Tank (1984)

November 2, 2024 8:57 PM

[TRAILER] After relocating his family - and his prized restored Sherman tank - to a small Georgia town, Sargeant Major Zack Carey (James Garner) butts heads with the local sheriff (GD Spradlin). Zack doesn't agree with the ways of the local police, and when the sheriff goes after Zack's son (C. Thomas Howell), it's time for Zack to roll out the Sherman tank and wage a little war of his own.

Also starring Shirley Jones, James Cromwell, Jenilee Harrison, Dorian Harewood.

Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. Written by Dan Gordon. Produced by Irwin Yablans for Lorimar Productions. Cinematography by Donald H. Birnkrant. Edited by Donald R. Rode. Music by Lalo Schifrin.

20% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (11 comments total)

Is this good? I doubt it. But as someone whose family watched this movie maybe twenty-five times when I was a kid, I am not the person to ask. For me, this is a weird little artifact of a different time.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:05 PM on November 2 [3 favorites]

"Posse comitatus, Sheriff."
"Did you just call me a pussy communist??!?"
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:30 PM on November 2 [4 favorites]

Lord this is a hazy side damn memory. Was this like Clash of the Titans and Grease 2 where HBO had them running on a loop all summer long?
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:36 PM on November 2 [1 favorite]

This is the VHS cover I remember seeing a hundred times at the local video store.
I always thought it looked more like Ron Howard than C. Thomas Howell.
posted by madajb at 10:19 PM on November 2

The plot seems like "what if First Blood, but a comedy?"
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:07 AM on November 3 [3 favorites]

Clearly the director, and the guy who titled the movie, and the guy who designed the poster all want you to know exactly what you're signing up for when you watch this movie.
posted by adamrice at 7:00 AM on November 3 [1 favorite]

Watching this last night was weird because in the many times I watched this as a kid, I either never understood or somehow managed to ignore the whole plotline about Sarah having been forced by Deputy Euclid into becoming a $20 hooker.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:57 AM on November 3

I haven't seen the movie, but I just watched the trailer and it automatically gets an A+ from me.

Me, underestimating James Cromwell's actor's status in the early 80's, and thinking he was the sheriff when he showed up.
posted by Atreides at 7:37 AM on November 4

Watched this with my dad circa 1986 on HBO at the Salt Lake City Airport Hilton when my mom kicked my dad out for the weekend for cheating. He was a Rockford Files guy so no surprise we'd find Tank on TV. It's bonkers how much I remember from that weekend.
posted by GamblingBlues at 7:41 AM on November 4 [4 favorites]

On a hot summer night in 1990, I had the wondrous experience of watching Tank back-to-back with Traxx, starring Shadoe Stevens (!), so the two are forever jumbled in my head as Garner and Stevens teaming up to bake cookies and fight bad guys in a tank.
posted by JohnFromGR at 10:39 AM on November 4 [2 favorites]

Tank seemed like a bit of plausible if far-fetched fantasy when it came out, until that killdozer guy went on his real-life rampage.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 1:22 PM on November 4