Red Dawn

Red Dawn (1984)

4 corrections since 9 Jan '17, 00:00

(8 votes)

Corrected entry: During the scene at the Arapaho National Forest sign, the soldier translates, "Roosevelt leading imperialist army and cowboys putting down a great peasant uprising... 35,000 dead... etc. etc." Yet the sign only reads, "Founded by Roosevelt under the forest service act of 1908 comprises acres of virgin timberland of..." No info of any battle is displayed.

Kurt Christensen

Correction: It is the intention of the scene that the Russian soldier who "supposedly" knows English and can translate is faking that he can read the English.

Red Dawn mistake picture

Factual error: When the Russian tank rolls up to the two gas pumps, the crew have a choice of regular gasoline (as indicated on the pump), or Good Gulf (a premium gasoline). And in fact one of the tankers tells the attendant, "Gasoline." The trouble is, all Soviet tanks, from the T-34 up through the T-80, have diesel engines for safety reasons. (00:46:55)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Most variants of the T-80 use a Gas Turbine engine, which can use basically any flammable liquid.

Red Dawn mistake picture

Factual error: In the opening scene of the movie, the Soviet paratroopers are seen wearing smooth, black, leather parachute helmets. But Soviet Paratroopers have always worn tan, cloth parachute helmets with ridges that resembled tanker helmets. (00:05:00)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Actually no, The Soviet airborne would have had leather helmets when they jumped in circa 1984.

Corrected entry: In the scene where the freedom fighters are attacked by the Soviet helicopter gunships, one of them fires a rocket from an RPG-7 at one of them. It does little damage - it should have been blown out of the sky. The RPG-7 is an anti-tank weapon, so even a heavily armored helicopter shouldn't be able to withstand a hit from one.

Correction: If you look closely the RPG actually hits the Soviet guy in the open area of the helicopter. The copter actually has a open door (much like the US Huey) in the middle. The Russian is manning a gun in this middle part. The explosion kills this man (possible another) and disperses the explosion out the open sides instead of throughout the helicopter's hull.

Correction: The Hind helicopter is the most armoured helicopter in service. It will easily withstand an RPG hit because the RPG is designed to penetrate solid armour and has a relatively small explosive charge. The main enemy to all helicopters, as proven in Afghanistan, is the Man Poertable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS), like the Stinger, which homes in on the engine, and could easily drop a Hind if it hits there.

The original correction is correct: the explosion is dispersed through the open space. Had the RPG round struck the Hind elsewhere, the chopper would've been obliterated: RPG-7s have destroyed numerous main battle tanks, and an MI-24 Hind's armor was designed to withstand 14.7 mm rounds, not rocket-propelled grenades.

Jukka Nurmi

This is factually wrong. The RPG-7 as shown in the movie has actually only destroyed a few main battle tanks. In both Gulf Wars only 1 Abrams M1 was disabled (not destroyed) by an RPG. If the RPG had indeed exploded in the "open" part of Hind it would have killed the crew.

stiiggy

Continuity mistake: During the beginning, the sky changes numerous times. In some shots it's just plain blue sky. In others it's full on cloudy. It goes back to sunny when the kids leave the school. Also you can tell some shots were filmed later in the day. Use the sun angle to see this.

manthabeat

More mistakes in Red Dawn

Col. Andy Tanner: All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid.
Robert: It keeps me warm.

More quotes from Red Dawn

Trivia: According to the Guinness Book of World Records at the time, this film held the record for being the most violent movie ever made, with scenes of violence every five minutes.

megamii

More trivia for Red Dawn

Question: Where can I find out who the extras were in the movie? My uncle was one of the paratroopers at the beginning, I just want to know which one, and no I can't call him.

toby1kenobi

Chosen answer: I was one of the actual paratroopers in the movie. There were at least two different companies providing the extra's. The company that provided the actual paratroopers was Delta Productions, Inc. owned by John Early who owned the Parachute Center in Albuquerque, NM. John was a former Green Beret and professional soldier and was hired to be the technical adviser to the film. As far as I know, Delta Productions is no longer in business. The other company that hired extras provided the non-paratrooper extras. I do not have any information concerning that company but I do know that most were locals who lived in Las Vegas, NM. I know this because I met one of them in the Marine Corps years later. To answer your actual question, I have no knowledge if that information was kept other than those companies that hired them.

More questions & answers from Red Dawn

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.