In addition to his numerous scandals, Charlie Sheen is best known for the sitcom “Two and a Half Men” and the war film masterpiece “Platoon”. But the film that gave him his breakthrough has almost completely fallen into oblivion.
He is one of Hollywood’s biggest scandal figures, but his acting talent cannot be denied: Charlie Sheen showed, especially at a young age, that the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree and that he inherited a lot from his successful star dad Martin Sheen. He received critical acclaim for the war film “Platoon” and later parodied his success in “Hot Shots!”. He celebrated further successes with films such as “Wall Street”, “The Three Musketeers” and “The Indians of Cleveland”.
The high point of his career was the TV series “Two and a Half Men” for eight years, in which – as has often been ironically commented – he basically played himself. So while Sheen has had a respectable career, the film that made him famous is rarely mentioned today. What is meant is the action film “The Red Flood” from 1984, which caused a lot of controversy at the time. How fitting that a scandal star like Charlie Sheen does too known through a scandal film became.
“The Red Tide” is controversial 80s action
Although “The Red Tide” was once a huge hit, it sparked heated debate and controversy. Many critics accused him of reactionary and right-wing propaganda to spread. The film is about the Soviet Union and Cuba invading the world out of the blue after a nuclear disarmament campaign in the West. NATO is dissolved when Cuba captures both El Salvador and Honduras. Shortly thereafter, Russian paratroopers jump over various small US towns and cause veritable massacres. The third world war has begun.
A group of high school students from the village of Calumet manage to escape into the woods. Her parents are detained in re-education camps. The youngsters (including: Charlie Sheen) use their skills to acquire weapons and form a small guerrilla force, the “Wolverines”. They assassinate Cubans and Russians brutally and without regard for losses.
Very young: Charlie Sheen and the “Dirty Dancing” dream couple
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Both Patrick Swayze (left) and Charlie Sheen (right) had their first big success with “The Red Tide”.
A really controversial film – fitting, because the director and co-writer of “The Red Tide” was none other than John Milius. He is known in Hollywood as someone who offends – not least because of his great passion for collecting firearms and his political support for the National Rifle Association. As a screenwriter, he was involved in many classics such as “Apocalypse Now”, “The Cartel” or “Jaws”, and as a director he himself staged the fantasy hit “Conan the Barbarian”. Although he was appreciated in Hollywood despite his reputation, the negative reception to “The Red Tide” gave his career a rough kink.
You have to give him at least what kind of a great casting he succeeded at that time. Not only did he cast Charlie Sheen in his first major role and thus made his acting career possible for him. The other members of the Wolverines are also top-class in retrospect. Charlie Sheen’s screen brother is played by the then unknown Patrick Swayze – and one of the girls from the group is played by Jennifer Grey. The later “Dirty Dancing” dream couple So they already worked together here, and already in “The Red Tide” the characters of the two enter into a relationship. Also featured is then-teen star C. Thomas Howell (“The Outsiders”) and Lea Thompson, who became an icon a year later with “Back to the Future.”
In Germany, DVD releases of “Die rote Flut” are usually only available in used condition, it is no longer shown on TV or offered on streaming services. Although the film was already a scandal at the time, it got a remake called “Red Dawn” in 2012, in which Chris Hemsworth, among others, starred as a resistance fighter – but now not against Russian invaders, but against soldiers from North Korea.
