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Use of Converted/Disguised Tanks in Movies?

Jmarles

British Columbia, Canada
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Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 09:22 AM UTC

Pretty interesting thread. I work in the film industry, and have seen a few armoured cars and such but never tanks. It's amazing how flimsy the vehicles are up close! We had an armoured car on omne show that was mostly fiberglass, plastic and 1/4" plywood!

PS these vehicles used in film are never referred to as "props" but rather "picture vehicles". A prop is a handheld object an actor or performer handles that is referred to in the script.

nng-nng

Bayern, Germany
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Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 09:53 AM UTC

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By the way, I'd be interested in such a campaign.

Guess it´s not only you and me... anyone bothered hosting it?... If not, I feel forced to do so

Remember those ugly Halftrack conversions in Raid on Rommel and Tobruk... all in all these 1 1/2 movies are my canidates for the "worst movies I´ve ever seen".
Not only because of the "tiny" flaws concering the equipment, a certain absence of logic, common sense... and if you´ve seen one of them, you have already seen half of the other one, as they reused a lot of scenes...

another movie: Company of Heroes... (which does proof that just taking the Name of a popular game and actors from some WWII bolckbusters (Das Boot, Saving Private Ryan, BOB eg) doesn´t make a good movie....)
it´s spottting the rare German "Panzer 34" which is also in the wrong color for the time:

ericadeane

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Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 10:07 AM UTC

M4A1Sherman

New York, United States
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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 01:12 AM UTC

Quoted Text

http://www.imcdb.org/

Check "military vehicles" in the search page and you'll get lots of ideas. You can search by vehicle type, manufacturer or movie/TV show title.

For example:

M7B2 Priest with WW2 german markings in "Hogan's Heroes"
FV 601 Saladin in a "Simpsons" episode

Some of the mock-ups in this database are too crazy to be believed. This is a fun site, guys.

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_50423-Cadillac-M24-Chaffee-1944.html (Chaffee as zimmerited panther)

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_310961-Aveling-Barford-Universal-Carrier.html

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_31790-Uralvagonzavod-T-34-85-1944.html ("Tiger" in Kelly's Heroes)

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_396579-Ford-M8-Greyhound.html

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_286708-Aveling-Barford-Universal-Carrier.html

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_75330-CKD-T-34-85-1952.html

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_306550-Made-for-Movie.html

http://www.imcdb.org/movie_2294076-Girls-und-Panzer.html

Well, what more can you expect from "Movie People"-

First, they have a budget that they have to comply with.

Second, the "research" that their "technical people" do is often hastily done, and not very accurate. (Time & Budget, remember?) It doesn't have to be accurate, just so long as the general viewing-public gets the idea that the vehicle in question "Looks Military".

Third, most of the movie "technical/research people" and the general viewing-public don't know the difference between a StuG.III and a YUGO... The general viewing-public isn't looking for accuracy- They just want as much blood as possible, with GIGANTIC OVER-BLOWN EXPLOSIONS SPEWING A LOT OF FIRE and AS MANY BODY PARTS FLYING AROUND that their prop people can supply. Plus, ALL THE TRIPLE-BACK-FLIPS and NINJA JUMPS that the stunt people can stuff into a 2-hour film.

It's not just the vehicles and uniforms that the "movie people" get wrong, much of the HISTORY is in-accurate, (Read: BALONEY) and falls prey to the "artistic license" of the screenplays' writers. Many films are as bad as video games and vice-versa...

IMO, "Band of Brothers" is probably at the top of the "war picture" pile; at least this series pretty much sticks to the truth. As to "Private Ryan", it's only the first 20 minutes of the film that's believable. Plot-wise, the rest of "Private Ryan" deteriorates pretty rapidly...

ericadeane

Michigan, United States
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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 02:26 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Well, what more can you expect from "Movie People"-

I expect entertainment, Denis. My citations of these movie contraptions was not an indictment but rather to praise the filmmakers and the set crews for their efforts -- even if we, who know much more about the actual vehicles, can find them even comical sometimes.

Movies and TV shows are small containers of entertainment. If I'm going to want to geek out on armor, I'll pick up a Hunnicutt book or study photos. I know what I'm getting into when I see Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" and blowing Hitler into bits; I know I'm not going to learn anything about AFVs or historical knowledge. I get it.

To me, the "picture vehicles" are GREAT! Inaccurate or top-line restoration, I'll take 'em all.

Beastmaster

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 06:15 AM UTC

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Maybe this could be an idea for a future campaign?
TIA
Hans-Hermann

That is a really good idea for a campaign! You could include the Tiger from Saving Private Ryan also.

I would not join you in the campaign because I am a party pooper. I liked those movies, but I am too much of a stickler for accuracy and as I get older and more knowledgeable about the subjects, I can't look past the substitutions. Building models to mimic movie errors WOULD NOT COMPUTE and I think my brain might blow up!

Funnily enough I used to think exactly like that but I find the older I get the inaccurate tanks etc used in films seem to have developed a certain charm to them for me.

Anyone else think that?

Biggles2

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 08:50 AM UTC

At least in some cases the movie people did their homework and made some kind of effort, short of using CGI, to provide an ersatz panzer. You cannot always rent a rare restored and running Tiger tank for a movie and then blow it up.

pantherkid

Florida, United States
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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 10:44 AM UTC

What are the tanks in the movie "Mars Attacks" when the space ships land and the guy lets go a pigon? They look like Russian T-55 or T62. Thanks Rick

ericadeane

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 10:49 AM UTC

Use the URL I posted above. Here you go:

http://www.imcdb.org/movie_116996-Mars-Attacks!.html

This says a T-55. Not all the captions are correct though

solipsistnation

#356

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 10:57 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Use the URL I posted above. Here you go:

http://www.imcdb.org/movie_116996-Mars-Attacks!.html

This says a T-55. Not all the captions are correct though

It was a T-54. Here's how it looks now, in olive drab with the white stars painted over:

This same vehicle also showed up somewhere in Tank Girl. It's going to be auctioned off in a couple of months:

http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/feature-lots.cfm?SaleCode=LC14&ID=r0059&Order=runorder&feature=&collection=&grouping=&category=

chefchris

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 12:43 PM UTC

How about the "abrams" from Jericho the CBS series on tv a few years back. It was a mock up up on a Centurion chassis. A great tv show they canned it and people sent in Pea"nuts" to CBS studios to show support for keeping it on the air.

Chris

Bluestab

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 05:45 PM UTC

We've seen references to Tank Girl and even Girls und Panzer (which I find kind of cool). But what about "tank boy" in the film The Beast? It was a T-55 that was actually a Ti-67. Not as glaringly as noticeable as a m47 "tiger tank" but a mod regardless.

Frenchy

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Posted: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 08:34 PM UTC

What about softskins ?

Dodge T-110 as a LRDG Chevrolet in Sea Of Sand (1958) :

Chevrolet truck in the same movie :

This one is a better match, even though the wheelbase is off...

There's also this Ferret-based "German armored car"

Talking about Desert War-related movies, here's a French one : Un Taxi pour Tobrouk (Taxi For Tobruk 1961) featuring this interesting vehicle (along with a few others

) :

According to both imcdb.org and this webpage it's based on a Land-Rover Series 1 chassis...

H.P.

jrutman

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Posted: Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 02:27 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Quoted Text

Well, what more can you expect from "Movie People"-

I expect entertainment, Denis. My citations of these movie contraptions was not an indictment but rather to praise the filmmakers and the set crews for their efforts -- even if we, who know much more about the actual vehicles, can find them even comical sometimes.

Movies and TV shows are small containers of entertainment. If I'm going to want to geek out on armor, I'll pick up a Hunnicutt book or study photos. I know what I'm getting into when I see Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" and blowing Hitler into bits; I know I'm not going to learn anything about AFVs or historical knowledge. I get it.

To me, the "picture vehicles" are GREAT! Inaccurate or top-line restoration, I'll take 'em all.

Succinctly put!! I couldn't agree more. If want vehicle accuracy and historical facts in a movie,go watch a documentory. I would rather be entertained with a story. If you can watch the "Band of Brothers" and not get the point of the series because the vehicles were (pretty good) props and not the real deal,then I am kind of sorry for you.
J

solipsistnation

#356

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Posted: Monday, April 28, 2014 - 07:24 AM UTC

Part of why you don't see a lot of authentic vehicles in movies is that tank collectors and people who own historical vehicles in good condition usually don't want to rent them out to movie companies. What good is your painstakingly-restored WW2 vehicle if the movie guys paint it up or take it for joyrides and damage it? They're not going to pay to repair it, or even if they do, you may not be able to repair it. Let the guys with the replicas based on vehicles for which you can find the actual spare parts rent out their tanks instead!

I've talked to a few tank collectors and in general, they tell me they won't rent or loan them to film crews for just that reason. Jacques Littlefield (the MVTF guy) never rented any of his stuff out either, although he did let the audio crew for "Saving Private Ryan" record the engine of his Sd.Kfz 7 for dubbing over the vehicle they used in the movie. (Or the Sd.Kfz 8. I forget which... The one they didn't record was the vehicle used in "The Dirty Dozen.")

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