Yesterday, Glenn had a chance to attend the premiere of the movie adaptation of his good friend Marcus Luttrell’s bestselling book, Lone Survivor. While Glenn doesn’t typically see R-rated films, he made an exception because of his connection to Marcus, and this morning on radio, Glenn heralded Lone Survivor as “the best” war movie ever made.
“Yesterday I saw the Lone Survivor movie… Because my wife and I were sick of watching man's inhumanity to man and every time we left a movie theater, we would leave there and say I just, I feel crappy, we stopped watching rated R movies. It's an arbitrary line but… it has changed our life,” Glenn explained. “Once in a while, and I did it for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, we will find a movie that we feel is important enough to watch.”
Marcus was in attendance at yesterday’s screening, in addition to many former and current Navy SEALs. Glenn said he was so affected by the film, he was stunned to silence for most of the night.
I will tell you that it took me about 20 minutes before I could even speak,” Glenn said. “I've read the book. I've talked to Marcus about it, you know, sitting in a hotel room at night just kind of talking man to man or, you know, weenie to man. But until you've seen it, you have no idea what it was like. More importantly, I will tell you that I have more respect for Marcus Luttrell than I did before I went to see the movie.”
Struggling to find the right words to say to his friend, Glenn explained that he instead wrote a simple message for Marcus in the notebook he was carrying with him.
“As I sat after this movie, I couldn't even look at Marcus, and I had my notebook with me and I tore a page out of the back of my notebook and I just wrote, ‘This is the most humble thing I have ever seen a man do for his friends. I'm humbled to know you,’” Glenn said. “I got up and I put it into his hand because I knew I couldn't say it. Like a girl, I hugged him… He was very gracious.”
Perhaps most impressive about the film was how true to the real life events the movie remained, despite the fact that it was a Hollywood adaptation. As Glenn explained, Marcus did not write the book with the intention of impressing anyone or having people think he is a hero – he wrote the book to ensure his friends and fallen comrades were remembered respectfully.
“I think that Marcus told the story in a way where he didn't care how he looks. His entire focus was to make sure that his friends looked good, which I find even more heroic than what you'll find in the movie. And what you'll find in the movie are men that were so honorable all the way along,” Glenn explained. “It is the greatest war story, I think, ever told on film. It's the best. It's better than Saving Private Ryan, and will immortalize these guys. And that is the best part of it.”
The Lone Survivor opens in theaters nationwide on December 27. Watch trailer below:
