Tank (1984)

Sergeant Major Zak Carey is serving what is his final tour of duty at an Army base in Clemens, Georgia. Zak doesn't like the way the Army keeps the base and the bar is not what he's ... See full summary »

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writer:

Dan Gordon

Stars:

James Garner, Shirley Jones, C. Thomas Howell

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Garner	...	Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Zack Carey
Shirley Jones	...	LaDonna Carey
C. Thomas Howell	...	William 'Billy' Carey
Mark Herrier	...	SSgt. Jerry Elliott
Sandy Ward	...	Maj. Gen. V.E. Hubik
Jenilee Harrison	...	Sarah
James Cromwell	...	Deputy Euclid Baker
Dorian Harewood	...	Sfc. Ed Tippet
G.D. Spradlin	...	Sheriff Cyrus Buelton
John Hancock	...	Mess MSgt. Johnson
Guy Boyd	...	Sgt. Wimofsky
Dan Albright	...	TV Reporter #1 (as Daniel Albright)
Gerald A. Atkins	...	Food Server
Ron Baskin	...	Deputy #1
Keith Jerome Brown	...	Tank Motor Pool Man

Storyline

Sergeant Major Zak Carey is serving what is his final tour of duty at an Army base in Clemens, Georgia. Zak doesn't like the way the Army keeps the base and the bar is not what he's accustomed to. So he goes off base to get a beer. When he goes to the bar one of the local prostitutes tries to come on to Zak but Zak turns her down. That's when the deputy who appears to be her pimp beating her up. That's when Zak strikes him. Later he learns that the Sheriff is corrupt and takes what happened to the Deputy as an attack on him and tries to get Zak but the Army backs him and Zak is not intimidated. That's when they arrest his son on trumped up drug charges. Before Zak can fix it, his wife tries to get a lawyer for their son but this only pushes the Sheriff to send their son to a prison farm. With no other recourse Zak gets into his own vintage Sherman Tank and busts his son out and they try to make it to the state line so that they can expose the Sheriff.

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Plot Keywords:

tank | prostitute | cannon | one man army | framed | 

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Taglines:

Sergeant major Zack Carey believed in Truth, Justice and America. Until the sheriff of a little town put his only son into jail of a crime he hadn't done. And now sergeant major Zack Carey has changed his mind. (original Finnish poster tagline)

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Tank

Filming Locations:

Fort Benning, Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lorimar Film Entertainment, Universal Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The early Sherman tanks had a smooth front and as the tank in the film had a driver's canopy front notch, the tank seen in the film is a later model Sherman tank which was manufactured by Ford who made 1680 of them.

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Goofs

When the Sheriff lists the damage Zack Carey has done to the town, he includes "one 1974 Chevrolet". When Carey destroyed the deputy's house, he actually flattened a 1973 Chevrolet.

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Quotes

Sheriff Buelton: It's going to be my great pleasure to shoot that sergeant in his privates.

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Connections

References Wonder Woman (1975)

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Soundtracks

"SATURDAY GIRL"
Lyrics by Donna Schifrin
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Performed by Gene Morford

User Reviews

Rolling out justice.

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.