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Kind of a tank-related question about movies


Serbianrage1

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Not many, but "The Beast" is a good movie which depicts a fractured (to say the least) Russian T-55 tank crew fighting in Afghanistan.

Then of course my favorite war movie of all time: "Kelly's Heroes" has some great tank action, especially the attack on the German train depot.

"Saving Private Ryan" also has some very thrilling tank scenes at the climatic final battle.

Several of the episodes of Band of Brothers have some very cool armor equipment action. Look for the one one set during Market Garden.

If you want something really unique, pick up a copy of "The Winter War". All about Finland vs. Russia and lots of uberFin anti-tank action... ;)

Madmatt

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Wheels of Terror was a tank movie based on Sven Hassel....take that for what it is worth to you. :D

If you go see MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION in 3D at the IMAX, you will see that the best canvas for a "tank movie" would be. MD really made you feel like you were inside the Lunar Module on the surface of the moon; it was stunning. I think a movie based on tank crews could make very effective use of that medium.

To date, there is no real good "tank" movie,focusing on the life of a WW II tank crew, though SAHARA from 1943 was okay. The remake was not as good from what I hear.

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Yea, its to bad there aren't more movies with some good tank battles. All the ones covered here are the ones that already came to mind because at least they had/tried to have real ww2 and not some cheap knock off tanks, unlike ermm... Battle of the Bulge (who would've thought the battle took place in the desert) and even Patton (thought its still good) and countless others :rolleyes:

One note about a decent Battle of the Bulge movie, I watched Saints and Soldiers recently, its more of an infantry movie, as they all are but was decent nevertheless, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373283/

[ December 14, 2005, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: Matt H ]

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Negatron John,

The tank in "The Beast" is a Tiran 5 or TI-67. You are probably assuming that it is a T-62 because of the bore evacuator midway down the gun tube. But that gun is a 105mm that the IDF fitted onto the tank (originally a T-55) after capturing it in the Six Day War. The road wheel spacing is the positive identification feature that the vehicle is not a T-62.

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jjhouston,

You may be right, but I could've sworn I saw the low

"inverted frying pan" circular turret of the T-62, which differs greatly from the domed, tapered forward turret of the T-55 series, upgunned or not. Memory also tells me that the Israelis captured a number of T-62s and put them into service--without upgunning them, the U5TS 115mm smoothbore being judged sufficient unto itself. Can you provide stills from the movie so I may recheck my somewhat dated memory files on the matter?

Regards,

John Kettler

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http://www.afvnews.ca/cgi-bin/web-bbs/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/67045

Prominent space between the 1st and 2nd road-wheels.

Missing spent casing ejection port at turret rear.

Relative position of turret hatches.

Also looking at that questionable bore evacuator, the movie tank has it closer to the turret than muzzle, whereas on the 115mm it would be closer to the muzzle.

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jjhouston and Madmatt,

You are correct, and my "pattern recognizer" was evidently defeated by that bore evacuator, which, upon closer examination, isn't shaped or proportioned right to be Russian, either. Am guessing that part of the reason for my mistaken ID lies in the paint scheme, too, since it seems to shorten the turret's vertical profile. Do you happen to know whether the turret front was rounded out on the TI67 for the film? I recall that the T-55 had a turret which was rather trapezoidal with a rounded base when viewed from overhead, with a marked tapering in toward the front.

Regards,

John Kettler

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I think the Bridge at Remagen film had a running tank battle right at the start that looked impressive with a German and US armoured column racing to get to a bridge on either side of the Rhine and blasting away at each other across the river.

There must be some 8th Army desert type movies with tanks, but I cannot remember the movie names right now.

[ December 22, 2005, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Tankbuster ]

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