Just found it online, watching it right now… great film, love the pure British accent of all those german officers
And I really like thise one:
Not to mention Omar Sharif as an SD Officer.
Edited to add:
Night of the Generals was remade in 1988 and set in Vietnam. It was called Off Limits.
I especially like the butler from “upstairs, downstairs” with his real English accent as a German officer…
Don’t forget “Where Eagles Dare”. Lots of real German WWII vehicles, weapons, uniforms, and a real Junkers. The airfield planes were painted up Texans though. The Kettenkrads they blew up were fake too but there is a real one in there as well as a Zundapp and a Flak.
The theme of the Great Patriotic War was quite popular in Soviet cinema. And the most recognizable German tank was the PzKpfw VI Tiger I. Sometimes the tank was made quite similar to the original (based on the T-44)
But with him in the same ranks, the IS-3 and self-propelled guns SU-100 are advancing on Soviet positions!
There were also very bad products, like this one based on the IS-2 tank.
Here in this material there are many more examples, both from our films and from yours.
Hover-Shermans in A Bridge Too Far. Built on top of Land Rovers I think. Again, marks awarded for going to the effort.
One was later used in in The Time Bandits.
Re Night of the Generals: I have to say that I much prefer the unmodified English to the wretched “Ve haff vays of making you talk” type accents that have dogged war films for what seems like ever. I’d much rather have to read subtitles and listen to the German language – vide Downfall perhaps – than tolerate “For you ze var is ofer” rubbish, but hey; that’s just me.
Al: I’m afraid Sharif portrays an Army officer throughout the film, not SD; however, he is clearly assigned to a counter-intelligence role. Forgive the pedantry.
For what it’s worth, the book is pretty good too, as indeed, are several other Wehrmacht-centric HH Kirst novels; I was lucky enough to read nearly all, whilst ensconced in a former Wehrmacht barracks as a young soldier, which if nothing else, provided a certain provenance and atmosphere.
while on the subject of Russian made movies. One recent movie that i truly consider one of the best war movies to come from Russia is “T-34”.
It stars Alexander Petrov portraying Jr. lieutenant Nikolai Ivushkin, leading a tank crew as they make their escape from a German POW camp aboard a T-34-85 tank while german SS commander, Klaus Jager, portrayed by German actor, Vinzenze Keifer, hot on his trail. CGI was used to replicate some of the tanks in the movie, while others were real tanks.
The Panther Ausf. A in the movie used by the antagonist. (according to the behind-the-scenes interview, mockups built on T-55 chassis. You can tell by the gap between the 1st and 2nd set of roadwheels.)
Also, the Panzer III used int he first battle scene. Clearly mockups, except for the one on the left, which looks like an actual Panzer II.
From imcdb.org
The fake T-72 tanks from the film were built on the chassis of a surplus M8A1 Cargo Tractor, which itself was a stretched version of the M41 Walker Bulldog with four return rollers and six roadwheels per side instead of three return rollers and five roadwheels. The mockups were so realistic that the production mentioned that they were trailed by the CIA, who wanted to know where the tanks came from. These mockups would later be reused in several films including 1988’s Rambo III, 1999’s Three Kings as well as the series Tour of Duty.
They also have a “BTR-60”
I guess they used a converted Ford M656 5-ton 8x8 truck
H.P.
I think this was a film that failed from the very beginning in the realism stakes, or at least lack of effort: Richard Burton for God’s sake was in his mid-40s, Clint Eastwood wasn’t far behind him, they were just too old, and looked it with their 1960s hairstyles, ie long, or at least longish. The women all looked as though they were from the 60s not the 40s. It was just such a feeble effort; the one area where they almost bothered was the splinter pattern camouflage uniforms. The inevitable cliché of SS officers in full dress black uniforms grated or at least to me, and then the bizarre appearance of a Bell 47. I mean, c’mon……
Of course, that’s the trouble of being a modeller at an early age, one notices things(!)
There was this attempt made of an M2A2 Bradley. It was mocked up on a British FV432 chassis, hence the right-hand driver’s hatch. It was in the movie XXX: State of the Union.
Another 432 mocked up as a Stug in Band of Brothers. Apparently two were used in a cut and shut as the hull needed to be longer to accommodate an extra road wheel.
And a H13 that landed in the courtyard.
Personal favorite, the Hollywood Special “King Tiger/Royal Tiger”…
…love the M47 variety of King Tiger…at least the movie banner was sort of cool…notice lack of snow …just flames baby!
Brian, I’ve confused Sharif’s character with Bernie Gunther, the former Berlin detective put under the operational control of the SD in all the excellent Phillip Kerr books beginning with the Berlin Noir series…
Knowledge in specific areas often “ruins” films,
I prefer books when it comes to historic films.
There is a really good version of Richard III where they use “modern” equipment.
The imdb-article says 1930’s but some of the stuff used is definitely WW II or even post WW II.
From getting the tank accurate from 1943, Sahara rocks plus it’s got Humphrey Bogart,
…here’s looking at you, M3 General Lee/Grant
This was the first “tank” movie I saw as a kid…back in the early 70’s
My wife’s refrain to me during any movie that involves firearms, military vehicles or endurance racing is:
“It’s a film dear, not a documentary”
When the military/govt. approve of and support the film, you get actual vehicles and usually soldiers as extras. That is why Transformers, Top Gun, etc. look accurate; they are using actual equipment, not mocked up props.