Brad Pitt's WWII Tank movie, "FURY"

[Story]

GASTONIA The name Brad Pitt didn’t mean much to 90-year-old Ray Stewart of Gastonia when he recently got an invitation to meet the superstar in Hollywood. A World War II tank gunner/driver who fought at the Battle of the Bulge, Stewart and three other veterans were asked to come share their experiences with Pitt and other cast members playing a tank crew in the new war movie “Fury.”

On Aug. 18, Stewart and his wife, Dottie, flew to Los Angeles and were met by representatives of Sony Pictures who took the couple to the W Hollywood hotel. “They treated us like royalty,” said Dottie Stewart.

The following day, Ray Stewart and the other veterans met producers and the five actors in a round-table setting at Sony Pictures in Culver City. Actors present included Pitt and co-star Shia LaBeouf. Stewart was favorably impressed.

“Brad Pitt’s a nice guy – all of them were all right,” he said.

The veterans were asked to speak candidly about World War II.

“We got to talking and we started remembering things,” Stewart said. “We fought the war over again right in front of those movie guys. We looked around and saw them sitting there with their mouths open. They seemed sort of flabbergasted.”

Stewart shared some of his story, which began with getting drafted into the Army in 1942 at age 19. Assigned to the famed 2nd Armored “Hell on Wheels” Division, he landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 9, 1944.

From there, he embarked on a 1,000-mile journey that ended in Berlin. Between those two locations, Stewart took part in many battles.

Two of his tanks were destroyed by bazooka fire, mortars or the much-feared 88 mm anti-aircraft, anti-tank guns.

“When you got hit you’d better get your butt out,” Stewart said. “Another round would be coming in three to five seconds.”

At the Battle of the Bulge Stewart’s division fought the German 2nd Panzer Division and captured many soldiers and vehicles.

In trying to capture the Adolf Hitler Bridge across the Rhine River, Stewart’s outfit ran into 33 anti-aircraft guns that knocked out 15 of the unit’s 17 Shermans.

Stewart remembers looking out across a “field of burning tanks.”

And he also remembers five British tanks hit by enemy fire and burning on a ridge.

“Twenty-five people went up in flames right in front of my eyes,” Stewart said. “That was the worst thing I saw.”

Rolling through Europe in a 60-ton Sherman tank, he faced battle “feeling like a cowboy.”

“I was a little cocky,” Stewart said. “I thought I was hot stuff.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/20...eteran-from-gastonia-meets.html#storylink=cpy

His wife Angelina Jolie is a trained pilot and now it looks as though Brad Pitt wants a specialty of his own and the actor looks to be doing exactly that with reports claiming that the star is taking tank driving lessons whilst filming his new movie Fury.

The lessons come as part of his role as an American soldier in David Ayer's World War Two drama.

The movie's producers have reportedly organised the lessons - which take place in Wiltshire and Germany - for Brad and some other cast members so that the battle scenes will be as realistic as possible, according to The Sun.

A source told the newspaper: "These boot camps will involve hardcore physical exercise as well as advanced tank driving."

http://www.entertainmentwise.com/ne...aking-Tank-Driving-Lessons-For-New-Movie-Fury

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Sounds like a must see movie. Our tanks were woefully inadequate at the beginning of the European campaign though compared to German armor. [video]http://wn.com/sherman_tank[/video]

 

[Stearmen]

Sounds like a must see movie. Our tanks were woefully inadequate at the beginning of the European campaign though compared to German armor. [video]http://wn.com/sherman_tank[/video]

The Germans had a joke they would tell the Allieds when they were captured, "our tanks are worth ten of yours, of course, you always have eleven!"

 

[Chasseur]

Hmm Brad Pitt and Shea LaBeef in a WWII film... I think I'll pass on this one...

 

[Two Types]

I wonder what character Brad Pitt is playing. He's a fifty year old man. As a fifty year old in 1944 he would have been in the same age group as Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Clark etc - not the age of an average tank driver.

 

[dhermann1]

"60 ton Sherman tank!"

 

[dhermann1]

After about 12 hours of that kind of combat, the average 30 year old will look 50, so Brad is probably just fine for the role.

 

[Story]

According to Deadline, Scott Eastwood has officially signed on to David Ayer's WWII tank-thriller "Fury" in an as-yet unspecified role. Eastwood, son of Hollywood legend Clint, joins Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña and Logan Lerman on the project, which tells the story of the crew of the Fury, a Sherman tank, in the waning days of WWII.

http://social.entertainment.msn.com...d-pitt-in-david-ayers-wwii-tank-thriller-fury

 

[Edward]

After about 12 hours of that kind of combat, the average 30 year old will look 50, so Brad is probably just fine for the role.

Brad Pitt also looks much younger than the average fifty year old, IMO, so maybe it will balance out in the middle?

 

[Story]

Kind of hard to drive the tank from the TC's hatch, but... journalists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cel...ross-English-countryside-in-Sherman-tank.html

 

[MikeKardec]

I haven't carefully checked out the info on the film which is evolving as more and more coverage about it comes out. But here's a couple of things I do know from my dad who was a Lt in the Tank Destroyers early in the war.

Driving a tank, requires serious coordination between the tank commander and the driver who's vision is limited to VERY limited when the tank is "buttoned up." So, seeing that it's a team effort I can definitely see the validity of the quote about learning to drive a tank. The actual driving is not much more difficult than driving a tractor but remaining a viable fighting machine in a battle while not hurting your own troops requires quite a lever of vigilance and coordination. Tanks are very vulnerable to enemy soldiers unless surrounded by your own infantry. It seems to me that tanks are built to fight at ranges of 100 to a couple thousand yards. Inside that range they can be knocked out with small explosives, rockets (bazooka, RPG) ... and in those days they were fairly flammable. That is what scared tankers the most.

Older officers were possible. Guys who were in the National Guard prior to the war were somewhat common. They had to be a certain age or rank when they were deployed "in theater", however. I'm not sure what the cut off was but dad turned 34 stateside and that was too old for him to be a Lt in a front line unit. He was transferred to the Transportation Corps and he got to command gasoline tankers that supplied a lot of that same armor, a job that was often just as dangerous but they did get to spend a fair amount of time far behind the front lines where it was considerably safer.

An officer who had fought in North Africa and Italy and been in the guard might well have been over 40. I think my dad's first company commander in France was about that age.

For GREAT fiction books dealing with armor in WWII read "Easter Day, 1941" and "761" by GF Borden ... I think I have that name right. Very, very, detailed descriptions of tank warfare from a soldier's perspective with all the techniques used by veterans ... like shutting down the engine to listen for planes or other armor, the careful use of landscape, and using the co axial machine gun (the one mounted with the main gun) to aim the cannon at close range. Very intense writing!

 

[Smithy]

The one WWII Brad Pitt thing that I wish they had made was the Coen brothers adaptation of James Dickey's "To The White Sea", my favourite novel. It was set to get going back in 2002 but sadly there was a budgetary problem and it got canned. It would've been virtually a silent film after the first 15 or 20 minutes and having read the script, could have been amazing.

 

[Story]

Driving a tank, requires serious coordination between the tank commander and the driver who's vision is limited to VERY limited when the tank is "buttoned up." So, seeing that it's a team effort I can definitely see the validity of the quote about learning to drive a tank.

No, it's a matter of semantics and a poor, GI-GO journalism. "Learning to crew a tank" or more accurately, "familiarization with tank crew positions" would be more appropriate since you can't learn much beyond how to look good and not to lose a finger inside the turret in just a day of playing passenger.

Even the Daily Mail writes a better description, plus they have more pictures.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ving-lesson-peaceful-English-countryside.html

Gotta give it to David Ayer, he is making the effort to have his talent appear credible.

FWIW, I was trained to crew all positions on M48A5, M60A3 and M1 MBTs. Thanks for all those tax dollars. ;-)

 

[Jackanapes]

After about 12 hours of that kind of combat, the average 30 year old will look 50, so Brad is probably just fine for the role.

Interesting thought. Here's a picture of a famous WWII tanker (Kurt Meyer) who was about 33 years old in this picture. Battle stress is an age accelerator if there ever was one...

 

[Story]

From the boots, looks like Pitt's character is an old school cavalry guy.
http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/First-Pic-Brad-Pitt-in-new-WW2-drama-Fury/214273.htm

 

[Stearmen]

If Pit wanted to do an action tank movie that fits his age, he should have done a movie about then Lt. Colonel Creighton Abrams! The man Patton said of, "I'm supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer — Abe Abrams. He's the world champion." Abrams led from the front in heroic tank battles, Twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross second highest medal after The Medal of Honour!

 

[Story]

Creighton Abrams was born in 1914, making him 31-ish at the time of this tale.

Pitts character is probably templated on someone like Everett Watkins.

Watkins, an ordained Baptist minister, is a 30-year veteran who served in both World Wars and was a member of the U.S. Army's last horse cavalry. He was a stable sergeant stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., charged with assigning horses to soldiers. He tells stories about his 39-inch combat saber, being named top swordsman of his regiment and his last mount, Anticipation, a fiery, fearless horse who was full of vinegar and tough to train.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101604/nec_16919044.shtml

 

[EmergencyIan]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, Clint Eastwood's son Scott is also "starring" in this film. He sure looks a lot like his dad did when he was in his 20s (even 30s and 40s).

I hope that this film has some integrity, and is well worth seeing. One thing that it has going for it is the fact that Quentin Tarantino is not directing it.

Fingers crossed.



- Ian

 

[Stearmen]

Creighton Abrams was born in 1914, making him 31-ish at the time of this tale.

Pitts character is probably templated on someone like Everett Watkins.




http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101604/nec_16919044.shtml

What does he have to do with tanks? Abrams was a combat tank commander and this is a movie about tanks.

 

[Story]

What does he have to do with tanks? Abrams was a combat tank commander and this is a movie about tanks.

No kidding. I started the thread.

Go back and read the earlier postings, where Pitt's age (now 49) was thought too old to play the part of a WWII tank commander.


There are a handful of WWII NCOs who served in WWI.

Pitt's character is shown wearing what looks like 1931 cavalry boots.

I've posted an interview with a WWI/WWII cavalry NCO, the type of individual who could have been a template for Pitt's character.