“Red Dawn” (1984)
There’s just something about teenagers taking up arms in the face of a fascist empire (“The Hunger Games” anyone?) that makes for the stuff of great cinema. John Milius was definitely both ahead of and completely of his time with his 1984 film “Red Dawn,” which he wrote and directed. Instead of a dystopian future, “Red Dawn” takes place in a small, timeless Colorado town where a Communist air invasion occurs on the front lawn of the high school in the middle of class. Half the football team (including Charlie Sheen) and big bro Patrick Swayze take off for the hills in a pickup truck. After a few weeks, they venture back into town, find their father in an internment camp, and their nation divided into “Occupied America” (hmm, prescient? Or were those OWS organizers just versed in ’80s camp classics?) and “Free America.” A friendly couple provides them with information and supplies and asks them to take their granddaughters, played by Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey (you could not get more classic ’80s if you tried). The band of teens decides to stage all out guerrilla warfare (with the help of a downed Air Force pilot) on those Commies, and the result is part “The Warriors,” part “Inglourious Basterds,” and all awesome. Of course, you can’t ignore the extreme politics of the film — it’s a Ted Nugent wet dream– but it was the very height of that Red Scare/end-of-the-Cold-War-moment in the mid ’80s, when every bad guy was Russian, and blindly upholding the values of the red, white, and blue was easy enough to embrace. Also, “Red Dawn” was the very first film released with the PG-13 rating, so “The Hunger Games” owes more than just delight in teen murder to this little-remembered gem. It’s worth sticking this on your queue if only to remember when Charlie Sheen was the coolest dude in Hollywood.
“Apocalypse Now” & Other Screenwriting Work
Milius hasn’t, to date, directed all that many movies, and some of them (“The Wind And The Lion,” “Farewell To The King“) we’d have a tough time recommending. But any look at his career would be remiss without examining what he’s arguably best at: screenwriting. After penning the exploitation-y “Dirty Dozen” knock-off “The Devil’s 8” and an Evel Knievel biopic that starred George Hamilton, Milius turned heads by writing (without credit) some of Clint Eastwood‘s tough-guy monologues (“Did he fire six shots or only five?”) in “Dirty Harry.” The following year, Milius was partly responsible for two rather underrated Westerns: John Huston‘s “The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean” and Sydney Pollack‘s “Jeremiah Johnson,” each of which showcase excellent performances from one-time Butch and Sundance Paul Newman and Robert Redford, respectively. Directing work took precedence for most of the next few years, although Milius did return to Harry Callahan, penning the sequel “Magnum Force” (with Michael Cimino), but inarguably his finest hour came with his script for Francis Ford Coppola‘s “Apocalypse Now.” Milius was hired for a Vietnam-based version of Joseph Conrad‘s “Heart of Darkness” (originally called “The Psychedelic Soldier” — thank god they changed it) for Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope way back in 1969, and over the next decade would rack up at least ten major drafts, at first with George Lucas attached to direct (intending to shoot it as early as 1971). It was only after Lucas was distracted with “American Graffiti” and “Star Wars” that Coppola decided to direct, revising the script himself in 1975. But while he shares credit, the script feels Milius through-and-through. Coppola had told him to “write every scene you want to go into that movie” and the epic, episodic script is full of enough great, rich scenes and moments to fill half-a-dozen movies. Milius would write other scripts — including story work on “1941,” the USS Indianapolis speech on “Jaws,” “Clear And Present Danger,” the unproduced “Sgt. Rock” and “Conan: Crown Of Iron” (the latter of which was nearly directed by the Wachowskis) and most recently, the HBO series “Rome” (one of his finest achievements) — but it’s “Apocalypse Now” that stands as his masterpiece.
— Rodrigo Perez, Katie Walsh, Oliver Lyttelton, Gabe Toro
I keep waiting for "The Essentials: The Films Of George Miller", but I was told his filmography, at 8 features, wasn't big enough (but Whit Stillman got his, with half the films). And now Milus…
Don't get me wrong, John Milus is the man. Loved this piece.
Very nice article, but I believe Milius turns 68 this week.
Nitpicky, but that Conan still if from the terrible sequel and not the original
It's funny to think I'd never heard of this guy (though I knew of and had seen movies he'd written and directed) until a week or so ago when I read Zeroville totally on a whim. A wonderful book — though it kind of fizzles in the end — in which a fictionalized Milius has a pretty big role, and de Palma, Scorsese, Margot Kidder, and others figure in 'cameo' appearances. It's probably the most significant thing to be produced in the last several decades involving Milius — even as obliquely as it does. FYI James Franco secured the rights to the novel last spring — you reported on it at the time but no word has emerged since, and considering how special the novel is I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion of that development among bloggers and fans
Is he still doing the Ancient Egyptian tv series Pharaoh? I hope he is, Rome was brilliant!
Er, The Wind And The Lion is awesome.
Another person here who thinks the Wind and the Lion is OK.
Farewell to the King isnât a very good movie but it is an interesting one. To me it feels like the âJohn Milius: Greatest Hitsâ movie. Itâs the work of an artist who doesnât have anything new to say and is just regurgitating the material that earned him fame in the first place, but less skilfully.
Another proud fan of Wind And The Lion here. That's a terrific movie–Connery camping it up, Brian Keith as Roosevelt, Candice Bergen's best performance, and the great scene where the Marines seize the palace.
Continuing in the Roosevelt theme I'd also support Milius' HBO miniseries Rough Riders, which foreshadowed his work on "Rome" and is pretty damn good in it's own right.
Another supporter for The Wind and the Lion here. Connery's refusal to drop his thick Scottish accent didn't ruin it any more than The Untouchables or any other films. Despite not sounding like Raisuli he perfectly embodied the arrogance of the character.
Can we at least agree that Goldsmith's score is sublime?
The Wind and the Lion is probably the best movie he directed. Really not sure why you wouldn't list it. Who cares about accents?
milius was the only good conservative director i like besides clint eastwood, mel gibson, sylvester stallone and robert duvall. milius did well with conan the barbarian and red dawn. some of the dirty harrys and jack ryans. very patriotic. too bad about his famous composer basil poledouris who passed away 6 years ago.
Yet another supporter for WIND AND THE LION. I don't see what you have against it but I guess its just a matter of taste. I never cared that much for RED DAWN. I personally think CONAN THE BARBARIAN is his masterpiece and it is a real shame he didn't get to do KING CONAN: CROWN OF IRON. It might have revived the series. That recent "reboot" certainly won't get it going again. Too bad that the "What is good in life" quote is the one everyone remembers. I like much better his prayer to Crom as all the bad guys in the world are riding down on him. "Crom, I've never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. I know you don't care who lives and who dies, but grant me one thing, Revenge. And if you don't, the hell with you."
The Wind and the Lion is lean, not bloated. Look at the movie as a whole. Great performances, exciting action, crisp dialogue and arguably the best Jerry Goldsmith score combine to make this a classic. It came out the same time as Jaws, and was overshadowed at the time. Nevertheless, it holds up quite well, and while not true historically, it is a fine story.
The Wind and the Lion is an excellent piece of work. Of course if you are under the age of 40, watching a movie that requires paying attention could be a challenge. John Milius is over rated and much of his alleged writing credits you list are undocumented.
The best John Milius moments have all been brought to the screen by other people. His output as a director is often workmanlike and, dare I say, cinematically boring. He’s unable to transcend his influences. When he writes for himself his scripts lack the polish that directors like Coppola, Siegel and Pollack bring out of him.
Not all of his movies are bad. Dillinger and The Wind and the Lion (his strongest overall film) are solid imitation Peckinpah and Lean respectively, and there are moments where Conan nearly achieves the greatness of Kurosawa, but it’s still the effort of a journeyman working in the shadow of a master. And then you have Farewell to the King, a completely stodgy Lean wannabe; the boring Flight of the Intruder; and, of course, Red Dawn, a barely coherent assemblage of sequences lifted from much better war stories, truncated to get to the shooty bits as quickly as possible and staged terribly, and only as fondly remembered as it is because its premise made an impression on a lot of 12 year olds who grew up to write about movies.