SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 247 - The Beast (1988)

[europe1]

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Here's a quick list of all movies watched by the SMC. Or if you prefer, here's a more detailed examination.

Our Director
Kevin "Waterworld and Coster Robin Hood" Reynolds

Raised as an Air Force brat, Kevin Reynolds' love for cinema inspired him to forsake his law school degree and move to Los Angeles to enroll in the University of Southern California's legendary film school. Reynolds' graduate thesis film "Proof" became the basis for "Fandango" starring Kevin Costner and was produced by Steve Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment as one of its first productions. During his time at USC, Reynolds also wrote the Cold War cult hit "Red Dawn," which John Milius directed.

Reynolds also directed "The Beast," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Rapa Nui," "Waterworld," "The Count of Monte Cristo," "Tristan + Isolde," and "One Eight Seven," as well as the "You Gotta Believe Me" episode of Spielberg's anthology television series, "Amazing Stories."

Most recently, Reynolds directed 'Hatfields & McCoys' for History Channel and Sony Pictures Television.

Our Star
T-55

Film Overview



Premise: A Soviet tank and its warring crew become separated from their patrol and lost in an Afghan valley with a group of vengeance-seeking rebels on their tracks.

Budget: $8 million

Box Office: $161,004 (ouch...)

Trivia
(courtesy of IMDB)

* For increased realism, 90mm blank shells were modified to fire a weight of water out of the tanks' 105mm cannons, thus causing the cannon to recoil as if it had fired a live shell.

* The tank used in the film is an authentic Soviet T-55, captured by the IDF during the Arab-Israeli conflicts (although it was modified by the Israelis and re-designated as the Ti-67 and fitted with a 105mm main gun in place of the original 100mm gun). The film's military advisor, Dale Dye, said that he negotiated the purchase of the tanks over drinks with Israel Defense Forces officers in a Tel Aviv hotel.

* When the film was started at Columbia Pictures, David Puttnam was head of the studio. By the time it was released, Puttnam was out and Dawn Steel was head of the studio. As a result, the film was released in a small number of theaters under the title "The Beast".

* The words "Badal" and "Nanawatai" that are spoken by the rebels in the film mean "Revenge" and "Mercy".

* Dale Dye, a retired US Marine Corps captain, served as the military/technical advisor and has an uncredited part as one of the helicopter crew.

Members: @europe1 @MusterX @Scott Parker 27 @JayPettryMMA @Yotsuya @HARRISON_3 @Bubzeh @the ambush @SalvadorAllende @HenryFlower @Zer @Dirt Road Soldier


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[Proud American]

Good flick!

 

[Deleted member 484047]

Reynolds also directed "The Beast," "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," "Rapa Nui," "Waterworld," "The Count of Monte Cristo,"

I HAVE FAITH

 

[Deleted member 484047]

Jesus fuck, I went into this movie expecting it to be good. But god damn, this was amazing. The acting was great, the use of proper firearms for everyone was great. The tension was amazing. This movie just seemed to hit every note it was aiming at, and then some.

 

[europe1]

Yeah this movie is straight-out great. It's a very elemental movie, not just with the craggy desertified landscape, but with its depiction of warfare itself. There is none of that high grandstanding, lofty ideas or melodramatic touches that you see in most war movies. This is a movie about death, revenge, and the dirtiness of the human soul.

One of the themes that I love is the whole technology versus primitives aspect of it. When the gasmask-wearing troops storm the village in the beginning (the very best scene) its almost as if they're inhuman demons they seem so rapacious and dehumanized. The tank itself is obviously a beast of technology. The movie is also very attentive with showing all the tanks various aspects, it's functions and gears, how it's a true part of machinery and not just a cannon-on-wheels. It gives the film an immensely strong sense of presence.

(Also love this shoot. You can tell how the Afghans would come to see the tank as a Beast with this sort of destructive, almost dragon-like firepower)

One interesting thing is how the Russians all speak with their natural American accents -- but the Afghans speak Pasthun. A good choice I think. The whole accents thing is overrated when it comes to portraying other cultures. And the Afghans native language helps accentuating how these are two very different factions going up against each other.

I think the handling of Dzundza's character was really quite brilliant. He's scared by war but he's not really the sort of psychopathic bloodthirsity madman you often see in war-movies. He doesn't at all care about the ideology or even the purpose of the war that they're fighting. He's a grunt. Spending his entire life in a imperialistic military has imbued him with a thorough "us-vs-them" mindset, which shows how he cannot accept their Afghan interpreter no-matter-what. He's not crazy. He's just so "us-vs-them" that war has become a purpose in-and-of-itself, it's something you do as second-nature, with no reflection as to why, it's a burned in identity that he cannot go back from. That rant he has about being the "tank boy" during Stalingrad show how traumatized he is. When confronted with difficulties and questions during his mission, like murdering their interpreter, all he can fall back on is: "I've been forced to do this since I was 9. Don't question me!" as if he's so traumatized that he doesn't dare confront the dark hole that war has made his life.

 

[Zer]

I always enjoy this film a lot. It works in terms of military pron and fully utilizes the tank, pouring over it with the camera and showing its whole bag of tricks. The tank is a character in itself and I love its journey here right down to its glorious destruction. It also has the mystique of an Afghanistan under Soviet invasion and thankfully doesn't get overly political or preachy. It does a good job humanizing both sides while maintaining a tense cat and mouse dynamic.

The internal struggles of the tank crew is really where it shines the most I feel though. Dzundza as Daskal is a show stealer as the asshole tank commander. He speaks with authority and menace, but also shows glimmers of deep trauma. He's definitely an ugly person and his actions are despicable but when you learn his background you can't help but look at him with some sympathy.

Jason Patric is also awesome in this and he delivers a very believable, at times intense performance. I've been a Jason Patric guy ever since. He matches the energy of Dzundza and the two have dynamite chemistry reminiscent of other 'dudes in uniforms shouting at each other' films like Crimson Tide or A Few Good Men. I think Harvey and Baldwin are great too. In the same way it's a fun ride seeing the tank getting more and more beat up it's fun seeing Golikov and Kaminski get beat up too even though I like those guys. I find Baldwin and Harvey visually striking with the Russian tanker uniforms almost like comic book characters. They look like they come with the tank (Another success of the film is how generally authentic and dirty everything feels). The Afghan translator did a great job too and it's always tragic what happens to that dude

Stephan Bauer was awesome as well. I remember him from Scarface. Here he has a soft spoken intensity and natural charisma that easily won me over. It's good that the film touches on the mujaheddin without getting bogged down in the politics. I loved the dynamics of a tank being hunted through Afghanistan by low-tech guerilla warriors. Overall as a film it does a great job of maintaining a dramatic chase, all while building a tidy cast of interesting characters on both sides while largely restricted to a claustrophobic tank