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MGM production chief Mary Parent has "assembled [a] production team" to make a "new installment" -- i.e., not a remake -- of John Milius's Red Dawn, it was officially announced today in an e-mailed MGM press release. Horror writer Carl Ellsworth will pen a script based on a story by Jeremy Passmore. A.D. and stunt man Dan Bradley has been signed to direct. (A stunt guy?) The producers will be Contrafilm's Tripp Vinson and Beau Flynn.

In other words, Parent is looking to push out a B-level popcorn actioner.

The 1984 original was about teenagers defending their homeland from invading Russian troops.The press release makes no mention of which country the invading army might be from this time, but since Red Dawn was a ground-level political fantasy and Islamic fundamentalists are the only decent villains around these days, it's probably safe to assume Ellsworth and Passmore's story will be using Middle Eastern baddies of some sort.

If so, that would mean Parent's new Red Dawn will be a John McCain wet dream movie aimed at attracting Barack Obama's "bitter" brigade -- under-educated, red-state-residing, work-boot-wearing, gun-clinging, etc.

Another story option is that the invaders are space aliens, but of course that would invalidate Parent's statement that the film will be a "new installment" of the Milius film.

In acknowledgement of last July's double-disc DVD of Milius's classic, I wrote the following on 7.26.07: "Ruthless, ogre-ish, heavily-armed invaders descend from the sky, take over the reins of government, and before you know it rebel groups are forming into grass-roots militias, fighting back like proud guerillas and asserting their nativist rights -- this is our country! Death to the invaders! Death before submission!

"Does this like, uhm...remind anyone of anything?

"This double-disc DVD of John Milius' Red Dawn hit stores on 7.17. Do you think the MGM/UA Home Video guys had any ideas about present-day parallels, or were they just after some 20th anniversary bucks? I once asked Milius himself about the Iraqi rebellion angle -- he didn't bite, but he didn't strenuously argue it either."

Nobody does myopia like Americans. I'm including American filmmakers in this equation.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 10, 2008 at 12:25 PM

comment #1

Edward says ...

I can't wait; a reinstallment of an awful, almost unwatchable film.

Posted by Edward at July 10, 2008 1:17 PM

comment #2

nemo says ...

Even its intended knuckle-dragging audience found Red Dawn laughably stupid back in the day.

John Milius made some good movies. Red Dawn wasn't one of them.

Posted by nemo at July 10, 2008 1:26 PM

comment #3

lbeale says ...

It wasn't just Russians who invaded. Ron "Superfly" O'Neal played a Cuban military type.

The film, incidentally, is paranoid, proto-fascist shit. Made me dig up and re-read Richard Hofstater's famous essay "The Paranoid Style In American Politics." Explains Milius' mindset to a tee.

Posted by lbeale at July 10, 2008 1:31 PM

comment #4

Terry McCarty says ...

Ibeale wrote:
Made me dig up and re-read Richard Hofstater's famous essay "The Paranoid Style In American Politics." Explains Milius' mindset to a tee.

Has anyone here listened to Milius' commentary track for MAGNUM FORCE?

Posted by Terry McCarty at July 10, 2008 1:55 PM

comment #5

hcat says ...

My favorite film when I was twelve, didnt get the paranoia at the time, just loved the kids with guns angle. I still scream WOLVERINES upon sexual climax.

Posted by hcat at July 10, 2008 2:05 PM

comment #6

leepe says ...

It's gonna be China this time around.

Posted by leepe at July 10, 2008 2:10 PM

comment #7

DarthCorleone says ...

I always thought it was a good premise that could have made an interesting film if executed seriously. But, yeah, instead we got a silly, awful B-actioner. I doubt the new version will be much different.

Posted by DarthCorleone at July 10, 2008 2:14 PM

comment #8

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

"Avenge me, son! AVENGE ME!"

Incidentally, the title won't make any sense unless the bad guys are some sort of Commie.

Posted by Luke Y. Thompson at July 10, 2008 2:35 PM

comment #9

corey3rd says ...

The Chinese don't need to parachute into town. They merely have to drive up to the Fed Treasury and the American loans are due on demand. Americans all get forced into factories to make cheap plastic crap for Peking.

Posted by corey3rd at July 10, 2008 2:39 PM

comment #10

LexG says ...

What does John Milius do all day?

I just always wonder great but long MIA directors do to fill their days during their years between projects? I am not saying that to be disrespectful of Milius... I envy it. Fuck, I'd just stay home and sleep all day. Working sucks.

Posted by LexG at July 10, 2008 3:06 PM

comment #11

movieirv says ...

If this flies, we'll likely see another Rambo film. Oh, wait...
I'm looking forward to Kip Pardue, Breckin Meyer, Anton Yelchin, Emmanuele Chriqui and Frankie G.
in the remake with c. Thomas Howel in a cameo, l

Posted by movieirv at July 10, 2008 3:23 PM

comment #12

George Prager says ...

At least it's not a remake of BIG WEDNESDAY. They would totally fuck that up.

Siskel & Ebert review (With TIGHTROPE--remember that weird shit?)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aA70WBzf_9o

Posted by George Prager at July 10, 2008 3:29 PM

comment #13

lazespud says ...

Dang, LYT beat me to the punch. When Harry Dean Stanton, with his mopey eyes, screamed "Avenge me Boys! Avenge Me!" I distinctly remember bursting out laughing. (I was like 15 at the time and definitely the core audience for the flick.)

What a piece of crap.

Posted by lazespud at July 10, 2008 3:31 PM

comment #14

George Prager says ...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d_S1F1Zha_k

Posted by George Prager at July 10, 2008 3:36 PM

comment #15

Rothchild says ...

A stunt guy?! Jeff, aren't you supposed to be in the loop? Isn't this your job? I thought you liked Greengrass' Bourne movies. Dan Bradley was the action director on both of them. You can be really oblivious, man.

Oh, and, "Wolverines!"

Posted by Rothchild at July 10, 2008 3:38 PM

comment #16

CinemaPhreek says ...

LexG - you were pretty unintentionally ironic about John Milius. In one of Syd Field's books (IIRC) he lists several writers and their habits.

Some do it in several hour shifts, some do marathons and then there was John Milius who apparently writes just one hour each day.

Posted by CinemaPhreek at July 10, 2008 4:08 PM

comment #17

PhilipGalasso says ...

yeah, i wanna second what Rothchild said. Bradley is no hack. Watch the extras on the second two Bourne dvd's. THere was a write up about him in either Esquire or GQ last year sometime, and Matt Damon said something along the lines of that Bradley was one of the best directors he's ever worked with, period, and that he would work with him on just about anything. for what its worth. im still on the fence on this one until i know how exactly they're going to update the concept. but the hiring of Bradley is to me a step in the right direction.

Posted by PhilipGalasso at July 10, 2008 5:02 PM

comment #18

Josh Massey says ...

Oh. Hell. Yes.

Screw you guys, Red Dawn kicked ass. That opening scene at the school gave me nightmares for a year (I was in third grade at the time, after all).

Of course, I haven't seen in in 15 years, so it might not be all that I remem - oh who am I kidding, it still kicks ass. Who lived in the original film that could pop back up in this one?

Posted by Josh Massey at July 10, 2008 5:30 PM

comment #19

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

John Milius has written some decent things recently for TNT TV movies and the like.

I do enjoy the way his batshit survivalist-gun nut stuff popped up all through the hippie-dippie 70s. It's great watching Jeremiah Johnson start out being a nature idyll and slowly turn into a full-fledged Milius bloodbath-- though alas, no liver-eating.

And he said one of the greatest one-line slams on Hollywood ever: "We're the only culture in history that ever built an altar and bowed down to the 14-year-old."

Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau at July 10, 2008 6:59 PM

comment #20

quitstaringatme says ...

I got the impression by the statement "a new installment" that this one won't be set in modern day, but, hopefully, be set back in the 80's. Sort of a parallel story to what was going on with Patrick Swayze and Leah Thompson, et all.

That would be awesome.

Posted by quitstaringatme at July 10, 2008 8:08 PM

comment #21

Terry McCarty says ...

mgmax wrote:
And he said one of the greatest one-line slams on Hollywood ever: "We're the only culture in history that ever built an altar and bowed down to the 14-year-old."

Also remembering the interview he did for George Hickenlooper; Milius said that most people wanting to be filmmakers "want to start out at moral ruination"--an observation that hasn't dated much since being uttered in the previous decade.

Posted by Terry McCarty at July 11, 2008 12:01 AM

comment #22

PoisonSkin says ...

red dawn is hilarious. I love how serious it is

Posted by PoisonSkin at July 11, 2008 12:05 AM

comment #23

Bob Violence says ...

I think their best bet here would be to recreate the exact same story (Soviets and all) in contemporary America, with no attempt to account for the discrepancy. They won't do it, of course.

Posted by Bob Violence at July 11, 2008 5:03 AM

comment #24

Rich S. says ...

I miss Milius. No one can pump out that hyper-Nietzschen uberman dialog like he can. I'm really sorry that Wachowski brothers-Milius Conan project never got off the ground. After Speed Racer, I doubt it ever will now.

Posted by Rich S. at July 11, 2008 5:06 AM

comment #25

Jay says ...

The correct remake of this film would be set in Iraq, where the townspeople have their homes invaded by brutal strangers who do not care to speak their language. Heroically, like in Steinbeck's "The Moon is Down", the locals maintain a slow, steady resistance until they eventually drive out their oppressors.

Posted by Jay at July 11, 2008 7:18 AM

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