Red Dawn

Synopsis: From out of the sky, Soviet, Nicaraguan, and Cuban troops begin landing on the football field of a Colorado high school. In seconds, the paratroopers have attacked the school and sent a group of teenagers fleeing into the mountains. Armed only with hunting rifles, pistols, and bows and arrows, the teens struggle to survive the bitter winter and the Soviet KGB patrols hunting for them. Eventually, trouble arises when they kill a group of Soviet soldiers on patrol in the highlands. Soon they will wage their own guerrilla warfare against the invading Soviet troops-under the banner of 'Wolverines!'
Genre: Action, Drama
Director(s): John Milius
Production: MGM/UA
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
55
Rotten Tomatoes:
48%
PG-13
Year:
1984
114 min
3,593 Views


- Thanks for the ride.

- Okay.

What's the deal?

Get going,

we don't have time for breakfast.

Are you working or what?

Yeah, I'll be at the station all day.

You'll have to hitch a ride home.

- All right.

- You got practice today?

After that, we're on double time.

- Triple.

- You should be ashamed of yourself.

You think they'd take it down.

Come on, bud.

You lost a football game once yourself.

- What?

- I don't remember.

I do.

- I think you're lying.

- Catch you later.

- I never know when to believe your mouth.

- Likewise.

- Later, bud.

- See ya, Jed.

- So, did you do your history?

- Yeah, some of it.

MR. TEASDALE:
And the great hunt

would always begin

with the armies spread out

in a semi-circle,

I would say about the size of Rhode Island.

Then they would ride forward,

driving everything before them.

Beasts, men, even bugs.

Now, the ends would kind of

close in to form a shrinking circle.

Everything within that circle

panicked to get out.

When the Mongols could see each other

they had worked themselves up

into a pretty good frenzy.

Now, when this killing started,

it'd last for days, weeks,

even months.

And it went on

until the young son of the Khan

asked his father

that the last creature alive

be allowed to go free.

Well, now, my friend.

- Well, now.

- GIRL:
They're all over.

BOY 1:
Check it out.

BOY 2:
All right.

BOY 1:
They look pretty cool though, man.

MR. TEASDALE:
I would say

they were way off-course.

This is very unusual.

(CHATTERING IN RUSSIAN)

Then do something, Mr. Teasdale.

(MEN CHATTERING IN RUSSIAN)

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

What's going on, my friend?

(OFFICER ORDERING IN RUSSIAN)

Daryl, come on. Let's go.

Get in!

Get down, get down!

- Get in!

- Wait. Hey!

Everybody down!

Run! Get in!

Stay down.

(DISTANT MACHINE GUN FIRE)

Arturo!

(CALLING IN SPANISH)

Papa! Papa!

- Get down!

- My father's back there!

ROBERT:
Dad! Dad!

- Dad, they're in town.

- What's happening?

They were shooting at me!

They're shooting at everybody!

(JET ENGINE ROARING)

We're going to the mountains.

Getting out of here.

MR. MORRIS:
Who are they,

near as you can tell?

BOY:
I heard some of them

speaking Spanish.

- Did you see any of them?

- DANNY:
With Spain?

MR. MORRIS:
Who are they?

- BOY:
Come on, man, just relax.

- Oh, my God.

BOY:
Just take it easy.

MR. MORRIS:
Boys!

Get in there and get sleeping bags

and food. Right now. Come on.

Come on.

- Let's move it!

- Come on, son.

Take the dry stuff. Don't

mess around with candy or cookies.

Got it. Yeah.

- What should I get?

- Plenty of Kleenex.

- .308.

- JED:
Somebody get some lanterns.

.38 Specials.

Grab some toilet paper.

I ain't using leaves.

MR. MORRIS:
The.22's. Carry a lot of that.

Take a lot of batteries, boys.

All the batteries you can carry.

There's a shotgun there.

JED:
Get those down jackets.

Matt, look!

Get down! Get down!

(HELICOPTER APPROACHING)

Lay down!

Is it ours?

- I love you, boy.

- I love you, Dad.

- Tell Mom I love her.

- Yeah.

I'll take care of him.

All right, come on, boys,

just get out of here.

Come on. Don't come back here.

No matter what you see or hear,

don't come back.

I'll come and get you soon enough.

Open the glove compartment.

- Is it there?

- Yeah.

Load it.

It's already loaded.

Give it here.

- Want these also, Jed?

- Yeah, put them in my pocket.

JED:
Oh, Jesus Christ!

MATT:
Oh, my God!

Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!

I'm gonna turn off quick.

ROBERT:
It's a helicopter!

It's ours!

Get in! Get in!

- Get it?

- Yeah.

That's got it.

Only thing is we got one problem.

We don't have any water.

How about pissing in it?

- That's a good idea. Get up here.

- How do you know it'll work?

How old are you, kid?

Fifteen. And the name's Danny, not kid.

Well, when you grow up,

you'll know these things, Danny.

Now get up here and piss in the radiator.

(SOLDIERS SPEAKING SPANISH)

(IN SPANISH) We've got Yankee tanks

coming in from the plains.

We've lost most of our night vision

and have only a few anti-tank missiles left

for shooting at night.

Put your best men into hunter groups

armed with RPG's.

Keep 100 meters between each group,

dig holes,

wait until the Yankees approach to strike,

find out from where they attack, then

combine your groups and attack them.

Yes, Mr. Bella.

I want some anti-aircraft here.

We're working on it, sir.

This... This is a madhouse!

(IN RUSSIAN) Do you want to see me?

(IN RUSSIAN) Yes, yes.

Go to the sporting goods store.

From the files obtain forms 4473.

These will contain

descriptions of weapons

and lists of private ownership.

DANNY:
But our families, huh?

What about them, huh?

ROBERT:
We gotta stay up here

and hide awhile.

I just wanna go home.

I don't wanna hide.

If I hide, they'll never find me.

Check it out.

Stopped a bullet

that would have hit somebody.

I got these.

Those'll do us a lot of good.

We've got no radio.

I mean, how long do you think

we can survive up here

on olives and Rice Krispies?

What else are we gonna do?

As Calumet Student Body President,

I forward the motion

that we give ourselves up.

I second the motion. We can't stay here.

We need stuff and...

Sit down, Danny.

You're not going anywhere.

It's too dangerous to go into town.

- I say we vote on it.

- No.

This isn't the big game, Mr. Quarterback.

He can go wherever he wants.

(FIRMLY) No.

You're such a goddamn jock!

Hey. Come on, guys. Knock it off!

(GRUNTS)

You want to go so bad.

Here, haul ass. Take your sh*t.

That goes for the rest of you.

This is your chance. Get walking.

It is World War III down there.

People are being killed.

Those could be Russians.

Jed?

What about your family, huh?

I don't know.

But I'm alive.

And I'm staying here.

My family would want me to stay alive.

Your family would want you to stay alive.

You think you're so smart, man.

But you're just a bunch of scared kids.

What do you think you are?

Alone, I guess.

No, you're not.

Here, bud.

What do you say?

I'm with you.

JED:
All right.

The rest of you get going.

All right, but if you stay

you're gonna do exactly what I say, okay?

- Huh?

- Yeah.

So come on over here and get warm.

Daryl.

Sorry.

Me too, man.

Okay.

Now,

Matt and I've been coming up to these

mountains with our dad all of our lives.

We can hunt, we can fish,

we can stay up here a long, long time.

Okay?

How long, Jed?

(JET ENGINES ROARING)

Till we don't hear that no more.

I got him!

You got him.

- Gonna eat good...

- He's still breathing.

Never shoot twice.

Shoot twice, they can find you.

He's dead, anyway.

How do you know?

I used to read a lot about

Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger.

The Blackfeet, if you shot twice,

would know right where you were.

My dad named me after Jed Smith.

This is your first time, isn't it?

Yeah. What?

You gotta drink if it's your first. We did.

What's it taste like?

It's not too bad.

It's kinda salty like a steak or

when you've got a nosebleed, you know.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

John Milius

John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures. He was one of the writers for the first two Dirty Harry films, received an Academy Award nomination as ... more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Red Dawn" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/red_dawn_16683>.

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