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Ah, Tumbelweed you mentioned the Duke.

Did the Duke ever play a tanker? Aside from his "cav" characters, he played officer, nco's, sailors, soldiers, marines, airman, but no tankers or armored cav....

"Duke" didn't need armor.

Nope.

Ach, Herr Wayne was a pilot, Flying Tigers, No Island in the Sky und others, why would he vant to be ein treadhead

Der Baron

Maybe not John Wayne, but of the top of my head, the following did,

Telly Savalas, "Battle of the Bulge"
Donald Sutherland, "Kelly's Heros"
Humphrey Bogart, "Sahara"
George Dzundza, "The Beast"
James Garner, "Tank"

I really wish they'd make a decent movie about a Tanker or Tanks, but I doubt they ever will. CG these days could make it possible along with all the really good VISMOD's out there. Not like they'd need to use M47's anymore. Tanks are always those mechanized monsters that are used as victims of Monsters or the evil machine bent on killing the foot soldier. "The Beast' gave a decent depiction to laymen what it's like to operate a tank, if you could get by the directors political slant. But again, it still was the "Evil" character , victimizing the locals.

- Joe_D

Maybe not John Wayne, but of the top of my head, the following did,

Telly Savalas, "Battle of the Bulge"
Donald Sutherland, "Kelly's Heros"
Humphrey Bogart, "Sahara"
George Dzundza, "The Beast"
James Garner, "Tank"

Dan Aykroyd, "1941"

This ones new to me too

www.imdb.com/title/tt0044106/

- Joe_D

Maybe not John Wayne, but of the top of my head, the following did,

Telly Savalas, "Battle of the Bulge"
Donald Sutherland, "Kelly's Heros"
Humphrey Bogart, "Sahara"
George Dzundza, "The Beast"
James Garner, "Tank"

Wimps, all of 'em, cowering behind plates of steel while engaging (or in some cases, avoiding) simple enemy infantry.

(Joe, you're probably flirting with a probationary suspension for citing "Tank" with James Garner, a particularly malodorous waste of celluloid. )

Real Men do it like these guys:

[img]http://members.tripod.com/makeitsomarketing/PICRATPATROL2FORBLOG.jpg[/img



www.baseballforum.com/...l-box-.jpg



www.tvshowsondvd.com/g...trolS2.jpg

Sahara is the only tanker movie of the time! What's his name?? Humphrey Bogart... Lulubelle, his M3. But it was about man against man, the desert, thirst; the tank was just a prop.

The Duke always played Navy or Air Corps. Which probably ties alot to those in Hollywood who had seen service. Many of the big names had been predominantly in those 2 branches and wrote/produced what they knew. The flag waving films dont have Patton or Abrams or whomever in the turret of the Lee or Sherman....
John Ford was USN, Clark Cable and Jim Stewart were Air Corps.
[The Duke is/was one america's film war hereos but had never served, and he was america's cowboy and I find this to be hilarious, he hated horses. He didn't like horses! He had a ranch for business, but not for pleasure, he like his yachts.]

For that time and post-war-- here is a theory-- history presents the "blitzkrieg"!!! Tanks are the enemy. The Nazis took over Europe using steel monsters.

"The Tanks are Coming" is a Sam Fuller movie. He did the "Big Red One".
But along with you Joe_D I would say that the tank corps never had the hereos, or the dare I say "propaganda glory", that promoted enlistment, during or after the war. Tanks were tools of the evil dictators...

Sam Fuller was straight leg. "The Tanks are Coming", he has GI's facing the onslaught of the North Korean invasion-- tanks! "The Battle of the Bulge" has GI's defeating the Nazi metal machine... Telly Savalas, but the "stars" are the "tiger" tanks and Henry Fonda and Robert Shaw.

Patton was an american tanker but that film was about his overall life not necessarily his involved with the development in the tank corps, etc..

It is hard to believe that no one did a good movie for tankers. They accomplished and overcame much! Aside from those who take an interest in that part of history, after the war, how much did the public really now of tanks and all? I hate the term, "hereos", but there were no news hereos for tankers. It was names and places-- the Enola Gay, Memphis Belle, the Arizona, Bataan, Hiroshima,

The Sherman never emerged with the same whatever, popular appeal, etc. as the Mustang or PT-boat, or B-17....

- SHAWN

Sahara is the only tanker movie of the time! What's his name?? Humphrey Bogart... Lulubelle, his M3. But it was about man against man, the desert, thirst; the tank was just a prop.

BTW, Jim Belushi was involved in a decent remake of "Sahara". It's worth seeing.

- SHAWN

Sam Fuller was straight leg. "The Tanks are Coming", he has GI's facing the onslaught of the North Korean invasion-- tanks!

Maybe I misunderstood the above, but "The Tanks are Coming" is World War II. Tankers fighting to cross into Germany and the introduction of the M26. It's not Academy Award material, but I liked it.

Actually it was an M46 in the movie. They also used a M36 Jackson as a Panther tank for the Germans. It's a pretty good flick for tank junkies just to see some various versions of Sherman's in action.

Definitely WWII.

Wimps, all of 'em, cowering behind plates of steel while engaging (or in some cases, avoiding) simple enemy infantry.

Yeah right.

Say that any brave soul who survived being a tank crewman in WWII.

I used to tell my troops "Everyone wants to kill a tank". Given an opportunity even the most non-combat troop or civilian would try if they thought they'd survive the attack(fanatics didn't care, Pacific theater good example). Nothing on the ground more intimidating, loathed and prized as a trophy kill by most soldiers and civilians. Most movies have the protagonist(s) doing just that (Saving Private Ryan and Beast are good examples). Kinda equates to big game hunting in Africa. Only a tank can slug it out toe to toe with another tank, everyone else has to ambush it. The preferred method is Air power or indirect. Even today the insurgents and Hezbolla love to kill tanks, mostly for the propaganda value. They go as far as to mock up T55's to look like Merkavas.

I loved Bogart's character in Sahara, probably most for his steadfast defense of his trusty steed, Lulubelle. I used to bemoan some of the tanks I had, but nobody else could say s--t about her outside the crew. Them's fighting words.

I need to check out the Jim Belushi version.

BTW Doug,

I had to throw in James Garner, IIRC he actually was an Army Vet and Purple Heart recipient.

- Joe_D

I had to throw in James Garner, IIRC he actually was an Army Vet and Purple Heart recipient.

Garner was a man of many talents, but the movie itself?...P-U!

Maybe we should get a word in for "Killdozer".

- Doug_Kibbey

- Joe_D

I had to throw in James Garner, IIRC he actually was an Army Vet and Purple Heart recipient.

Garner was a man of many talents, but the movie itself?...P-U!

Maybe we should get a word in for "Killdozer".

Again, not Academy Award material, but I liked "Tank" enough to buy a copy. I guess I'm a sucker for any movie with a tank.

Ah, "killdozer." Made for TV, glowing green blade. Didn't it get "possessed" by a meteorite?

Well pilgrim. Seriously, the only time I saw John Wayne riding armor was in 'Sands of Iwo Jima' in an Amtrack in the run in to the beach and later in the movie his squad is helped by a M4 sherman 'Zippo' I dont know what model. Notice the tank had a tank-infantry phone, how many years it took to one on a M1 Abrams?
The movie was filmed in 1949 and the armor, uniform and equipment was pretty much the same as in 1944.
At the time the Marines were so badly underfunded by the Navy Sec. Louis Johnson that they (the Marines) won the PR war against Truman's White House (who is said to have hated the Marines.