"Faux Tiger in Saving Pvt Ryan" Topic

This great movie was on a couple of times this weekend, and I noticed with a little disgust that they had used the top of a 55 gallon oil drum as a hatch cover for the "Tiger". Also I can't believe Dale Dye let Tom Hanks day 2 panzer tanks.
Stil, it's the best war movie out there.

Maybe "disgusted" is a bit too strong, do you think? Not sure about your second idea? Agreed it is a very good film Mark. Time watching that film is time enjoyably spent!

I never noticed the barrel lid, but I did notice the black boots in the sticky-bomb assembly scene. Awesome movie irregardless.

If one can't rant on the internet, where can one rant?

As for the movie, at least they tried.

You rant about "Wrong Tank" and yet you swallow the ridiculous plot in Act 2?

I've given up on the wrong tank syndrome, but I will applaud those who at least tried to make it look good/credible and I will give a pass to those who pretty much had to work with what they had on hand at the time. When big budget movies like Battle of the Bulge were made, WWII equipment was no longer in service with the vast majority of countries and what little remained in use was usually heavily modified to make it suitable for modern warfare. Same for movies that were made on a tiny budget and all they had was a Ferret to portray a Tiger Tank …

I do make an exception for a few movies where they make a lot of noise about the director, the actors and a budget bigger than the bible and they really hammer away in press releases about how this is a historical spectacle that finally gets it right and thirty seconds into the trailer you see a vehicle that looks like a couple of guys threw together over a weekend for funz.

I'm wondering how i missed the "ridiculous plot" in act two.

The ridiculous plot is the whole mission of sending a squad of soldiers who had better things to do, to pull another soldier from the line who also had better things to do.
The 2nd Ranger Battalion and the 101st were both rather busy on June 7. You know. Securing a beachhead, winning the war. Things like that.
The movie would have you believe that once Pointe du Hoc was taken, the Rangers were out of a job.

Thank you Winston. After the first 20 minutes, I find the entire movie cringe inducing. In particular, the "mutiny" scene.

A captain leading 10 guys behind enemy lines? A Wehrmacht soldier that is captured and spared, and the next day he is a member of the Waffen SS?

A captain leading 10 guys behind enemy lines? A Wehrmacht soldier that is captured and spared, and the next day he is a member of the Waffen SS?

I only bother watching the attack at Omaha, after that, I might as well watch 'The Last Jedi'!!!

Agree, the Omaha landing is awesome, the rest of the film…leaves a lot to be desired & was very disappointing. There are much better war films out there.

If the movie was made in the 1950s, then you might could get the right tanks and other AFVs. But it is not. It is more than 70 years since the war. So getting the right tank and staying within production costs is nearly impossible.
Even during the 1960-70s getting the correct tanks was nearly impossible. Live with it or do not watch the movie.

What joyless bunch you are. A film could be made of a battle the year after it occurred, using the actual soldiers who fought, with the actual kit used, using the correct tactics, someone would come on here whingeing about how awful it is because the grass was slightly off colour for the time of year.

… I liked the Marders more anyway. Who every uses those in a movie!

Love the movie but don't like all the town meeting discussions the troops have every time they're not in combat.

The 'Tiger' was one of the tanks from Kelly's Heroes, the now so called 'Hollywood Tigers' several manufacturers make. A semi-tiger top on a t-34 hull. A good effort in 1970, but now we are spoiled with movies like Fury. Agree though, after Omaha, the story is a little silly and sometimes boring.

Here's a "Hollywood" Panzer III based off of an M113 for the relatively low-budget WW2 movie 'Saints and Soldiers: The Void.' Pretty cool if you ask me.

youtu.be/GNiDWzWjKrA

Fox- It is clear that the only reason many TMP posters go to movies is to pick apart their "accuracy".
If a film fails that test, it is a "bad movie".

They should save their money and time, and scrupulously avoid all historical films.

You're right about that mate, I sometimes used to think the same about historical accuracy, now I just enjoy the story for what it is. I've come to realise that actually it's not about the accuracy for most complainers, it's more of an opportunity to tell the world what experts they are in obscure subjects that they have absolutely no connection to but have read a good book on.

…or a bad book.

…or that they ran into a Tiger at all…an FT17 would have been more likely!

As long as they atleast try I'm fine with it, the fake tiger looks more like a tiger than Mel Gibson looked like a Scottish knight.

My two biggest problem with the movie (besides these cliche soldier stuff) is

1. Why did they attack the damaged radar bunker head on? There was bushes, hedges and trees on both flanks. Why not just sneak around, Jackson could wait for the team to get in place. He'd shoot one. The team lobs grandes and spray down the Germans.
That way the annoying medic doesn't die.

2. The one German they happen to not execute, also happens to be Herr Jonhan Rambo, the single best german soldier on the western front. Not only does he slowly and rather intimately stab one of the main guys but he then kills about 10 more Americans including Captain Hanks.

That they had a working Tiger I at all is pretty impressive (esp for those of us who had sat through Battle of the Bulge & Patton).

A few Tiger I's were still prowling in '45 – one knocked out a Pershing. Tiger II would have probably been more common. But in any case the whole scene is a typical "wandering" single tank set up more common in movies and wargames than the real world.

TomT

My dad, who was an 82nd Airborne combat veteran of WW2, who served in theater from Italy, Normandy, Holland, and Belgium where he got frozen feet in the Bulge, said SPR was the most accurate war movie he ever saw.
I enjoyed the movie very much also, and still do, and after seeing the movie at the theater with him when it premiered, it brought forth many wartime recollections of his I had never heard before.
Everyone's a critic today, and an expert too, and so many of you sound like belly-achin' characters right out of the movie's script.