Tank

I didn't see this when it came out, so when it appeared on cable late one night I didn't expect very much. But it exceeded my expectations. It's the story of an honorable man who is pushed too far.

Yes, there are some stretches of the imagination to be made. For example, with all the gunfire, I don't remember anybody getting killed or seriously wounded. The good guys are too good and the bad guys are too bad.

But I enjoyed a few scenes a great deal. For one, the portrayal of the small town, that seems idyllic at first but is rotten to the core. I especially appreciated the scenes between Sgt. Carey and his son, the way that the military was shown pulling together as a family, and the others who help the group trying to get to the state line. These were all people that I wanted to cheer for.

Tank has been an inspiration in my life. Its rich plot is rife with moral dilemmas, all of which end in ethical resolutions. Zack (James Garner) is the epitome of all that is good and right in the universe, and he wins in the end like good should. While I usually watch the film for its moral content, sometimes I find myself fast- forwarding to scene eleven, which features james cromwell naked, chained to a phone pole.

Ten stars. This film has changed my life.

I enjoyed this movie, by the looks of the score I am a bit alone in my opinion of this film. The story has a guy in the army who somehow owns his own personal tank moving onto a new army base. I am rather sure they probably explained how he had his own tank, but it has been awhile since I last saw this film so I do not remember parts of it all that well. What I do know is that one evening James Garner's character (the one with the tank) goes into town and ends up taking out a deputy. This infuriates the sheriff of the town and he wants revenge. He seems to have some problem with the military folk and it is against the law to punch a cop even one who deserves it. Of course, this part of the film makes little sense to me, usually a southern town like the one depicted here would embrace the military and be patriotic even bashing the lawman for bruising the army guys hand or something. Same strange hatred of the military appeared in the film "First Blood". Most of these bases also offer jobs to the locals and provide income as a lot of military guys have a lot of money to spend on frivolous things. That aside the sheriff gets his hands on the army guy's son and now the army guy is ticked, so ticked he uses his tank to break his son out of a boot camp style prison. A cross state chase soon occurs as they know they will not get a fair trail where they are so they head to either the next county or state, do not recall which. Some good humor to follow along with some good action. The movie gets a bit to heavy handed near the end and the thing with the dad getting his ribs broke was a bit to much, but all in all I found this movie quite enjoyable.

Destruction! By tank. Revenge! By tank. Sadistic southern sheriff… yep let's roll over him with a tank! James Garner plays Commander Sgt. Maj. Zack Carey who moves to an army base with his wife and son in the south, but gets on the wrong side of the local sheriff when he knocks out the deputy in bar quarrel. Too proud to let it slide they want payback, so they frame his son with a drug charge and imprison him. Carey would now do it the sheriff's way to get his son out of prison, but circumstances change when that isn't followed leaving his son to be convicted serving three years. So Carey gets in his own prized Sherman tank to bust out his son while heading for the state border in search for actual justice.

Ludicrous, but amusingly dreamt-up boot-kicking patriotic nonsense of standing up. What starts off quite serious (where I thought it might culminate in pushing "Rambo: First Blood" territory), ended up as chaotically gung-ho and comedic in a very mechanical, but spirited sense. Relatively well-made with spacious cinematography and an upbeat music score contributed by Lalo Schifrin. Material-wise the wit is there, but it's a little deeper in its perspective themes, in which it really does moralise its intentions --- as what eventuates is a tug of war involving sappy dialogues and silly humour. The early sequences build some intense confrontations -- where Garner and Spradlin's authority figures go at it each other in their own personal war. But soon that is all forgotten when Garner goes for a pleasant ride with his tank and ends up on sort of a road trip with what seems like all of America are riding the heroic underdog home. Go you good thing! One thing that's for sure is that in one sequence Jenilee Harrison looks good behind the tank's machine gun. An excellent Garner is suitably likable and G.D. Spradlin nails down his bastard role as Sheriff Cyrus Buelton. Also there's a very good support cast lined-up with Shirley Jones, Dorian Harewood, James Cromwell, C. Thomas Howell and John Hancock.

If you can ignore the dopey ending, the movie has some very nice surprises best of which is the incredible performance of GD Spradlin as the sheriff. This may be a lightweight movie but he does not throw away his role. He's genuinely scary and believable as the tyrannical sheriff. Jenilee Harrison is also at her most sexy in 1984. She was a mouthwatering beauty back then! The film rolls along pretty blandly but the scenes with C. Thomas Howell getting framed are pretty well done and plausible. If you can get over the guy owning his own Sherman tank, the decision to use it makes at least some sense by that point in the movie.