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 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.
James Garner's at war -- and driving a Sherman Tank
Zack: We're not runnin' from the law. We're runnin' to the law.
Fort Benning, Georgia, USA
Zebulon, Georgia, USA
Filmed at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.
The Sherman tank seen in the film came from the Ropkey Armor Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA and is owned by Dave Ropkey - both Ropkey and the museum are billed in the final credits.
The type of army tank that US Army Command Sergeant Major Zack Carey (James Garner') owned was a World War II era Sherman Tank, aka an M4 Sherman Tank. Previously known as the M4 Medium Tank, the tank is a medium tank, and was named after Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Around 50,000 of them were manufactured, most of them around World War II. The tank was designed in 1940 and first produced in 1941.
Actors James Garner and James Cromwell would later co-star in Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys (2000) around sixteen years later. In that film, Cromwell was Garner's superior.
The name of the biker gang was the "Dragon Riders".
Continuity
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.
After Zach enters the Outpost Cafe and takes a seat at the bar, the bartender removes the empty bottle and beer glass twice.
When Zak drives the tank past Sarah's trailer, Sarah is wearing a T-shirt. She grabs a pair of shorts and begins to put them on. When she exits her trailer, she's still in the process of putting the shorts on, but now, she's wearing a tank top she hadn't been wearing before.
Factual errors
When Maj. Gen. V.E. Hubik tells the Sheriff that the Sergeant Major has resigned, this is incorrect. Enlisted personnel, including senior NCOs, cannot resign from the military. However, since the Sergeant Major most likely has at least 20 years of service the he can retire from active duty at any time. A General would have known the difference.
Revealing mistakes
When the tank drives over the police cars at the roadblock, the front end of the tank raises up before it strikes the cars, exposing the fact that a small ramp was set up to aid the tank in climbing onto them.
When the tank drives towards the exit of the military base, you can see track marks on the road and in the grass from previous takes.
Miscellaneous
During the tug-of-war scene, it never occurs to the sheriff's posse to simply unhook or sever the cable pulling the very tank they're trying to stop.
The newscaster says that the sheriff is deputizing two hundred men. Yet only about thirty men are with the sheriff.
Errors in geography
During the physical training scene, it starts at Kelly Hill, but they end up running past the general's house which is a distance of at least ten miles.
Plot holes
After Zack pulls up to the Sheriff's office with the tank, he asks the deputy where the Sheriff is. The deputy says that he is meeting with the Governor. Zack then destroys the telephone call boxes and the patrol car. In the next scene you see the Sheriff talking to the Governor telling him that Zack has destroyed his office, a patrol car, and so on. How would he have known that if no one could call and tell him?
Character error
When putting on the tank's thrown track on a Sherman, you do not push the iron bar in the opposite direction of its motion. You should stand in the other direction and pull it on.