For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.
Today we have international male model Rio Youers. We first met at a NECON, and since bump elbows at the usual conventions. We share a love of living life, Elvis and serious fiction. I look forward to each time we get together, no matter how brief.
1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?
Hell, there are so many. The books that spring to mind are Heller’s CATCH-22, Louis de Bernièries’s CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN, and BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks (which is, in fact, one of the most perfect novels I have ever read). As for movies and TV shows … BAND OF BROTHERS was ten episodes of gut-wrenching awesome, then there’s APOCALYPSE NOW and PLATOON, of course. But if I have to pick a favorite, I’m going with THE DEER HUNTER.
2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.
First off, you have that beautiful, haunting soundtrack—Stanley Myers’s CAVATINA (umm, yeah, I had to Google that). It provides the perfect tone for the movie, at once powerful and heartrending. Then you have possibly the greatest performance of Robert De Niro’s career … and Christopher Walken, too (who deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor—and no, I didn’t have to Google that). And what can you say about the Russian roulette scene in the POW camp? It remains to this day the most tense piece of filmmaking I have ever seen, and I still watch it with my heart running at approximately 2,000 BPM. But what I really like about the movie, and where I think it truly succeeds, is how it illustrates the damage war inflicts beyond the battlefield—how it can tear friendships, families, and lives apart. It’s a painful, yet brilliant movie about humanness, loss, sacrifice, and hope.
3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?
I’m not sure if you can call it an overused theme, but I loathe the schmaltz Hollywood attaches to its take on war—a glamorization, of sorts. I’m thinking about movies like TOP GUN and PEARL HARBOR, replete with beautiful people and over-the-top heroes. Don’t get me wrong, I love action flicks as much as anyone—hell, I’ll take a side-order of schmaltz from time to time—but my preference is that war movies and fiction portray something more gritty, hard-hitting, and realistic.
Before you go, please take a moment to check out Rio's novel Westlake Soul. It's a crowning achievement for anyone, much less a writer so young in his career. Here's what I said in a review of the book (I don't hardly review anything)--Westlake Soul is the grandchild of Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Get His Gun, Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume, and a hippie voodoo love child from the 1970s.
Today we have international male model Rio Youers. We first met at a NECON, and since bump elbows at the usual conventions. We share a love of living life, Elvis and serious fiction. I look forward to each time we get together, no matter how brief.
1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?
Hell, there are so many. The books that spring to mind are Heller’s CATCH-22, Louis de Bernièries’s CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN, and BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks (which is, in fact, one of the most perfect novels I have ever read). As for movies and TV shows … BAND OF BROTHERS was ten episodes of gut-wrenching awesome, then there’s APOCALYPSE NOW and PLATOON, of course. But if I have to pick a favorite, I’m going with THE DEER HUNTER.
2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.
First off, you have that beautiful, haunting soundtrack—Stanley Myers’s CAVATINA (umm, yeah, I had to Google that). It provides the perfect tone for the movie, at once powerful and heartrending. Then you have possibly the greatest performance of Robert De Niro’s career … and Christopher Walken, too (who deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor—and no, I didn’t have to Google that). And what can you say about the Russian roulette scene in the POW camp? It remains to this day the most tense piece of filmmaking I have ever seen, and I still watch it with my heart running at approximately 2,000 BPM. But what I really like about the movie, and where I think it truly succeeds, is how it illustrates the damage war inflicts beyond the battlefield—how it can tear friendships, families, and lives apart. It’s a painful, yet brilliant movie about humanness, loss, sacrifice, and hope.
3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?
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| Rio, Peter Straub, and me |
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Thanks, Rio!
And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:
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