10 Films That Were Blatant Propaganda
3. Red Dawn
Just to give readers a sense of who John Milius is, he once asked and was granted his salary for the screenplay to Jeremiah Johnson (the hero cannibal) in antique guns. Or one could just revisit The Big Lebowski, as John Goodman's Walter Sobchak is a carbon copy of the man.
Milius has a rather stunning resume, with credits on the first two Dirty Harry films, Apocalypse Now and lastly, Red Dawn.
Originally, Red Dawn was meant to be a poignant anti-war statement, with a script more in line with The Lord of Flies. That all changed when Milus joined the project. It fit, he was a known fan of war movies and had already written one of the most iconic action heroes of the seventies.
They didn't realize what kind of beast they'd unchained. Milius didn't just love war movies, he loved war. MGM brought on former Nixon advisor Alexander Haig for credibility.
Milus rewrote the script with Haig, basing the hypothetical (but in Milius' mind imminent) Russian invasion on an old plan Hitler had drawn up. When he started wanting to add in futuristic weaponry, the Pentagon withdrew support.
The nostalgia for Red Dawn is largely based on its young cast, as there's little else redeemable unless you share a severely right-wing worldview. It's simply too bloody, vulgar and mean-spirited to actually be any fun.