Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Tank Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 1, 2021

Marvin J. Chomsky's "Tank" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional materials for the film and exclusive new audio commentary by entertainment journalist and author Bryan Reesman. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Rogue father

The U.S. Army has never operated a base like the one that you will see in Marvin J. Chomsky’s Tank. This ought to be quite obvious, but for some odd reason it wasn't and the film generated a lot of negative reviews because plenty of critics concluded that there was a serious problem with its authenticity. Imagine viewing John Landis’ Spies Like Us, which by the way was released only a year after Tank, and feeling disappointed because it does not get the spy business right. Could it be that authenticity was not a top priority for the creators of Tank and Spies Like Us?

The base that welcomes Sergeant Major Zak Carey (James Garner) and his family is in Clemens, Georgia, looks like a busy boy scout camp for grownups. It might be the reasons why Carey brings with him his favorite toy, a fully restored, fully functional Sherman tank, and parks it in a massive hangar. No one questions his right to own the tank. In fact, an overly ambitious reporter visiting the base conducts a quick interview for a popular magazine because Carey's ‘hobby’ is apparently admired by plenty of other grownups like him. Carey then ends up in a popular bar where he confronts deputy Euclid (James Cromwell) and quickly gives him a huge black eye because he repeatedly abuses the local prostitute Sarah (Jenilee Harrison) while she has been trying to talk to him. This is what real men do, right? They take care of cowards that beat up women, even when they happen to wear a badge. But on the morning after, when Euclid reports for duty, Sheriff Buelton (G.D. Spradlin) announces that an attack on one of his boys is an attack on him, and to teach Carey how to behave in his town frames his teenage son, Billy (C. Thomas Howell), with a pack of fresh marijuana. When Euclid 'discovers' the marijuana in Billy's locker and he is thrown in jail, Carey is forced to apologize and then hand all of the money he and his wife (Shirley Jones) have saved for a fishing boat to Buelton, who gladly accepts the donation but then moves the young troublemaker to a local labor camp where he would more than likely get killed. However, the moral lesson, as Buelton describes it, has a completely different impact on Carey, and just hours later he goes on the warpath with his tank to free Billy.

If you have seen Hy Averback's Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? and liked it, there is an excellent chance that you will have a good time with Tank as well. While the former was completed a little over a decade earlier, these two films find humor in the same type of utterly unrealistic mayhem. This is why the criticism that Tank struggles to appear authentic is impossible to take seriously -- the mayhem, as staged in the film, can never materialize, and to assume otherwise is actually quite bizarre.

Of course, this does not mean that the actions of the carious characters in Tank are immune to criticism. However, the more time you spend with them, the more it feels like they should have been far more irrational. That’s right. This film does not need more authenticity, it needs more outrageous material to silence its critics. Spradlin’s unhinged Sheriff actually openly pushes the film in that kind of a wild territory where everyone would have been free to go berserk, but for some odd reason Chomsky chooses to control the mayhem so that at the right time you are served a few very cliched moral lessons.

The Sherman tank that Garner’s character operates is real and was borrowed from the Ropkey Armor Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana. It looks great on the outside but the best footage is from the inside of it because you can get a real sense of what it must have been like to operate it during the war. (Pay close attention to the pedals and the sticks that are used to maneuver it). Unfortunately, the Ropkey Armor Museum, which housed one of the largest collections of military vehicles in America, permanently closed in 2017.

Tank Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tank arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. The master is definitely not one of the studio's worst, but it is immediately obvious that it does not have that stable organic appearance that is needed for the film to look attractive. The main reason for this is the presence of light sharpening that makes the surface of the visuals appear rather harsh and occasionally even smeary. The sharpening is most obvious during bright daylight footage, but even indoor footage reveals plenty of distracting effects that are associated with it (see examples in screencaptures #3, 10, and 13). Rather predictably, fluidity isn't optimal, so on a larger screen quick camera movement can produce some very unpleasant smeary/throbbing effects. Colors are stable. However, the primaries and the supporting nuances can be better saturated and balanced. Some ranges of nuances can be expanded as well. Image stability is good. Some minor blemishes can be spotted, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, the technical presentation is quite underwhelming. To look as it should on Blu-ray, this film needs to be fully remastered either in 2K or 4K. My score is 2.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Tank Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is very nice. It is stable, sharp, clean, and nicely balanced. There is a good music score from Lalo Schifrin that quite easily produces some very nice contrasts as well, especially during the second half where James Garner's character declares war on the good 'ol boys. There are no audio dropouts, pops, or other similar anomalies to report.

Tank Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Tank. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Radio Spots - a couple of vintage radio spots for Tank. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - exclusive new audio commentary by entertainment journalist and author Bryan Reesman.

Tank Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tank could have been a vastly superior film if it avoided the cliched moral messages and unleashed its characters to behave like the loons in Cold Turkey. G.D. Spradlin openly pushes the film in that kind of a wild territory, but no one seems willing to follow him. A few more big character actors like Ned Beatty, Jerry Reed, and R.G. Armstrong working with Spradlin could have transformed Tank into quite a gem. It is still a decent film to see late at night, but it is very easy to conclude that it did not turn out as well as it could have. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old and unfortunately pretty rough master that was supplied by Universal Pictures.