10 Things You Didn’t Know About “Red Dawn”

Twenty-seven years ago today, this was the gold standard in movie violence.

1. Red Dawn was the first movie to receive a PG-13 rating.

2. At the time, Red Dawn held the Guinness Book of World Records award for most acts of violence in a film. 134 per hour or approximately 2.23 per minute.

3. The original script treatment was based off the short story “Ten Soldiers”. It was intended to be less action oriented and more of a “Lord of the Flies” introspective look on the aggressive nature of man.

4. While the film takes place in colorado, it was shot on location outside of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

5. The prop T-72 Russian tanks were so convincing they were shadowed by CIA officers while in transit to the shooting location.

6. Jennifer Grey revealed that her character and Swayze’s had a love scene but for one reason or another it was scrapped in post-production.

7. Red Dawn was Charlie Sheen’s big screen debut.

8. While shooting the opening sequence, parachutist Jon Fisher was blown over a mile off course. Caught in a tree outside a small town, he had a hard time convincing the locals that he was not a threat, declaring “I am NOT a Russian soldier!”

9. A poster of Genghis Khan on the classroom wall in the beginning of the movie is actually director John Millus.

10. A scene from the trailer showing soldiers attacking the enemy inside a McDonald’s was left on the cutting room floor. Many believe this was due to the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre that left 22 dead weeks before the film released.