'Red Dawn' Memories Go Viral, Comments Are Pure America

A resurfaced Reddit thread about "Red Dawn" is required reading for anyone who loves the classic 1984 film.

Now, it's not a secret that I am *OBSESSED* with the film about a communist invasion starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson (what a low-key smoke back in the day) and Powers Boothe.

How obsessed am I with the story about teenagers mowing down communist invaders? I keep a copy of the DVD on my set and I probably fired upwards of 20,000+ rounds out of my 10/22 as a kid pretending to be in the movie.

People remember memories of Red Dawn.

It's hard to explain how much I love the movie. Have I been known to drink Coors Banquets and crush it on a random Friday night? As my fiancée will tell you, the answer is yes.

I'm apparently not the only one who still loves it more than four decades after its release. A Reddit thread from a few months ago that popped back up is full of people looking back on the great film from John Milius.

Check out some of the comments below, and get ready to grab an AK-47 to start fighting:

• Red Dawn came out right before I started second grade and of course most of kids in our class all saw it in the theater. During the first week of school, our main order of business at recess was coming up with a plan to beat the Russian invasion that could fall from the sky at any time.
• A cousin of mine who grew up watching it told me that he & his classmates dug a pit near their middle school & put sharp stuff like thumbtacks and nails in it to deter any invaders, but they got caught immediately after making it lol
• Same here. I would have been in 6-7th grade. Me and my buddies spent weekends making battle plans and each had copies of our books. One kid had a tree fort in the woods behind his house and we stocked it up with canned food. We had designated meeting places, chain of command and plan to get weapons from our parents' houses and who would bring what (most of our parents hunted). I remember around that time that ANY time I heard a helicopter I would stop and wait to see if the Russians were attacking.
• Being a teen that year, that movie was nightmare fuel. I kept looking up at the sky expecting to see a massive airdrop of Cubans lol
• The original is way better. The remake was just an excuse to use modern weaponry.
• The execution scene that happens to a traitor in this might still be the bleakest scene I’ve seen in a movie.
• That and when they execute all the parents, while one of them watches with binoculars.
• 'BECAUSE WE LIVE HERE!'
• Watched it a couple years ago; feels like people getting whiggy at the nonsensical invasion are missing the point. It’s just a sad story about kids growing up under occupation. The Powers Booth monologue by the campfire is so good. Would view again.
• I remember being a little kid and going to the ravine near my home and started training for combat. Army fatigues, toy M-16 and all.
• The most surreal thing for me was seeing a knocked out Russian BMP in Ukraine with Wolverines painted on it early in the invasion. Like how in the heck did someone remember a 38ish year old movie at the time to mark their tank kill.
• I love this f*cking movie. So damn good.
• I cried at the end. I was 7. But that movie was so awesome. Re-enacted many scenes with my brother. And pushed many imaginary commies out of my back yard!!! I never watched the reboot. I did not want to sully my youth.
• I grew up near The Naval Academy in Annapolis. One night when I was 12, my parents and I saw "Red Dawn" At a local theater. 6-10 Midshipmen were in the back. They cheered loudly whenever a Russian was killed or blown up.
• "Come on, bud. You lost a football game once yourself. What? I think you’re lyin’"
• "Come on, bud. You lost a football game once youSnuck into the theater at 12 with my buddies to see this. Twelve-year old me just assumed this would happen at some point in my teen years. Different times, for sure.
• That movie shaped my psyche for two decades.
• Keeps me warm at night.
• The opening scene where the paratroopers land and gun down the teacher terrified me as an elementary schooler.
• Top 5 films of my childhood hands down.
• Man, 40 f*ckin' years, and it still holds up. Builds you up with patriotism in the first half... and then the rug's just pulled out from under you when one of the Rines turns traitor. Part of me wants a proper modern version to erase the stench of 2012, but another part of me knows it'll never happen. You can't top the OG... you just can't.
• Red Dawn is one of the wildest movies I’ve ever seen. I absolutely loved it. It’s too bad the remake was utterly abysmal. The original is a true classic and it still holds up today. What a great concept for a movie.

Reading stuff like this puts a tear in my eye. Do you all know how awesome it is to read other people talk about Red Dawn?

I remember where I was when I first saw it. I was super young, and it came on at a hotel where my mom was traveling to for a triathlon. I was glued to the TV. I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen (I saw "Black Hawk Down" for the first time not too much later and put it on the same level).

It was epic, and as soon as I got home, I started smoking tin cans pretending they were paratroopers. Twenty-five years later, not much has changed.

I will also tell you that one thing every single guy I know in Delta Force has in common is they all love "Red Dawn." I know one guy whose literal fantasy was getting to live out a "Red Dawn" scenario.

He never did that, but I can promise you did plenty of other work in The Unit. 

Are you a "Red Dawn" fan? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.