Red Dawn

Factual error: The Russians use a beeping "radio direction finder" to find the partisans by detecting a bug swallowed by the Mayor's son. In closeups the "direction finder" is seen to be an impedance meter (used for measuring AC resistance) - it's labeled "X=(down arrow) x (up arrow)(omega)". X is the standard abbreviation for impedance, omega means "ohms" (the unit of impedance/resistance), so the label says "impedance is lower dial times upper dial, in ohms". There is a piece of spiral twisted wire across the terminals of the impedance meter which would be useless for radio direction finding. (01:19:15)

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)

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

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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)

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

Factual error: When the Soviet airborne troops first drop into Calumet in the first few scenes of the movie they are using US Army issue parachutes - MC1-1B. (00:04:45)

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

Prologue/Opening Narration: Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years... Labor and food riots in Poland. Soviet troops invade... Cuba and Nicaragua reach troop strength goals of 500,000. El Salvador and Honduras fall... Greens Party gains control of West German Parliament. Demands withdrawal of nuclear weapons from European soil... Mexico plunged into revolution... NATO dissolves. United States stands alone.

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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: When Daryl is confronted by his friends, he tells them that he was forced to swallow something. What was it and why kill him if he was forced to do it?

Answer: It was a tracking device which gave away their location. Since they couldn't remove it, they decided to kill him as he was now a liability.

Gavin Jackson

They killed him because he betrayed them.

How was Daryl forced to swallow it? Did they manage to apprehend him and force it down his throat, or was it something else entirely?

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