Red Dawn Is Coming ~ Strange Days in LA: From Magnolia to Inherent Vice

This Thanksgiving, the Fight begins at Dawn.

What will happen with this new film's opening on Wednesday, November 21, 2012? What sites of significance are tied to this movie? Products? Names?

Anonymous left the following comment on my earlier "Red Dawn" posting: "The original trailer, on the laserdisc release, includes a scene with a tank rolling up to a McDonald's where enemy soldiers are eating. The scene does not appear in the final cut, and was likely removed due to a mass murder at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, CA, weeks before the film opened."

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

The San Ysidro McDonald's event was a mass shooting that took place on July 18, 1984, at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California. James Oliver Huberty (born October 11, 1942, Canton, Ohio) shot and killed 21 people (including five children) and injured 19 others.

First of all, for those who weren't alive then, the images above and below give you some idea of the Columbine-like wall-to-wall nature of the coverage. The media seized this reality form of broadcasting in 1963, when the television networks were made aware they could increase ratings as they covered the JFK assassination for four straight days in November.

How specific were the graphic images that were published at the time? One lasting picture was the following one. It showed Omarr Hernandez lying next to his bicycle on July 18, 1984. The photo would become a symbol of the "devastating McDonald’s massacre in 1984." The 11-year old boy was among the victims killed by the shooter. Photograph was captured by Barry Fitzsimmons.

This is a real boy. This is a real victim. His family and friends were forever changed by the event.

At the time it was released, Red Dawn (1984) was considered the most violent film by the Guinness Book of Records and The National Coalition on Television Violence, with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute (Source). The DVD Special Edition (2007) includes an on-screen "Carnage Counter" in a bizarre nod to this.

It is worthy of noting that the first person killed in Red Dawn (1984) was the African-American teacher, Mr. Teasdale, played by former NFL player Frank McRae This link probably goes back to first person killed in American Revolution was an African-American, Crispus Attucks. Who is the first individual killed in Red Dawn (2012)?

Red Dawn, production photo, 1984.

Certainly, the San Ysidro-McDonald's event did change the Red Dawn that would be seen in 1984. It appears the filmmakers made a correct decision in changing the film, at least regarding the McDonald's "trigger" imagery.

Red Dawn (1984) was released on August 10, 1984.

San Ysidro, California, shooting site, 1984.

Red Dawn, deleted scene, 1984.

The new Red Dawn movie does not appear to have a "Colonel Ernesto Bella" in it, as in the 1984 version. "Bella" was played by Ron O'Neal (who became most famous as "Super Fly" in the movie of the same name, 1972, and then played minor roles, like "Charles Zurich" in Knight Rider's "Sky Knight" episode, 1985). O'Neal died in 2004.

Enki, who saw an early screening of Red Dawn (2012), writes: "I do not have much to report in the sync department, except for the fact that the new film takes place in Spokane, Washington instead of Colorado, and as Michael noted, Simon Bolivar is considered to be the George Washington of South America. The school shooting from the first film is absent from the remake, which was probably a no-brainer decision on the part of the filmmakers, and another memorable and unsettling scene from the original was altered to be less disturbing."

But recent copycat events are giving a bit of a pause. Enki forwards this, today: "Lammers allegedly planned to shoot up the B&B Bolivar Cinema 5, which is located on Bolivar's East Aldrich Road. Aldrich = old or wise ruler, which makes me think of a king. The accidental gun discharge took place at king-resonating Regal Cinemas on Sanguinetti Road in Sonora. Sanguinetti = little blood. The King-Kill current I was sensing seems to be coming to the surface. Might the next red dawn event be a political assassination?"

Needless to say, few of us have to be reminded that November 22nd is the anniversary of the JFK assassination.

What do you notice in this film?

One thing is certain. There is a new red dawn coming.

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For the links to older postings about

Colorado's Aurora's red dawn symbolism, please see also:

Red Dawn 2012

Red Dawn Again

Red Dawn

Recent interviews, about the Aurora shootings:

WGN - Mike McConnell: Loren Coleman

The Corbett Report: The Copycat Effect with Loren Coleman

Binnall of America: Loren Coleman and Bruce Rux