The Beast (1988). Wow. What a great film.

[Graybeard]

Just watched it for the first time. The story is of a Russian tank and it's crew in Afghanistan during the invasion by the Soviet Union. If you think of the tank and crew as being American the film could easily be about Afghanistan today.

Twenty-one f*cking years after this film was made and war in Afghanistan still goes on....and on.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Seen it- Good film.

[Call Me Wesley]

2. "Tank boy."

Great movie. Never mess with a civil war ...

[elocs]

3. Just added it to my NetFlix queue. Thanks for the tip. n/t

[Graybeard]

4. I got the tip from Mike Malloy.

On his show he mentioned another film that blew me away, "Slaughterhouse Five." From a classic novel by Kurt Vonnegut this film made in 1972 is awesome.

[Call Me Wesley]

6. And so it goes.

Great underestimated movie, too! :hi:

[Graybeard]

7. I love your avatar.

Big Jacques Tati fan here.

[Call Me Wesley]

10. I think you're the first who recognizes him.

One of the greatest comedic genius/social observers. He ruined himself for his movies. Especially when he build a whole little city for 'Playtime:'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfrtKfdHa-8&feature=related

[Graybeard]

11. There is a great new DVD of Playtime.

The Criterion Collection boxed set DVD. Restored print, behind the scenes "making of" docs, rare interview with Tati. Great stuff.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Saw it years ago. Excellent!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

8. +1

[underpants]

9. On a related note

when you saw the Kurds in tanks you have to realize that they only way to GET a tank it to get on it and pull its inhabitants out

this was not the worst thing that happened to those Iraqi tank crews on that day :scared:

I will try to find that movie. Thanks.

[Aristus]

12. One of my all-time favorite films. As an ex-tanker myself, I find it an invaluable film to watch.

It was filmed in Israel using Soviet-made tanks, small arms and gear captured from Israel's Arab opponents in their various wars. This lent a great deal of authenticity to the movie. When I was in tanker school in 1989, I convinced the drill sergeant to screen the film for we trainees as an exercise in Soviet vehicle recognition. It also gives a glimpse of just how crowded and cramped the inside of a Russian tank is. Personally, I doubt they could have crammed five guys in there (Samad was a supernumerary, not a crewmember). But for the purposes of the story, I let it go. The tanks used in the movie are Soviet-made T-55's, modified by the Israelis with British-made 105mm cannons, and American machine guns and radio gear. A sharp-eyed ex-soldier can see the American antenna-mounted matching unit affixed to the turret of the tank in one scene.

The film is also good for an appealing pre-nutcase Stephen Baldwin acting job.

This movie goes to 11! B-)

[Graybeard]

14. Great background. Thanks Aristus.

BTW Baldwin was pretty good in The Usual Suspects too. I guess lunatics can be good actors. We're learning about more and more of them lately.

[Aristus]

15. These pics will give you a good idea how tiny it is inside the crew compartment of a T-55:

This is me inspecting a T-55 at an outdoor tank museum at Hohenfels Maneuver Training Center in Germany:


The commander's position, head-out.



The loader's position. This design feature really stinks! The Soviets made it so the loader would have to load the gun left-handed. Not too bad if you are left handed, but for the 85% of us who are right-handed, it's rough!...

[Orrex]

13. Isn't that the Peter Benchley one about the octopus?

[Sirveri]

16. I own this movie. Used to have it on in the background every time we played

Axis and Allies. Probably have seen it at least 100 times now if those all count.