Fury, the movie

[vito]

Saw the movie with my brother a few days ago, and while I generally enjoyed it and thought it realistic for its portrayal of the violence and chaos of real combat, I found it vaguely unsatisfying. Maybe because its format didn't have the structure of say, Saving Private Ryan, which uses the present time as a way to wrap up the experience of the then young Ryan when he visits the cemeteries at Normandy. I would rate it above most war movies, but not the very best.

One item that I think is worth mentioning is that the interior scenes of the men in the tank always come across as unrealistic in terms of the open spaciousness that doesn't match reality. Seeing the tank from the outside you clearly understand how cramped the interior must be for the several occupants, but the movie then makes it look almost roomy.

And not to be a spoiler, but the actions of the "new driver" were so predictable, including his conversion from ultra-pacifist unable to kill an enemy soldier to fierce warrior were almost laughable.

 

[waffenmac]

My wife gave in and saw it with me and while she didnt hate it. She thought it was very violent. I on the other hand enjoyed it greatly. Probably the most realistic WW2 tank combat ever portrayed. It is gritty and course and in my opinion definately on par with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Well worth the Groupon 6 dollar tickets. LOL

 

[jdlii]

Haven't seen it yet but, it is on my list and yes, I will have to see it first on the "big screen".

I would highly recommend, for your reading list, Death Traps by Belton Y. Cooper. Mr. Cooper served with the 3rd Armor Division and has a unique prospective of the M4 Sherman in WWII.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Zaloga has a new book on the Sherman, he tries to restore it to having a place as a war winning weapon.

Late in the war, small amounts of High Velocity Armor Piercing (HVAP) ammunition were available for the 76/L54 guns of the Easy 8 and other upgunned Shermans. Crews seem to have been told that this would allow head on engagement of a Tiger, though there is disagreement as to whether this was in fact the case.

The real problem with a Sherman may have been the high silhouette. To see what I mean, set an identical scale model Sherman and a Panzer IV next to each other and peer at them from eye to the floor level.

 

[zzzippper]

Haven't seen it yet but, it is on my list and yes, I will have to see it first on the "big screen".

I would highly recommend, for your reading list, Death Traps by Belton Y. Cooper. Mr. Cooper served with the 3rd Armor Division and has a unique prospective of the M4 Sherman in WWII.

I've read the book and strongly concur. He had a low opinion of Patton for not allowing the development of a heavy tank until late in the war.

To add to gatorfarmer's comment about the Sherman high profile, they were known by the Germans as Ronsons because of their tendency to light up.

 

[Sconnie]

Saw it this past weekend. Perhaps I had my hopes set too high. It was good but I would not put it at the top of war movies ever made. I do like how there is so much effort made to portray accuracy in movies these days equipment wise that is. If the movie Patton had been made with accurate equipment it would have been so very cool and so very expensive I suspect.

I am gonna try to catch the 1943 Bogart movie named Sahara on cable on Veteran's Day. I saw an ad while flipping channels. I think it was AMC but not sure. The M3 Lee tank was cool and accurate given they were using that tank at the time. And not showing a bunch of accurate German tanks is forgiven given the fact that Germany was still using them at the time...

 

[Double-O-Dave]

To add to gatorfarmer's comment about the Sherman high profile, they were known by the Germans as Ronsons because of their tendency to light up.

The advertising sales line for the Ronson lighters during that time was: "lights first time, every time". Sheesh - talk about a dark sense of humor.

Regards,

Dave

 

[the ringo kid]

Uh, actually, it's an M-47 Patton tank, not an M1-A1 or M1-A2 Abrams tank:

Arnold Schwarzenegger crushes items with his personal tank in charity promotion  - NY Daily News

Regards,

Dave

Thanks Dave. But thats weird--when i heard that he owned a tank--they showed him driving an Abrams. I THINK it was a story done on him on that Evening entertainment (E.T.?) show--or whateveritscalled?

 

[the ringo kid]

Seeing the only operational Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung E (I think its an E?)"Tiger" in the world was worth the price of admission.

There is more than one operational Tiger. I heard one was in the Littlefield collection, one in a British guys colection--who aso has a Panther that is working--the one that was for sale from the Munster Museum, and the Russians and Finns also have running tigers-but I ont now how many.

A good friend of mie has a Battlefeld Tours business-and they used to do tours for Stalingrad, Moscow and such--but now only do Latvia and Kurland tours. Anyway, in the Moscow tank museum--they have more than one Tiger. Their Tigers and such are oten loaned out to make war movies with.

I THINK I have some pictures of these somewhere? Also,my good friend in Finland Kai-Petri--sent me soeoictures about 5 years ago--of the German armor they have--which like in Russia--are loaned out to studios when they make war movies.

 

[SmokeStack Lightning]

My son and I saw the first showing at 11:00am on Fri in IMAX and got free "Fury" t-shirts.

And alltho I've never heard of the manufacturer, made in USA!

 

[Farmer17]

Just saw this movie and my wife and I both liked it. It looked to me like the Sherman tank Brad Pitt was in, had the Firefly 85 m/m cannon with muzzle brake. If that was the case it should not have had a problem with the German Tiger armor the way the other Shermans with 75m/m guns did.

 

[Skeptic 9c]

I've read the book and strongly concur. He had a low opinion of Patton for not allowing the development of a heavy tank until late in the war.

Patton was a field commander, had nothing to do with tank development.
M4 Sherman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wiki FWIW.

Geoff
Who notes lack of diesel engine development in the US of A was an error of disastrous proportions. The M60 was the first tank with Diesel standard.

 

[elm_creek_smith]

Best of all - Brad "Wardaddy" Pitt's choice of sidearm.



Smith 1917 with sweetheart grips. Right panel has a color pin-up girl, left one has a black and white photo of a woman.

When I was in high school, a friend's dad had a Walther Model 4 with plexiglass* grips that he brought back from WWII. (He served on tank destroyers and participated in the Anvil/Dragoon invasion of southern France.) When he got married, my friend's mom made him take the "dirty pictures" out of the grips.

*(Alledgedly from a downed Messerschmitt Bf-109.)

 

[RSanch111]

Excellent book on the 2nd AD in WWII for those who are interested. I know the author, Mark Bando. His collection is very impressive as are his his books on the 101st Airborne in WWII. Book as many fascinating accounts of veterans who were there.
Breakout at Normandy: The 2nd Armored Division in the Land of the Dead: Mark A. Bando: 9780760306543: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vmi%2BrTCxL.@@AMEPARAM@@51Vmi%2BrTCxL

 

[BearBio]

"So, you know how Brad spells his last name? You'll go far!
I was glad to read the review, knew what he meant and resisted the need to nit-pik. I'll go to see it when it hits the cheap seats. Now, where the heck is that spell-check button"

So, who peed in your cheerios this morning? Lighten up!

I have one specific comment but in general the wife and I liked it. She treated me to the "VIP" theater==there are only 2 or 3 in the state, I think. More leg room, serves beer, etc. Don't know if I'd pay the extra but we had a gift certificate from the theater owner.

My specific comment is with regard to calling Brad Pitts character "Top". I served in an infantry unit and the nickname was reserved for the First Sergeant. My dad said it was the same in the Air Corp in Burma in 1943-45. Maybe it was different in armor units or during WWII.

 

[elm_creek_smith]

Lots of times in combat units when there were casualties the senior surviving sergeant was the de facto first sergeant. In Vietnam, there were "field firsts" who were not the actual first sergeant. (Allegedly, the actual first sergeants wouldn't go into the "bush" because they were "peacetime" soldiers.) The "field first" was often the most experienced E-7 platoon sergeant.

 

[BearBio]

Lots of times in combat units when there were casualties the senior surviving sergeant was the de facto first sergeant. In Vietnam, there were "field firsts" who were not the actual first sergeant. (Allegedly, the actual first sergeants wouldn't go into the "bush" because they were "peacetime" soldiers.) The "field first" was often the most experienced E-7 platoon sergeant.

When I was in the service, actings wore the rank (I did). Besides, Pitt's character (notice I used an apostrophe) would only have been an E-5. But, I am of the Viet Era.

My "top" was admin.

 

[Ozark Marine]

Brad Pitts check

The star is Brad Pitt, not Pitts...Obviously, one of our posters wasn't invited to his and Angelina's wedding and can't recall how the family spells their name.

DAMN, I made the check out to MR. and MRS. Pitts at the wedding. No wonder it hasn't been cashed. Oh well, now I have a extra $50.00 to buy ammo

 

[Dave_n]

When you watch, Night of the Generals, also look for the Beretta .25 that the crooked general gave to his driver while trying to frame him for a murder. It's a Model 318 or 418, authentic to the times, and probably the same model of .25 Beretta that James Bond had in Fleming's early books.

And it was interesting that the general liked Maxim's restaurant, but was seemingly unaware that it was among the most famous restaurants in the world. He was, however, a connoisseur of what some called "decadent" art and insisted on visiting a guarded display of same. His identity with a certain famous artist who went mad was telling.


This is an excellent war movie, with some really good stars and footage of such things as raiding Jewish ghettos in Warsaw before the general was transferred to France. (He commanded a Waffen SS tank division.)

Another German general was played very well by Donald Pleasance. And I liked the heroine, who wanted to save the young soldier being framed. I won't tell how that went, lest I spoil the ending for those who haven't seen it. But there is a surprise conclusion. Don't take anything for granted. That French police inspector took his moral debt to Sharif's character seriously.

It was interesting to see O'Toole and Sharif together again, as they were in the splendid, "Lawrence of Arabia." They worked well together. Omar Sharif is/was Egyptian, but managed to play a German quite well. Peter O'Toole died awhile back and the last I read, Sharif was earning a good living as a professional bridge player. If he's still living, he may be retired from acting.

"The Night of the Generals,", based on the book by Hans Helmut Kirst, is one of the best WWII movies and is also a good crime thriller. It's worth looking for. And your library may have the book, in English.

The HH Kirst books are well worth reading. Very much like "Catch 22" in some respects though I recommend reading them in chronological order. Read them many many years ago when I was in the UK. Dave_n

 

[Will Carry]

My wife and I saw today. I thought it was an excellent movie. They used a real Tiger and not a Russian T-38 with a fiberglass Tiger turret. If you wanted to pick the movie apart you can do that...if you like nit-picking. I just went in with an open mind and a box of popcorn. I thought that Shay LaBoof fellow did an excellent job as the Bible man. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get a nod from the Academy Awards people.