What's wrong with this picture?

The main issue is that M41 Walker Bulldog tanks were used in the movie.  The M41 was as Korean war vintage tank and was not used by US forces in Vietnam.  Additionally, the fuel cans are either British (most likely since the movie was shot in England) or WWII US Blits cans, or Geman WWII cans.  

A great movie though

Right on. The tank would most likely not have been in Vietnam. Could've been, maybe? Not all units got the latest and greatest hardware. But, by no means would those German Jerry cans have been hanging on a US vehicle in Vietnam. Prop guys couldn't do any better than that?

Still, very good movie. It's interesting to see the urban warfare side instead of the usual jungle fighting that most Vietnam era films focus on.

Well, the ARVN (South Vietnamese) had the M41s, but the Americans didn't.

I like the training sequences and GySgt Hartmann most, though. (OK, I'm taking that grin offa my face right now...) Have a nice day

Paweł

Well, to be fair, it is not THAT big faux pas if you consider Hollyweird's past in regards to historical accuracy.  I mean, all I have to say is "The Battle Of The Bulge and it's yellow painted M26 Pershings posing as Tiger tanks."  Need I say more?

I dont think that the Marines ever used the M41. But yes the ARVN used it in Vietnam, and quite well against NVA tanks. I do enjoy the tank/infantry scenes in this movie. Fairly well done.

Also, the stowage on the back doesn't seem to be tied down at all. 

I have some spare thread if they need it.

I haven't seen that movie since it came out, but one thing that stuck out was it was the only war movie I've ever seen that accurately depicted sound verses light travel when the tank was firing. You see the explosion before hearing it. Since then, I hate seeing scenes in Private Ryan or BOB where bombing or AA fire miles in the distance are heard simultaneously.

Kubrick was insane when it came to research. After his death, while cleaning out his storage they found an entire room full of everything related to Napoleon, thought to be the most extensive collection of information on him anywhere, and that film was never made.

FMJ was filmed entirely in the UK, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some exception that made use of that gear accurate.

New Hampshire

Well, to be fair, it is not THAT big faux pas if you consider Hollyweird's past in regards to historical accuracy.  I mean, all I have to say is "The Battle Of The Bulge and it's yellow painted M26 Pershings posing as Tiger tanks."  Need I say more?

I think the Battle of the Bulge featured gray painted M47's.Remember Col Hessler.I did one for the 1st Hollywood Group build.

First thing that caught my eyes where the Jerry cans hanging there. Speaking of wrong things in movies, if I recall correctly, the mini series "A Rumor of War" by Phillip Caputo and played by Brad Davis showed the Marines having BM59's as M-14's.

Pawel...If you like Gunny Ermey in FMJ then you're gonna love him more in one of his earlier flicks, "The Boys in Company C" . It's posted in U Tube in its entirety: www.youtube.com/watch

Sgt. Aquilla is played by Santos Morales an actor who appeared in many TV shows during the 70's and 80's.

I just noticed on the left rear fender, it seems to say "USMC".

Guys, I think you missed a very important detail....

The Germans (and their Gerry cans) occupied France.  The French occupied Indochina.  The french had all those Gerry cans the Germans left when they were chased out.  The French took them to Indochina with them.  The VietMinh chased out the French...leaving behind Gerry's cans.  The Americans then came to Vietnam......

It's the six-degrees of separation theory.

Ahh that's right, Pattons not Pershings.  And while most were Grey, I swear I remember there being some yellow painted ones too (I think it was a yellow painted one that took out Telly Savalas' I believe.)  Of course the copy of the movie (which is a bit old) could just be the colorization was off.

NH, you may be thinking of the Sand Yellow M48s in Patton during the El Guetar battle scenes...

stikpusher

NH, you may be thinking of the Sand Yellow M48s in Patton during the El Guetar battle scenes...

Bingo, we have a winner!  You are right.  I forgot that the last time I watched The Battle of the Bulge I watched Patton right after.

pyrman64

Guys, I think you missed a very important detail....

The Germans (and their Gerry cans) occupied France.  The French occupied Indochina.  The french had all those Gerry cans the Germans left when they were chased out.  The French took them to Indochina with them.  The VietMinh chased out the French...leaving behind Gerry's cans.  The Americans then came to Vietnam......

It's the six-degrees of separation theory.

I know, the turret should be shot away with Telly Savalas standing in the turret ring holding his wounded buddy in one arm, and a .30 cal in the other; right?

Regarding the jerry cans -- the British (and others) copied theirs to have the same pattern as the one you are solely equating with German-manufactured ones. You can go into a British equipment store today and buy one with that exact embossed pattern.  There's no reason to believe that those are German-made cans from WW2.

Here's one

http://www.firstfour.co.uk/item/2066843/jerry-can-20-litre-khaki-green

Roy....it was a theory to show them in Vietnam 20+yrs post WWII, as portrayed in the movie.  No need to take it so seriously....it's Hollywood for cripes sake!

Hmm--my memory is that Kelly Savalas' mount in TBotB was an M-24, as the French Army had quite a lot of those as a result of post-war US military assistance.  The M-24 and M-36 were then replaced by AMX-103 & Char (130?), with the US variants going to the Reserves & Legion, and thus being available to rent as film props.

Full Metal Jacket does have a gear faux pas--The Marines ought to be a little less uniform.  Only a few out to be in "jungle" boots, the web gear ought to be less M-56 LCi and more USMC M-1961 782 gear,

bitbite

Also, the stowage on the back doesn't seem to be tied down at all. 

I have some spare thread if they need it.

HaHaHa . . . . LoL . . . . . I KNEW you'd say that.  

Still, It's Vietnam, 1960 something, USMC. There would not have been british german polish hungarian or martian cans on those tanks. They woulda been US steel cans or maybe clay pots? geees

Fly & Pryman: you both misread the intent of my post.  I meant to point out the fact that what we presume is a "german" designed jerry can embossing can be too narrowly defined.  I see those in lots of places.  Whether it be in the equipment stowage of a milveh movie set or in Hue city in 1968 or on the deck of a USMC vehicle in Afghanistan today -- none would surprise me.  It's a ubiquitous design and to my eye, doesn't scream "I'm out of place" on that movie tank's stowage bin.  that's all.

I bet the guys behind the tank are not even US Marines.

These conversations always amaze me; when a war movie pops up with some sort of tank or other armored vehicle, modelers often try to point out the errors. I think of the vehicles as props in a movie. It is fun trying to model the vizmod vehicles (like the Saving Private Ryan Tiger or Kelly's Heroes tanks).

Have you seen what the US Army uses to replicate BMPs and T-72 tanks at Fort Irwin? Bascially vizmod M113A2s with Bradley turrets called OPFOR Surrogate Vehicles or OSV. Hollywood often gets it closer than our own Army does in real life.

Germany even offered free T-72s to the US Army for use as OPFOR vehicles; all we had to do was ship them to California. We figured it was cheaper to just convert vehicles our soldiers were already familiar with and had repair parts in the system instead of training soldiers on an entirely new vehicle system and requiring a new supply chain to support the ex-East German tanks.

A cool site to see tanks in film is the following:

http://www.imcdb.org/

Check "military vehicles" in the search page and you'll get lots of ideas. You can search by vehicle type, manufacturer or movie/TV show title.

For example:

M7B2 Priest with WW2 german markings in "Hogan's Heroes"

FV 601 Saladin in a "Simpsons" episode

Some of the mock-ups in this database are too crazy to be believed. This is a fun site, guys.

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_50423-Cadillac-M24-Chaffee-1944.html (Chaffee as zimmerited panther)

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_310961-Aveling-Barford-Universal-Carrier.html

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_31790-Uralvagonzavod-T-34-85-1944.html ("Tiger" in Kelly's Heroes)

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_396579-Ford-M8-Greyhound.html

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_286708-Aveling-Barford-Universal-Carrier.html

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_75330-CKD-T-34-85-1952.html

www.imcdb.org/vehicle_306550-Made-for-Movie.html

www.imcdb.org/movie_2294076-Girls-und-Panzer.html