"We live here."

Patrick Swayze passed away today.

Red Dawn was an important movie for most kids growing up in my neighborhood. Patrick Swayze starred in this film, in case you haven’t seen it. I think he did a great job.

A few years ago, I had the chance to interview John Milius, the writer and director of the movie, on the occasion of Operation Red Dawn that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein.

I had a chance to ask him about one of Swayze’s pivotal scenes in the movie:

Me: I revisited the film after Sept. 11 because we had been attacked and, in a sense, we were at war. The one scene that really stuck out was when the Wolverines execute the Russian soldier and the mayor’s son, Daryl. The rationale that Jed [Patrick Swayze’s character] gives is, “We live here.” For me that sort of summed up the anger and fear that followed Sept. 11.

Milius: That’s the emotional core of it, isn’t it though? That’s it. We live here. This is what we are. At the time I remember that was a very, very powerful scene… [I]t was extremely [difficult] to shoot that. We were way, way up on a place called Johnson’s Mesa. It snowed. The wind was blowing in. It dropped below zero, everybody was getting frostbite, as well as the fact, I remember, everyone had dysentery. So you had the problem of everyone having to rush to various facilities wearing Avirex assault gear. It’s funny how those are the things you remember.

I remember the power of that scene and that they got into it because of the fact that it was so bitterly cold. And yet it was so beautiful at the same time. Everybody became kind of strongly attached to the place. There are a lot of different scenes people think of as the most powerful moments.

Thanks, Patrick.