Nice video. I was the Scenic Artist that painted the Welcome to Calumet Cowgirl in the opening scene. Also painted all the murals and Russian Banners in the Movie. It was 1983 and it was was extremely Cold we worked 12 hours 6 Days a week. The working title for the film was Ten Soldiers not Red Dawn. What’s sad someone repainted the Cowgirl with a different color Scheme, the colors I used was red white and blue to be Patriotic. Thanks for the memories. John De
I just found your video in 2024 - the 40th anniversary of this movie and one I must have seen 10-12 times before it left the theaters and which is also in my collection.
I went to memorial middle school in the 80s. We lived near the spot in the mountains where the wolverines were hiding out. Patrick was our neighbor later in the early 90s. Super nice guy.
I had no idea it was filmed in Las Vegas! My grandparents lived in Ocate, NM, about 40 miles north of there. I spent many a summer in that area. Oner of the reasons I loved Longmire was because it was filmed near there.
At 15:34 or so when you made the comment about them being under siege at that point in the movie they actually weren't. Calumet was 40 miles behind enemy lines at this time so while it was occupied territory the battle at the front lines was very far away. Thanks for this video, I want to visit Las Vegas, NM someday. Red Dawn was, and still is, in my top five favorite movies of all time. Serious crush on Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey to this day. 🥰
This video is pretty awesome and accurate. I was a lighting technician at MGM when this movie was crewing up and I was on the crew for all the New Mexico shooting. The order you went to the locations was the same order they were shot. We were in Las Vegas from early November of 1983 until late in January of 1984, when we moved to Santa Fe to shoot the last two weeks. We went back to L.A. at the first part of February. The sites you showed were great, but what would be hard to capture was how cold it was. When any of us talked about it in years to come, Johnson's Mesa always came up as the highlight of coldness, as it must of been 20 to 30 below up there.
Excellent video! This movie was instrumental in inspiring me to join the military 🪖. I enlisted in the USAF in 1986. My first duty station was Hahn AB, W. Germany 1987-1989. The Cold War was at its height. I took this movie on VHS when I deployed on a classified mission in the Middle East. Enjoyed watching it with our Israeli Allies. Thank you for doing this video. MSgt Ryan Jordan USAF/USAFR Security Police 1987-2015 (Retired).
Very thorough - thanks. I was in that movie (as an extra) (Russian soldier in first scene) but didn't see the whole thing. I hoping they'll re-paint and preserve that "Calumet Says Howdy" sign.
Always cool to see locations of movies, especially classic ones such as this one. Hopefully you can return at later time (if have not already) to try to find the spots unable to get to because of the fires. I could be wrong but I think that ranch that belonged to the Pat and Lisa, is where his ashes were spread.
Superb video! The amount of effort this took does not go unrecognized. I really assumed that most of the locations would be gone by now and it is great to see how many were still there. I wonder if the rock with the names on it is either a) still there or b) just a movie prop like the Rough Rider statue. Great, great video!
@@theensignschair Yes, you mentioned about the mesa in the video. You have the best locations video by a mile for this film and I sure yours will be used as a reference for those who go out there in the future. Kudos
Hands down your then and now pics are the most spot on I've seen! I'm planning a trip to Las Vegas to scout these locations and hopefully camp at Johnson's mesa with my son this October. Your video will be indespensible when locating these film locations. (In 1984 I was in Basic Training at Ft Bliss and was given the oppurtunity to go see this movie as a reward or maxing my PT test. I will never forget the rush of going to see this movie in Basic no less. What a rush it was and 38 years later it still resonates with me.) Thank you for your effort!
Great job ! Red Dawn is such a great movie, and you made it even better with your great Video about locations, and information, Thanks so much for all your hard work,
My guess is that the jet at the drive-in was meant to be a Yak-38. Great video, I drove through Las Vegas NM several years ago but had no idea where the locations were.
Amazing video! Been waiting for someone to do this because up until this, it’s been all Las Vegas stuff, which is cool, but these are the ones I’ve wanted to see. Thank you!
Great video on one of my favorite movies. I've read that the winter of 1983-1984 was one of the coldest on record in NE New Mexico with temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. I bet filming this movie in those temperatures was great fun!
The class room that was shot was actually a prop they constructed for the movie … that building you see now was added to the school in that last 10 years. But it is in the exact spot that was filmed.
Excellent work. My daughter and I travel each year around my birthday to visit these locations. This year we'll make it to Abiquiu for the first time and will have a better experience because of your work. Hope to have some footage of the spot where "Robert" fired his last rounds. Thanks for posting.
Glad it will come to use! I was hoping to find that location as well but unfortunately it was getting late! Please share if you find the location for that!
Update: spent last weekend in NM and found ALL scenes filmed in Abiquiu. Pretty easy actually. Robert's scene was about 50-60 yards right of the rocks where they ate the Russian food. Toni's scene is about 75-100 yards right of Robert's. I have some great pics.
Great job, I enjoyed watching and got to enjoy seeing areas from a movie a lot of us were brought up with. I got to see all of this in a few min what took you hours/days to do, thanks.
Great video; a lot of effort went into this. You didn't mention, maybe you didn't know, that the gas station at 29:00 is where the “coin toss” scene from No Country For Old Men was filmed as well.
Cool video. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released before Red Dawn and had a PG-13 rating. The rating had been suggested by Steven Spielberg
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was and still is Rated PG, it was released 2 months before the PG-13 rating was adopted. Red Dawn was the first to be rated PG-13!
Fantastic! I was working on a Google map with all the locations, but was having a hard time with some of them spots outside of Las Vegas. I would like to compare notes with you, to really lock them down. I would like to plan a road trip out that way. Maybe meet up if you want. I've done other movie locations, turning into a hobby. Let's connect! ~Chris
Where the building explodes at 41 minutes, I think you stated that a facad of building were built for the movie is incorrect. That was an actual historic building that occupied that whole lot. It was knocked down because of a fire and most of the building collapsed. I know this because I am a native Las Vegan and I was actually there when they filmed that scene.
Wow! Very impressed with your scene location research! We are actually planning to go to Ruidoso, NM for two weeks and I have been wanting to do something similar to cross off my bucket list. One scene which I imagine will be hard to find is when Lea Thompson is apparently witnessing a dog fight in the sky where Powers Booth gets shot down and is huddling near a tree. Any idea where that could be? Also when Patrick Swayze is consoling Jennifer Grey after being shot and is looking down from a hill presumably at her before leaving with the other survivors. If you look at this scene there is a curious rock formation at 1:37:53 in the movie to the right of the the screen that looks like a space shuttle. Did you see it by any chance? Lastly, at 45:47 of your video can you confirm what appears to be a fence that is in front of the rock formation where they were attacked by the helicopters? If it is a fence, did you cross it? Can you specify the coordinates or mile marker where this is at? This is the scene where I would most like to visit but if there is a fence I would be hesitant to cross it as I assume it is private property? Again awesome work and hopefully we can visit these locations when we are close by!
The scene with Lea Thompson crouched watching the plane crash was almost certainly filmed along the front range around Las Vegas but would be very difficult to locate as there are no good landmarks visible in that scene. However the scene where she is approaching Powers Booth laying on the ground after parachuting was filmed in the open land east of Las Vegas, this is obvious because Hermits Peak can be seen in the background as well as Tecolote Peak briefly. The Jennifer Grey death scene was filmed in Abiquiu but I did not attempt to locate it. There is a fence along the road but it's just a wildlife fence. To the best of my knowledge that land along the road is BLM land as there are hiking trails in the area!
Sir, What about the intro that started with the mountain, forest and river (example) Shown on the screen in September. That's where you took it from courtesy. Thanks 🙏
Great job with recounting And showing us What it look like then and now. However I'm a little confused why you can't drive down the road where the store used to be to the location Of the road block. You said the road is closed however there's cars driving up-and-down the road as you speak
I'm not sure how far down the road I could have driven, but at some point, as with other roads I drove down, there would have been a police officer and they would only let people who have homes there to travel into the area.
@@theensignschair It sounds exactly like C THomas Howell but I studied this for long time Compare Ardvark So glad you sharing so much of this Much appreciated for the vid!!!!!
I believe that was another scene filmed around or on Johnson Mesa, yet another scene I was unable to verify due to the wildfire at the time preventing access.
@@theensignschair The flagpole and plaque, sure... but the entire rock mass, including the prominent Partisan Rock...a prop? It couldn't be...could it? That mass of rock would take so much material and effort to build, it'd have to been easier to just find a pile of rocks in the desert.
That was one of the things I was looking to confirm by going up to Johnsons Mesa but everything I've researched says that the rock itself was a prop! Plus I have found no additional photos of the rock anywhere!
@@theensignschair It appears that they used chalk, and that the carving was just the actors giving the appearance of scratching the rock. Could just be my wishful thinking tho. ... In the scene at the end that shows the rock prominitory, the shot pans from right to left and theres a fairly unique looking ridge in the distance... I was wondering if you may recognize that ridge and be able to take a guess as to where the Partisan Rock formation (real or prop) was positioned.
In my research I read that Partisan Rock was a prop built for the movie, however I was not able to go up to that area to confirm this and to try and locate where it was.
@@theensignschair - I recently saw a Tiktok video that claimed the likely site was "Johnson Mesa" (not Johnson's), which is SW of Hermit's Peak, in the mountains NW of Las Vegas, NM... It too said it was likely a built prop...
