While some did not expect the movie Act of Valor to do as well at the box office as it ultimately did (over $56M over the first three weeks), it was primarily because not everyone expected a movie so clearly focused on values such as honor, courage, commitment and dedication to family and teammates would strike such a responsive chord.

And not many expected that our novelization of this movie, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor, would spend the better part of three months on the New York Times best-seller list, and that the book’s publisher, Penguin, would sell out of its original 400,000 copies printed and go into a major second printing less than two months after the book’s release.

But like most things in life, once some “water passes under the keel,” some retrospective and reflective looks come to the fore that provide a more finely-nuanced look at what this movie is all about.  What follows below appeared in a review of the movie by a student at a prestigious American college.  While I may not agree with everything he says, his thoughts are worth reading.  Here’s what he said about “Act of Valor”

Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor is enjoying its eighth week on the New York Times mass market paperback best seller list.  Unprecedented for a movie novelization, during it’s time on the list it has ranked ahead of books by perennial best-selling novelists such as Iris Johansen, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, Sherryl Woods, and Stephanie Laurens.  Perhaps most notably, when it rose to #4 on the list, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor was ranked ahead of three books by George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Feast for Crows.

Reader comments on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere in the blogsphere increasingly tie the book closely to the record-setting movie, Act of Valor, noting that Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor fully develops the SEAL, their family members and other characters, something the movie can’t begin to do in 100 action-packed minutes that are decidedly focused on kinetics and not on a story line.  That said, by grossing over $56M in its first three weeks in theaters, Act of Valor blew the doors off “standard” Hollywood expectations.

The buzz about the movie, Act of Valor, as well as about Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor has caused the unique story of these two companion works to be picked up on numerous websites and blogs.  I’m delighted that you all have been following the story here, now I’d like to take you to a website that offers an even more entertaining deep-dive into the story-within-the-story of both the book and the movie.

Just due to the nature of my day job and my professional interests, I spend a great deal of time navigating military and defense industry websites.  One of the best – hands down – is the website Faircount Media Group maintains with real time information about important and interesting matters of interest to anyone who follows what our military is doing or what the defense industry is doing.

Faircount Media Group has picked up the story of Act of Valor, as well as about Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor Defense Media Network Website at: www.defensemedianetwork.com.  They have shaped the story much as I have related it to you in these recent blog posts, but have also included additional links that bring the story to life in a lively and entertaining way.  Enjoy!

Like many movies, there is a novelization attached to Act of Valor.  The book, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor, a Penguin Premium Paperback, by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi was published in January (Penguin printed 400,000 copies, unusually high for a novelization, but anticipating that Act of Valor would “open big when it was released), six weeks before Act of Valor was released.  Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor has enjoyed several months on both the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly mass market paperback best-seller lists, rising as high as #4 on both lists and moving into its second printing only six weeks after its initial publication date.  How the novelization came to pass is a unique story unto itself.

In April of 2011, co-author Dick Couch and I were invited by the principals at the Bandito Brothers film company to visit them at their Culver City studio and see a screening of their new film.  After the screening, we were sitting with one of the directors, Mike “Mouse” McCoy, composing ourselves after the event.  “Composing ourselves” isn’t an overstatement or hyperbole.  Act of Valor is an emotional film and a moving one, and we were, at once, completely riveted and blown away by what we had seen.

We talked with Mouse McCoy and Bandito Brothers COO, Max Leitman, about our impressions of the film and talked about some other initiatives related to the film, as well as about some of Bandito Brothers other projects (the day we visited they were in the middle of filming a commercial for the new BMW X6).  There was a slight lull in the conversation and I turned to Mouse McCoy and asked, “So, who’s writing the book?”

“The book?” he replied.  “No one.  We’ve been so busy making the movie we hadn’t had time to think about that.”

“Well, would you consider having Dick and I do that?” I said.  And with that, the novelization of Act of Valor was underway.

Now for a truly behind-the-scenes look at Act of Valor. We think this “story within the story” about how Act of Valor came to be made in the first place will resonate with you. It is a story that is as intriguing as the movie and novelization.

Like many things that still impact us today, it started on September 11, 2001, a day that is riveted into the consciousness all Americans. That day caused a national catharsis and forced civilian and military leaders within the Department of Defense to begin to rethink how to deal with threats to the Nation in the twenty-first century.

As this re-evaluation began to take shape, one thing became immediately apparent, the U.S. Special Operations Command – or SOCOM – would have a vastly more prominent role in dealing with emerging threats to the United States. As explained by Rear Admiral Denny Moynihan, the Navy’s Chief of Information, in a February 19, 2012 article in the New York Times:

Every four years the Defense Department looks at itself and says, “What is it that you need to be moving forward and where do you think you are?” For the Navy and the SEAL community it was, “Hey, you need 500 more SEALs,” and that launched a series of initiatives to try to attract more people. This film was one of those initiatives.

For the U.S. Navy SEALs, knowing they would have to have 500 more enlisted SEALs serving in SEAL teams within five years presented a unique challenge. But as all SEALs know, you cannot create SEALs overnight. The U.S. Navy SEALs received an incredibly tough challenge. But true to their nature, they didn’t shrink from that assignment. But how tough an assignment was it? That is the challenge that led to movie Act of Valor as well as the subsequent novelization Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor.