Red Nightmare (1962)A man who has taken his freedom for granted wakes up one morning to find out that the Communists have taken over America. Director:George WaggnerWriter:Vincent Fotre |
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Red Nightmare (1962)A man who has taken his freedom for granted wakes up one morning to find out that the Communists have taken over America. Director:George WaggnerWriter:Vincent Fotre |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Jack Kelly | ... |
Jerry Donavan
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| Jeanne Cooper | ... |
Helen Donavan
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| Peter Brown | ... |
Bill Martin
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Pat Woodell | ... |
Linda Donavan
(as Patricia Woodell)
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| Andrew Duggan | ... |
Judge
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| Peter Breck | ... |
Russian Officer
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| Robert Conrad | ... |
Pete
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Mike Road | ... |
Prosecutor
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| Jack Webb | ... |
On-Camera Narrator
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A man who has taken his freedom for granted wakes up one morning to find out that the Communists have taken over America.
This film succeeds, and fails, on several levels. It doesn't succeed as a camp classic, like "Plan 9 From Outer Space," as it's too well made for that. It doesn't succeed as a straightforward piece warning of the dangers of Communism, as it's too simplistic and one-sided for that. What it does succeed at is as an insight into the mind of the hysterical right wing that dominated U.S. public life at the time--and still does today, in fact. This is the kind of film from "the good old days" that the Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft crowd yearns for: We're right, they're wrong. We're good, they're evil. We're anointed by God, they're sadistic, atheistic monsters. The main thrust of the film, though, isn't the usual "those godless Russky Commies are out to get us" paranoia. Its message is more insidious than that: the REAL danger is from INSIDE America, not outside, from the collaborators, the "America-hating liberals" who are chomping at the bit to do the Commies' bidding in their misguided efforts to "improve" American life (which, as the film implies, we all know is perfect anyway, and since perfection can't be improved upon, these people have to have something else in mind . . .). So we have to be watchful, we have to keep an eye out for people who might be dangerous, who don't act or think like good Americans do, who don't like our values, who want to harm us. We have to watch out for these people, and report them to the authorities, so we can safeguard our way of life, and . . .
Some things never change, do they?