Most unintentionally hilarious scene? - Red Dawn (1984) Discussion

[–] martin_66 13 years ago

Why do you find it hilarious that a bunch of teenage kids would not know what a flank is ("flank" being a word predominantly used by the military)?

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[–] Six-Shooter 12 years ago

I don't know about the eighties but most teenagers nowadays could probably tell you what a flank is. Admittedly, video games may have assisted that, though.

The knack to flying lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

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[–] crockett_john 10 years ago

It was funny because the colonel goes through a plan and gives a bunch of details. When he's satisfied he's explained it to everyone, he asks if there are any questions. Rather than asking the kinds of questions he was expecting, they start asking about the meanings of the words he just said. That makes it comedic.

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[–] snickerdoodle68 7 years ago

I wouldnt say that scene was unintentionally hilarious, it was meant to be funny.

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[–] rogerdemarco30 13 years ago

AVVEEEEEENNNNNNNGGGGGEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

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[–] Superunknovvn 13 years ago

agreed.

"We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school"

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] TheGuardingDark 13 years ago

Most unintentionally hilarious scene? So many choices.

For me it's the firing squad scene where all the prisoners sing America the Beautiful badly and then get shot. Also, why are the Russians using tanks for a firing squad? Also, also, why do they just keep on firing after everyone is clearly dead?

Oh... and anytime, anyone says WOLVERINES! Goofiest battle cry, ever.

... and anytime, anyone cries.

@ Martin

Well I can't speak for the OP but I found that scene funny because it's designed to show the kids are not professional soldiers, even though the film up to that point has shown them taking out god knows how many professional soldiers without suffering any losses.

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[–] FourDeuce 13 years ago

"even though the film up to that point has shown them taking out god knows how many professional soldiers without suffering any losses."

As a former professional soldier, it seems many people on the board give too much credit to most of the soldiers. MOST soldiers are not very professional. The vast majority of them are just in as long as they have to be, and many of them do just as little as they can to get by. Even young kids CAN beat them if they set things up properly and have a little luck.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] thedeb50592000 12 years ago

"The vast majority of them are just in as long as they have to be, and many of them do just as little as they can to get by."

Well, I'm certainly glad that you are no longer a soldier if you had a *beep* up attitude like that.

I was active-duty Army for 8.5 years in a combat support role (logistics/supply)and although I may have been asked to do things that I didn't want to do or was too tired to do, I always did my very best.

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[–] FourDeuce 12 years ago

"Well, I'm certainly glad that you are no longer a soldier if you had a *beep* up attitude like that"

Gee, it's too bad my "attitude" doesn't meet your high standards. It worked well enough for me to spend 15 years on active duty in a Combat Arms MOS.

"I always did my very best."

That's nice, but if you believe your actions show that everybody did the same thing, you didn't spend enough time in the military. Check the enlistment statistics and look at PT test results if you think my claim was wrong.

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[–] boxerrebellion 11 years ago

He did not say that HE had that attitude, just that many Soldiers did. There are a number of Sailors also with that attitude, especially if they aren't in a technical field. I don't know much about the Air Force, and most of the Marines I've met are pretty gung ho (and to paraphrase from A Few Good Men, fanatical about being Marines). Unfortunately, there are still a number of enlisted personnel who chose the military over jail time (the Judge gave them a choice), and there are a number of young people who are just slackers and figure that the military is as good a place as any to slack. I'm old school, and before I retired I was flabbergasted by the attitude of some of the young Sailors I worked with and their work ethic. The more senior personnel tended to be older - and either through shared work ethic, or attrition of the slackers, had a much better attitude.

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[–] the_la_baker 11 years ago

Everyone I know in the service speaks of the cadets that get "pushed through" even though they can't "hack it". I can only assume you are unaware of this because you yourself were "pushed through". No offense intended, but it might be unavoidable.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] rattlesnake_suitcase 8 years ago

I don't thing Bella planned to use the firing squad until that guy started singing. The look on Colonel Bella and the Mayor's face is hilarious, like this is the most awful singing we've ever heard, get the firing squad over here pronto!

You can believe what you want, but don't believe it here. - Harry Crumb

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[–] rattlesnake_suitcase 8 years ago

Instead of taking one pot to boil water in, they take 900 cans of soda and a football.

You can believe what you want, but don't believe it here. - Harry Crumb

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[–] martin_66 13 years ago

"I was rolling on the floor".

No, you weren't.

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[–] the_bamboo_spear 13 years ago

The Cuban and Soviet invaders going to the local sports & hunting store to see who had what rifles at their home. Come on, I get that we're supposed to support the 2nd Amendment and be against the government spying on us, but I think that a grossly outnumbered Soviet and Cuban invasion force is going to have other things to worry about, instead of going through a file cabinet at Oshman's, checking to see if Jim Bob down the street owns an AR-15.

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[–] martin_66 13 years ago

But they weren't greatly outnumbered. They outnumbered, militarily at least, the locals. And if you want to keep order and prevent an armed rebellion what better way to do it than ensure you are the ones holding all the guns?

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[–] the_bamboo_spear 13 years ago

In this country, it's a waste of time. For every registered gun there are 20 of them under beds, under pillows, stuck in gloveboxes, bought from a friend, or at a gunshow, or from a pawnshop, or stolen (or bought on Gunbroker.com these days). Why send valuable, English-speaking resources down to the local gunshop just to find out which guys have shotguns and sporting rifles? Who cares? Chances are, those guys were killed in the initial invasion because they were the guys out there in the street, shooting paratroopers.

The scene is just a ridiculous anti-gun control scare tactic. And I'm anti-gun control.

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[–] johanson17 13 years ago

Going and see who was registered to own a gun would be the first thing I would do if I was trying to pacify a town. I do not see how that was funny?

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[–] TheReelMcCoy 13 years ago

Most unintentionally hilarious scene?

When Patrick Swayze starts bawling halfway through the film, and then inadvertently blows the biggest snot bubble caught on film in Hollywood history.

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[–] Kawada_Kira 13 years ago

Sig under construction

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[–] s-pound 13 years ago

When the boys sneak back into town and go into the drug store, the clerk says discreetly "they're looking for you", to Jed.

Jed responds, "who?"

Gee, I wonder Jed. Maybe it's the Denver Broncos looking for good strong safety or maybe, just possibly, remotely, it's the commies who have dropped in and laid waste to your entire realm of existence.

....but I could be wrong

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[–] martin_66 13 years ago

LOL!!!!

It probably was the Broncos!!

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[–] rickb69 10 years ago

After the 2014 superbowl, the Broncos definitely need a strong safety

If a person with multiple personalities threatens to commit suicide, is that a hostage situation

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[–] shiloh2000 12 years ago

LOL. I gotta agree with that. And then the camera flashes to this commie watching them from upstairs in the drug store. It's just hilarious.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] sascha-17 12 years ago

Why send valuable, English-speaking resources down to the local gunshop just to find out which guys have shotguns and sporting rifles?

Because John Milius is probably the biggest gun-nut in Hollywood? That whole premise could only have come from someone who believes/argues that the 2nd amendment is still a valid tool to keep the gouvernment in check. You know? The old "only dictatorships want to make owning a gun illegal"-argument.

Back on topic:

Gotta be "Aveeeeenge meeeeeeee!" for me as well. Classic 80s-cheese. Shows what a great actor Harry is.. To deliver that line without breaking into laughter? That's tough.

The whole idea of a bunch of regular kids being able to form a successful resistance group and kill Russian soldiers by the truckload. Yeah, I know not all soldiers are invincible fighting machines, and the Soviets did have a conscript army. But even conscripts get a lot more training than any of these kids ever had. And I seriously doubt the Soviets would have used green troops to spearhead such an invasion.

Also: Worst ... tankbattle ... ever. John Milius should know (and probably does know) that tanks never operate without heavy infantry support.

S.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] FourDeuce 12 years ago

"Why send valuable, English-speaking resources down to the local gunshop just to find out which guys have shotguns and sporting rifles?"

First, because shotguns and sporting rifles can be used to kill people just as well as "military" weapons.
Second, because not ALL weapons registered by civilians are shotguns and sporting rifles. BTW, another name for one type of "sporting rifle" is SNIPER RIFLE.

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[–] the_bamboo_spear 10 years ago

Yes, a deer-hunting .30-06 with a scope is, in effect, a sniper rifle in capable hands. But my point is that, in the United States, for every rifle, shotgun or handgun registered down at Academy or the local sporting goods store, there are at least 10 more floating around, either handed down from dad or inherited from an uncle, or bought at a pawnshop, or bought at a gunshow, or swapped for another gun, or just stolen.

In that scene, the Soviets and Cubans are taking fire from an American helicopter. They obviously have their hands full. It's a war. They don't even have a solid foothold yet. And they're going to send valuable resources down to Oshman's to rummage through a file cabinet to see who has a shotgun, when the United States Army is straffing them with rockets and M-60's?

Maybe if the scene happened a few months after the invasion, and they were casually confiscating guns, it would be more believable. But 24 hours into the invasion? Doubtful.

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[–] RavenQuote 12 years ago

For me it was Jed's face off with the Russian at the end. Him with his granddaddy's six shooter and the Russian with an Uzi type machine gun.

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[–] enforcrr 12 years ago

"Grazing fire? why dont we just shoot at them"

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[–] MercurialAquarian 12 years ago

The scene where the sort of famous, but not really famous famous, young movie stars overact and make dramatic aspects corny. The scene, of course, being the entire movie. A lot of the corniness, not all of it, can be chalked-up to the propaganda and overly-patriotic sentiment of the author, as well as the political smoke & mirrors and flag-waving hyperbole of the era itself. With all of the acting in the White House taking place at that time, the bar for acting in the movie could be set kind of low.

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[–] Chadmw 12 years ago

For me it's anytime C. Thomas Howell tries to be the tough guy. He just can't play tough guys

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[–] cheapfrill 7 years ago

Good point. Even Powers Booth laughed in his face when he spits his cigarette out.

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[–] Ainull_seepage 12 years ago

The fact that the black guy dies first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73SidPwuG78

Confound your lousy toll.. TROLL!

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[–] Xeokym 12 years ago

I always giggle when Swayze yells at them all to stop crying after seeing the people shot firing squad style (and yes, the part where they start singing is funny as well). He says something like, "STOP CRYING! TURN IT INTO SOMETHING ELSE! TURN IT INTO SOMETHING ELSE!"

»«ëÕ|{¥(V)
I can't understand your crazy moon language.

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