Red Dawn

In this lively (and paranoid) adventure set in the mid-1980s, the US stands alone, abandoned by its allies. The USSR and Cuba start selective bombing, then invade the US and quickly capture the central part of the country. The film takes place entirely in a small town taken by surprise by paratroopers. A band of teenagers (led by Patrick Swayze and C. Thomas Howell) escape to the mountains and become a group of tough guerillas who launch a series of surprise attacks on the murderous and nasty Red invaders. But the teenagers start getting a bit troubled themselves. In their brutality, are they becoming just like their enemies? The band of teens fight on, becoming smaller and smaller. They help pave the way for the eventual victory of the main American Army, busy elsewhere in the Republic.