Watch Walking Dead actor in the first PG-13 movie ever released, now streaming

On August 10, 1984, the John Milius directed action drama Red Dawn was released with the first-ever PG-13 rating. This new rating was formed after Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were given a PG rating, despite many scenes that, today, would warrant different ratings. Red Dawn celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, a movie which starred Walking Dead's C. Thomas Howell.

At the time Gremlins and Temple of Doom were released, the only rating options were G, PG, R, or X, which has been replaced by NC-17, which is rarely used. After many complaints about the violence of these films, Temple of Doom director Steven Speilberg came up with a solution: create a rating that falls between PG and R. While he understood the objections of parents, he felt an R rating would not be suitable as older kids wouldn't have been able to view these highly entertaining movies.

The Motion Picture Association implemented the new PG-13 rating beginning July 1, 1984. This required that Red Dawn, another movie that didn't fit into the previously available rating, would be the first to use the new rating. The advisory for this rating: "Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children."

Red Dawn - 1984

Director John Milius, who wrote the first two Dirty Harry movies and received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for Apocalypse Now, co-wrote Red Dawn with Kevin Reynolds, who directed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Critical reviews for the movie were mixed, but that didn't stop it from becoming a commercial success.

The movie depicts a fictional World War III scenario in which the United States is invaded by a collaboration between the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact, and Communist Latin American states. A group of teens, known as the Wolverines, escape capture and begin carrying out guerrilla operations against the opposing forces in Soviet-occupied Colorado.

Red Dawn consists of many notable cast members including s Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey. Supporting roles in the movie are portrayed by Ben Johnson, Darren Dalton, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O'Neal, William Smith and Powers Boothe.

Red Dawn would became the 20th highest grossing film of 1984 and at the time, was named the most violent film by Guinness Book of Records and the National Coalition on Television Violence. This was based on the fact that the movie contains 134 violent acts per hour, or 2.33 per minute and when it was released on VHS a "Carnage Counter" was included as a nod to this recognition.

Red Dawn is available to stream on Hulu, Max, and more. The movie was re-made in 2012, starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

C. Thomas Howell - Walking Dead and more

Howell has been acting since his film debut in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He portrayed Tyler, a friend of Michael, the eldest brother in the Taylor family. He is best known for his role as the main character, Ponyboy Curtis, in Frances Ford Coppola's adaptation of The Outsiders (1983), which has become a cult classic. This is considered Howell's breakthrough role for which he won a Young Artist Award.

Howell had a small role in The Walking Dead series. He portrayed Roy, a member of the Hilltop community who was introduced in season 7. In the eleventh and final season of the series, Roy was sadly killed by the Reapers while on the mission to retrieve food from Meridian.

Throughout his long-running career, Howell has amassed over 225 credits. Next, he will appear in the movie Reagan, which will be released in theaters on August 30. He was recently cast in a romantic western, Where the Wind Blows.

Howell is also a fantastic musician. His website gives all the details of his music, purchase tickets to his performances, and more.

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