Nobody puts AK-47 in the corner
Ah, the fabulous 80’s. It’s the decade that gave us MTV, skinny ties, parachute pants and a virtual cornucopia of memorable movies. I fondly recall films like Ghostbusters, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1961 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California anyone?). I remember taking a date to go see the first Nightmare On Elm Street movie. My date spent the entire time with her face buried in my shoulder, so I’m not sure how much she saw, but there was this one unforgettable part where this black dude sitting in front of us literally ran out of the theater after Freddie killed his first nubile teenager…that brotha had moves that Lawrence Taylor would envy, but I guess he’d need some half melted white dude in need of a manicure to get the same velocity. But I digress.
Yeah, there were tons of cheesy movies too and knock-offs of the more successful ones, but one in the bunch springs to mind when you start looking at movies that sort of defined the era. We were still in the grips of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was still a very real threat and at times we were being told that Europe was in all kinds of political turmoil. It was so bad, I remember a friend of mine doing a Civics class report on the number of warheads the Soviets supposedly had in stockpile, and that due to our proximity to the Savannah River Site, our little community had at least a couple of them pointed directly at us. Nice. So it came as no surprise that when the movie Red Dawn came out, more than a few of my friends and I felt compelled to see it.
It was 1984, and we’d had almost a full term of Reagan under our belt. As most will recall, Ron wasn’t the biggest fan of the Soviets, and frankly, the sentiment was mutual. It was under this cloud of unease that Red Dawn made its premiere. For those who’ve been under a rock the past 40 years, the basic plot goes like this:
– Commies are all over the place, in Europe and in Central America, stirring up shit.
– Famine has hit the Soviet Union due to a poor harvest, and living on vodka isn’t working out so well, so they invade Poland (jeez, why does everyone pick on those guys?). NATO won’t do shit (natch), and the UN can’t do shit (double natch) so we’re spiraling into WWIII.
– Flash to Colorado where kids in high school watch an amazing demonstration of Russian and Cuban joint military operations.
– People get rounded up. Some get killed. Gun registration schemes get the worst PR boost ever and a handful of quasi-teen stars from most of John Hughes’ movies escape into the mountains…but not without first pissing into an overheated truck radiator.
This is quality stuff, gang…and only within the first 15 minutes! Imagine an impressionable 15 year old kid watching this…I mean, really…who could piss into a radiator with all his friends standing around? The horror!
From here, the story revolves around how these kids, now joined by two hot chicks, turn themselves into an elite guerilla unit, embarrassing the shit out of the Russians and their Cuban flunkies. Taking the mascot from their high school team, they call themselves Wolverines…totally…frickin’…cool. The Russians send Spetznaz after them, and Mi-24 gunships and all kinds of other shit. But they fight on, despite the odds and without the benefit of a single Depeche Mode song playing in the background.
In all seriousness, the movie at the time was an interesting reflection of the fear that many of my generation had. Its underlying foundation was very real, and scarily plausible. In relating the depth and breadth of the Soviet joint assault, the character of Lt. Colonel Tanner outlined the strategy employed…it had its roots in actual Soviet doctrine; infiltrators from Cuba, disguised as illegal immigrants acted as sappers, attacking vulnerable bases in the Southeastern US. This was coupled with an airlift of elite Soviet paratroopers in transports disguised as commercial airliners…add to this the nuke strikes on all of the US’s communication centers and ICBM facilities and you had the nation on its knees. From Mexico, the Soviets with their commie pals from Cuba and Nicaragua, swarmed into the plains states, while an invasion force from the Alaskan peninsula gobbled up everything in the north. Tanner relates that virtually all of Europe folds to Soviet pressure and abandons the US, with the exception of the UK…and curiously enough, China decides to counter attack the Russians, losing nearly half their population in the process. To a kid who slept through most of his Social Studies classes, this wasn’t just a movie, it could have been a real life documentary or a devastating prophesy of things to come. It evoked all manner of feelings, from anger and disgust at the collaborators, to sadness and dismay that while our nation was being attacked, 99% of our European “allies” didn’t do jack shit. Each death of a major character was like a kick in the stomach, knowing that there wasn’t anyone rushing in to replace them in the fight. In the end, the sacrifices of the Wolverines serves as a catalyst for a rising resistance movement, which according to the epilogue, eventually kicks the Russians out but I remember walking out of that movie feeling drained and strangely angry. I honestly believe, in retrospect, that Patrick Swayze may have contributed to my current political leanings…and that ain’t just pissin’ in a radiator.
Category: Politics
Claymore you are one heckuva writer. Always enjoy your posts. Thanks for joining (or perhaps being) the weekend “guest” writer here. I’m kinda thinkin’ your family now, though.
Claymore,
Indeed! I echo Tankerbabe. I was in the Army then. Your objectivity is supreme. That is a trait we need in leaders. Sure you don’t want to run for office? 🙂
I think Clay would be a great politician, although I would feel bad for the teleprompter guy.
“How do you spell ‘Dadgum’?”
In all seriousness, the movie at the time was an interesting reflection of the fear that many of my generation had. Its underlying foundation was very real, and scarily plausible.
THIS is why we think folks like you are clowns.
THIS is why we think folks like you are clowns.
And you are why I’m so GLAD I NEVER had children. I’d like to ass kick about 99.99% of people under 35. Gah.
I wish it was possible to send snot-nosed brats like Steve J. to an alternate reality so they can see what the world they would have made is like. I would enjoy watching him plead for his life, begging not to be executed with a pistol shot under his very own Soviet occupation government.
This was one of my favorite movies :o) We did understand some hyperbole in depicting the Soviet troops and saw a good grasp of what politrabotnik was and we LOVED the movie :o)
And, Claymore, I will second others’ opinions, you are the hell of a writer :o)
Right you are Claymore. Enjoyed the movie back than and still feel it has some meaning today, except the attack is from within. God help us! Where has our CORE belief system along with morals, principles and common sense gone. Its all about ME,ME,ME, NOW. Thank God there are still some TRUE believers out there. God bless em, God bless America. Note;MY PREACHER use to say that!
I appreciate all the sentiment, everyone. And I’d like SteveJ to elaborate exactly who this “we” is and why do “they” think we’re clowns? I’m going to go and get ahead of the curve and suggest a few things about Steve, just to get the ball rolling:
1. He’s probably a leftwing d-bag.
2. His college professors told him that Reagan was an idiot and had zero to do with the fall of the Soviet empire.
3. He’s probably a leftwing d-bag.
Admittedly, I could be mistaken about #2.
What Stevie didn’t seem to comprehend from the post was that while seemingly farsical when viewed through the prism of history, the scenario portrayed in this movie was one that was actually studied and taught in America’s war colleges. And to puncuate this a little more, Mr. Steve J. D’Bag, they’re teaching it now, with a slight modification…instead of Russians, our greatest lender on the planet, China, is the antagonist. I’m guessing that scenario is clownlike as well?
Claymore, while you sit here and fight with Steve, we lost Wintergrasp and got hit with the omnipotent weapon named “rolling restart.” Could use you in here bud.
Would love to, but my mother-in-law’s computer was built using twigs and berries, and powered by a rodent I’ve nicknamed Penty The Fourth. Big honkin’ mama-jama PC is 350 miles away in the mystical land called Marietta…where the sun always shines, beds are comfortable, and breakfast doesn’t give you the blind screaming, porcelean rupturing purges of brown death.
His college professors told him that Reagan was an idiot
Reagan was an idiot and I didn’t need anyone to tell me – ketchup is NOT a vegetable and sub-launched nuclear missiles can’t re recalled.
democratsarefascists – YOU need to roll a fat one & chill.
Steve, isn’t it about time to go back to DU and brag about how you braved the lions den?
Steve
If that was the case then why have such a large military force in West Germany?
Back to the movie there where parts that I disagreed with. Like the one where a girl in the Wolverines delivered a bomb to library. Granted it was heavy censored, but it was a civilian target none the less. What good would have come out of that?
Excellent observations. I had the almost exact same feelings in suburban CA where I grew up.
The library was used as gathering place (Soviet-American Friendship Society sort of thing)by Soviet troops and American collaborators. Legitimate target. Classic guerilla strategy- no rest for the enemy, no safe place, no rear areas.
Anus, I mean anonynous; I’m surethat while you think that Reagan was an idiot, and intone just as though it’s a fact, you probably think that the current resident of the Whitehouse is oh so very smart? You wouldn’t be fit to shine Reagan’s shoes, let alone give us anything close to a valid opinion.
little Stevie J.; you may think we’re clowns, but when push comes to shove, it is us, the clowns, that you will turn to for protection because you are too much of a pussy to protect yourself, coupled with your self-assured deep intellect, which you think is enough to get by on. So, go back to class and don’t forget to bring your prof a non-fat decaf soy latte so you two can have a big hug and share it.
One thing that seems bypassed is the title of this post?
I keep a loaded SKS in the corner.
Perhaps it should be noted that I do not think that guerrilla warfare works without military a operation to follow it up. Look at D-Day. The reason that the partisan efforts worked was that it was in cooperation with the allied forces in delaying the counter-attack on the beaches. Also consider what the Warsaw revolt failed because Soviet Russia did not press forward which allowed German units to put down the uprising.
Also consider other consequences such as when a Jew killed a major Nazi officer and Hitler had a entire town wiped out in retaliation. I mean these sort of things will drive people against you. Consider all the Awakened movement re reasons why the have ditched the insurgency.
when push comes to shove, it is us, the clowns, that you will turn to for protection because you are too much of a pussy to protect yourself
This must be so comforting to you.
to Steve, yes it is a comfort to me. Like I said last night, thank God that there are still some TRUE BELIEVERS out there that stand while others scherk. Like my nephew, son in law and my 1st born (USMC). Oh by the that 1st born is a daughter w/ more guts and bigger BALLS (even though thier on the inside)then most of you spoiled a$$ “D” bags put together. Semper Fi and Armor Up.
To be honest, diaperboy (Steve J.), it’s not comforting, but rather annoying. Just like those Marines in San Fran sicko, who had code pinko protesting them at the recruiting center, who had to endure the hateful things being said about them by bennie and the gang; yet when code pinko was confronted by others that didn’t agree with them; they ran behind those same Marines, that they were protesting, for protection. I suspect you are of the same intellectually stunted mindframe as them.
Every once and a while I post “WOLVERINES” on a right wing website just because I know it causes the armored doors to close, red lights to go off and phones to ring at the DHS command center.