Starring: James Garner, Shirley Jones, C. Thomas Howell, Mark Herrier, Sandy Ward Directed By: Marvin J. Chomsky Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Label: Universal Studios Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: December 28, 2004 Running Time: 104 minutes Theatrical Release Date: March 16, 1984
Amazon.com: This enjoyable nonsense stars James Garner as a career military man (and private owner of a Sherman tank) who ends up on the wrong side of a redneck sheriff (G.D. Spradlin) by interfering in a bullying deputy's treatment of a prostitute. The corrupt lawman gets his revenge by arresting Garner's teenage son (C. Thomas Howell) on a phony drug charge and locking him away on a brutal prison farm. After taking some lumps there, the poor kid's dad decides to haul out his prized tank and do a little rearranging of the terrain. While the plot sounds like some antiauthority potboiler from the early '70s and the characters are all stick figures, Garner's golden warmth gives this movie some nice dimension. Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky (Victory at Entebbe). --Tom Keogh
I want a TANK too! This movie is still a great watch even after 23 years! I'm not just saying this because my father (James Newton)had a part in it, but even after I showed friends they enjoyed it too! It makes you want to join the Army just to have a tank of your own. Hoo Ahh!
TANK! The last time I saw this movie, I was a kid. One day, I saw it on TV, and decided I wanted to have it on DVD. Amazon had it. I love this movie! Cheezy 80's aside, you gotta love the Sherman tank opening up a can of whoop on them good ol boys! A perfect additon to your war movie/80's movie collection!
a fun old movie in great shape THis is a fun movie for the entire family! It shows that life is not always fair or pleasent but that standing beside/behind the people you charish is a precious thing. It also has enough action to be exciting and not sappy.
This was PG!? I am surprised that this had a PG rating. Many characters swear, and I don't mean the PG-13 stuff. Also, there is brief nudity here. In fact, the scene is a bit masochistic and some may get a pleasure from it. This film has many familiar faces from the 1970s and early 1980s.
Never hack off a Sgt. Maj., especially one with his own tank This film will never be remembered as great cinematic art. It will never ever be remembered as great comedy. As drama, it is fairly hokey. That doesn't matter, though. It is fun.
The story is of a Sergeant Major who accepts his last post outside a small southern town. This SGM, however has his own Sherman tank that he and his son restored. The problem is that the town and the entire county is run by a corrupt sherrif who is into liquor, prostitution and bribery. The SGM makes the mistake of hacking of this sherrif so the sherrif arrests the son on a bogus drug charge and sends him to a hellhole of a prison camp. It seems that nothing the SGM can do will help his son so he takes matters into his own hands, fires up the tank and rides to the rescue. From there, is is a chase to the state line.
Most of the elements of this movie are extremely predictable. Stereotypes abound. You almost know what is going to happen before it happens. That does not detract too much from the fun of seeing it happen, though. Some of the antics are so patently absurd as to be unworkable but they work in this movie, whether or not they would ever work in the real world. Its just silly fun.
James Garner is extremely likable as the sarge. This is by no means his greatest work but it looks like it was fun to make. Shirley Jones plays his wife and C. Thomas Howell is the wronged kid. So too are their performances less that stellar but they get the job done.
The good guys win. So does the viewer. Don't expect high art, just the fairly frequent laugh.
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