be mistaken for Academy Award worthy acting or story...but as someone who grew up during the Cold War, it still remains a guilty pleasure of mine...and admittedly, maybe even serves as a bit of a reminder in general preparedness and rebellion.

Wolverines!

My wife is only in her early 40s, but has only been in the USA for about 20 years. Her family still lives in Russia and the former Soviet republics. I don't want to speak for them, but the sense that I get is that the general population didn't hate Americans. Rather, it seems to me that they wanted to be more like us, with Coca Cola and MTV and Levis jeans.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I probably saw this movie 20 times when I was a kid. I watched it recently with my Russian wife and it was a completely different experience.

Please, you need to tell us about her reaction.

Basically, she thought it was silly. I still think it's a classic.

For those who aren't old enough to live through and remember the Cold War, or even know anything about it, it would be easy enough to simply watch it without any context and dismiss it for it's underwhelming acting, action, or story.

Red Dawn won't ever be mistaken for Academy Award worthy acting or story...but as someone who grew up during the Cold War, it still remains a guilty pleasure of mine...and admittedly, maybe even serves as a bit of a reminder in general preparedness and rebellion.

Wolverines!

My wife is only in her early 40s, but has only been in the USA for about 20 years. Her family still lives in Russia and the former Soviet republics. I don't want to speak for them, but the sense that I get is that the general population didn't hate Americans. Rather, it seems to me that they wanted to be more like us, with Coca Cola and MTV and Levis jeans.

So she probably has the vaguest of memories, as a child, of the last portion of the Cold War.

I'd agree with your assessment. Of the few Russians I met in the mid '80s to early '90s, one was a crazy Russian who rode a beat down old motorcycle while wearing a beat up old flight helmet for a motorcycle helmet, who loved aviation, but was a hustler with $ signs in his eyes, and would frequently try to find American investors to finance a salvage operation to recover WW II combat aircraft from Russia, and the second visiting group of Russians that literally spent hours wandering through an American grocery store in amazement, marvelling at the huge selection of choices, quality, freshness, and low costs.

Its pretty silly, but its still fun to watch. If you want a better look at what the 80s could have turned into, read Clancy’s Red Storm Rising.

+

quote:

A couple fun facts about the movie:

Another: first movie to be released with a PG-13 rating.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
So she probably has the vaguest of memories, as a child, of the last portion of the Cold War.

I know we are basically on the same page, but I don't think you can discount the role that family plays. It's not like she could have vastly differing viewpoints from her family, especially in that environment and at that age.

My CFI flew the helicopter down main street at night for the director.

Bob was an ATP helicopter pilot and helicopter instructor, and a great friend. Blue skies Bob. RIP

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

Were Soviet ejection systems 'Zero-Zero' on a likely aging MiG or Sukhoi fighter?

I haven’t seen the movie in ages but if I remember correctly the pilot is in a Yak-38 Forger (the Soviet version of the Harrier) and the pilot is attempting a VTO (vertical takeoff) when the Air Force colonel chucks the grenade into the intake. If so the Forger has/had a K36 “zero-zero” capable ejection seat. The pilot could have ejected but the camo netting would undoubtedly interfere with seat/man separation and chute deployment.

And while a hand grenade would certainly ruin a jet engine but it’s very doubtful one would cause a jet to explode.

Now, despite that dose of reality Red Dawn is a fun entertaining movie I really enjoy.

Here's a box of ammo for your granddaddy's gun.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:
So she probably has the vaguest of memories, as a child, of the last portion of the Cold War.

I know we are basically on the same page, but I don't think you can discount the role that family plays. It's not like she could have vastly differing viewpoints from her family, especially in that environment and at that age.

You may well be right. I didn't know any Russian families during the Cold War and really don't have any point of reference from their perspective. I did live through a chunk of the Cold War, and did watch at least some of the news from that time including various speeches and events of the time.

Watching movies like Red Dawn during the Cold War, the story didn't seem quite so far fetched back then as it does today.

There is no doubt that many Russians liked Levi's and Coke, and Rock 'n' Roll...Western culture, but it would be interesting to know if they also were subject to the same anxieties and fears about what the West would do and if they felt the same distrust of us that we did of them.

Not my favorite Sting/ Police song, but this thought provoking song portrays some of the anxieties during the Cold War. I believe it came out in 1985, a few years before the end of the Cold War.




Link to original video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wHylQRVN2Qs