A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Red Dawn  Release Date: August 10, 1984 Screenplay by: John Milius and Kevin Reynolds, based on a story by Kevin Reynolds Directed by: John Milius Starring: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Ron O'Neal, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, William Smith, Powers Boothe, Jennifer Grey Director John Milius' 1984 Red Dawn is one of my favorite "what-if" action movies. Set in the late 1980s, Red Dawn depicts an invasion of the United States in a truly dystopian post-Reagan world. "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." - Prologue title cards, Red Dawn Originally conceived by Kevin...

Jaws 3-D (1983) aka Jaws 3 Directed by Joe Alves Written by Richard Matheson and Carl Gottlieb, based on a screen story by Guerdon Trueblood. Suggested by Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws Starring: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkingdale, Louis Gossett, Jr., John Putch, Lea Thompson The third dimension is terror Jaws 3-D is a 1983 horror/thriller and the second sequel to Steven Spielberg’s 1975 Jaws.   It was one of several films produced during an ill-advised attempt to reintroduce 3-D movies, along with such fare as Amityville 3-D, Friday the 13th Part 3-D , and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. Released in July of 1983, Jaws 3-D is also best known for three things: It is the only Jaws sequel that was not produced by Universal. Alan Landsburg Productions bought the rights to make it. Universal retained the distribution rights, however. It marked the film debut of actress Lea Thompson. It marked the end of Carl Gottlieb’s screenw...