i think it is funny that they used all American type armor in the movie playing both American and German. I think it's funny that all the American equips ment is a two tone camo when most equipment, well vehicles were the standard olive drab. Also like what color is the Germans supposed to be not quite sure, but by that part of the war wasn't most German vehicles using the base color sand yellow and then using colors like medium green and red earth as further camp colors. Also there some inconsistencies like it's dead winter were they break thru snow every where later no snow at all. I also thought it was funny the German tactical board had the right models but the actual tanks were wrong, lol, I think just for consistency they should have had the models match the tanks they were actually using.
Other than that, it was just fine. LOL What I liked about the movie was Robert Shaw. They gave him a character that wasn't a cardboard cutout, one dimensional German. He had a past, and Shaw brought some skill to him. I know historically what's wrong with it, but I still enjoy my man Hessler.
It’s been a long time. I think in the end our German friend burns up in the tank? Not? If my mind serves correctly. I don’t believe it got a high percentage rating when I go to WWII movies on demand on my Comcast/Xfinity. Not a full bag of popcorn or whatever rating symbol that they use on there. Was it that long ago? 1966? My my, I was serving my first tour with the Navy in Arlington, Virginia. I was more interested in the Waves on base, especially on Saturday nights, than any new movie of the day.
I loved Robert shaw in the part too he did make the character seem unique. I think that is probably the best role of his.
He was better as a panzer commander than as a RAF squadron leader? I admit that as a child (as did all children in the '60s) loved Battle of the Bulge. As an adult I would say it stinks. Obviously it wasn't the same writer/producer team as the one that produced The Longest Day.
The best part of the movie. The second best part is when the credits rolled. I thought that it was cool as all out back when I was a kid, but after I grew up and watched it again I felt that it sucked donkey deeks.
I would say so, not that he wasn't great in Battle of Britain, and many others. Hessler was an intriguing character, determined to do his duty despite his doubts about the war and the Nazi regime. Similar to Curt Jurgens in The Enemy Below. Speaking of which, my favorite Shaw role has to be Quint in Jaws.
I think so he had a much more involved part than in the Battle of Britain which is a bit funny that he's played both German and British. Anyway although the movie is really historical inaccurate it's a kewl movie I like the music. I think these days they could do a really great remake using mock ups and cgi and make the tanks look like the actual tanks used. I do really like the m47 Takara models did a tank set of wwIi, you got a panzer iv h, a Sherman m4a1 76, a tiger ii, a panther, a kubelmwagen wth steel drums and a tent, a 88 l56 flak with shield, sand bag revit on pedestal, a pzjag I've, a stug IV, tiger I, a hetzer, a nashorn, and the 1966 battle of the bulge m47...lol, don't get why they decided to do that when other sets they came out with a special that kinda went with the set in another they did the bridge too far panzer movie tank which was a early leapord I with some sheet plate added to try to change the shape of the turret they didn't do much in the movie to make it into a wwIi tank but could have really made it look like a convincing panther if they really tried. Take care all.
At least they used (then) modern tanks and today it would be all CGI. The Russian movie industry hauls out a few antiques and I've seen BT-7s, Matillda IIs, T-34/85s and a lot of sheetmetal panzers (T-55s?). The Russians also do a lot of CGIs. I hate the shell going through a tank in slow motion and nobody dies of spalling.
The Koreans, South Korea did a movie they called my way, the 1939 battle for Manchuria where the soviets over ran the Japanese with bt7 tanks. The studio had a bunch of utility tracked vehicles built with mockup bodies of the BT, they looked great very much as a BT would look except for the running gear not the Christie looking type. Still I think it was great they went to the trouble of doing them and so many. Kinda of wondered if maybe they made them out of plywood, be a lot easier and cheaper. The story is based on a true stor but like most true story based movies like 5/10 percent truth the rest fiction. The story is about a bunch of Koreans forced to serve in the imperial army they get sent to Manchuria to fight the soviets. They are over run most killed but some are captured by the soviets sent to a labor camp many died from starvation over work or just shot. Then the Germans invade and tell the prisoners they can live on as soldiers for the motherland or and they start shooting prisoners well of course the rest grab uniforms and put them on then during s battle the Germans were dug in and well protected they are forced to charge well they get slaughtered those that try to retreat get machined gun by troops trying to make sure they keep fighting. After the battle a couple of the prisoners are still,alive but the battle has shifted they find some dead Germans take their uniforms and head west they supposedly run into German units and are thrown into the ranks. They end up at dday and one of them is captured by American forces and sent to British with a number of prisoners. The thing is yes a Asian identifying himself as Korean was taken prisoner but the story as how he really got there will stay a mystery the guy who wrote the story got obsessed with it when he found a photo of an Asian being processed at dday by mps. The guy never returned to Korea when he was released from prison in England he relocated to the east coast USA. He had a family and never told them of his days as a soldier. The writer producer located them and tried to get the story of his experiences but they never knew anything about his days as a soldier so everything in the movie was just this writers ideas of what could have happened. You do have to admit it's pretty strange that a Korean would be in the German army at Normandy. Too bad we'll never know how he really got there or if he was even really a survivor of that war between the soviets and the Japanese. I read a article saying that the official numbers of troops involved and casualties on both sides they say are greatly misreported and they think the numbers were much higher about double what was reported. They say they examined hospital records and the numbers of treated were almost double what they reported like neither side really wanted to admit there was even a major battle. The Japanese I can see they wouldn't want the world to know they got spanked and really bad. The soviets do to sure except that they tank army was a bit of a secret maybe they didn't want too much publicity to keep the new weapons under wraps. In any case the guy may not even had been from that war but I guess it's a better story than he was there because he loved a German girl and was there to prove his love and pride for Germany. Oh well maybe a journal or some letters will turn up telling the real story or a long time friend he told his story to I would kinda like to know the real story. Fury was a terrible movie I watched with a friend I was saying I wonder why they did a mixed unit and not all 75s my friend said maybe they couldn't find enough tanks I think that's not it there's lots of Sherman's out there they probably just didn't take the time, plus the two 76 gunned tanks should have made mince meat out of that tiger, reports of knock outs were common at 1200 yards they were lots closer than that I think they should have used a panther from the front the 76 still would have had a time but a flank shot kaput.
Yang Kyoungjong, the only known soldier to have fought on three sides of a war, 1944 - Rare Historical Photos
It is still a crazy story interestingly it says he was in Manchuria when he's conscripted. The movie they have him in Korea, guess the writer for the movie felt it would be more compelling for Korean movie fans to make it more of a struggle between Korea vs occupation forces of the Japanese. It's interesting that Japan had tried to invade Korea for centuries claiming that Korea was a former colony of Japan and belonged to them. Funny as they were a colony of China and broke away and fought for their independence. Just a cover for imperial expansion, but you have to credit the Koreans for fighting them off for so long as they were always out numbered and not as well,equips, yet they kept the Japanese as bay for generations.
Now that you mention it I'm going to have to check out those Russian films and see what's what. In the white tiger I thought it was interesting that the t85s had t55 road wheels, I think I found out they were t85 m1960 or m1969, which were refurbished tanks with some modifications and new engines. I think a lot of them were sold to the Egyptians in time for the 67 war. Anyway it is great when they do use real tanks, but in the absence of the real thing cgi is getting really good and very realistic. And what you said about the Russians, they certainly have been doing lots in recovering old wwii tanks in lakes rivers bogs and swamps and restoring them to running conduction. I thought it was a laugh some guy bought a t55 as salvage got it pretty cheap,then had it shipped to his home the guy lives on a farm so into the barn, he stripped it down to the bare hull cleaned it completely refurbished it in and out rebuilt the engine and got it running again. Lol, now that a kit build. I wonder if there's a bunch of Sherman tanks sitting in a scrap yard or disposal field somewhere here. There always finding tanks all over Europe in odd places there a scrap yard in Germany where there are like two or three tanks sitting there they put aside for salvage and restoration but they've been sitting for years. In France they scrapped most of the arl44s but they rescued two from a target range and are hoping to fully restore them. I wonder if there's stuff left on Okinawa as that was one of our major buildup and assembly locations during and after the war. I give a lot of credit to all the groups that are still,trying to preserve and restore all,the old vehicles and planes from wwii and after.
Stalin had the Sherman turrets removed so he didn't have to return them to the US. They became farm tractors.
Isn't using a tank as a tractor a bit uneconomical as it uses a lot of fuel. After the wall came down and the Warsaw Pact fell apart the Russians had 80'tom100, 000'tanks to with draw most were older models t55 to the 72 that the Russians really didn't want they tried to sell them as utility vehicles but no one wanted them say they were too expensive to run. So they sent them to scrap yard paying tens of thousands to have then cut up into scrap. Ukrain had a factory for rebuilding old soviet tanks that closed and had thousands of tanks stored there. I hope they reopened the factory and that's where they are building the latest m84 tank and give those Russians a good going over if they try to push over the border again as they say the Russian army is massing up alone the border again. Poor ukrain I hope those guys can beat them off. The newer m84 is basically a modified t72 but I think they said it has all new fire control upgraded armor, a better engine and an improved gun. Not sure what's improved about the gun maybe some new type of shells. Hope the came up with a better stowage for the ammo as they say that's one of the biggest problems with Russian tanks that they have the ammo stored all around the turret ring and very acceptable to getting hit and detonating when the armor is penetrated. Anyway there's so many abandoned tanks in Eastern Europe so have bought tanks rather cheap the big problem is getting them shipped to your home. I watched a YouTube thing were a guy buys a t55 and tears it down completely strips it to a bare hull and completely rebuilds it with some friends wow they did great work even tearing down the engine and doing a complete rebuild new seals bearings etc. imwonder how the guys building that t38 are doing wonder if they could have found one cheap in Russia as the Russians are always finding more abandon wwii tanks in forests, and in the hills and recover quite a number from lakes, rivers, and swamps, it's amazing they were able to get most of them running they say the cold temperatures helped preserve the tanks kept them from corroding excessively. I watch the recover of a couple of the t34 and KVs and they pulled the out the tanks just rolled on there tracks no problem after a good washing out they flush the engine of a couple of the tanks repaired wiring and pumped oil thru and fresh fuel and were surprised the tanks fired up. Now that's something I read they recently found a t34 in a bog the Germans had captured it and reworked it and dumped it in the bog when they were retreating and it ran out of fuel. I'd like to do one I think it looks kewl with the German cupola and the reworked fenders and added stowage boxes on the hull sides and turret bustle. The same for the KV but they even put a Keko 40 I've been rebuilding my KVs to build the various types the welded and cast turrets the S type and the 85 and the other turrets they built to try to make it more effective but they finally just went to the IS series that was a much better series but I still give thrm credit for building a monster of a tank far ahead of others. I really think no one thought they could do it they all thought Russia was so backwards they could never match western industry. Another one for the sleeping bear.
