----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Notton" <Richard@fv623.demon.co.uk>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] MVs in the movies
> Hypothetically I'd wholly agree, however. . . . . . .
>
> So who's hiding all the 8Rads, 6Rads, Sd.Kfz 222s, 223s, 231s, 221s, 250s,
> 251s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 10s, 11s, Typ 82s, Pz 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, Panthers,
> Tigers, Elefants and StuGs plus some correct support vehicles like Steyrs,
> Opel, Borgward, Mercedes, Auto-Union, Wanderer, Adler, Krupp, Horch ?
>
> Hands up all the list people with a bit of genuine Wehrmacht kit that they
> will allow film people to play with, Andreas and Phil need not apply.
That's the crux of it right there - who's willing to let the movies play
with their restorations? Some sets are a horror show - particularly when
the owner isn't present - and they've told you that your vehicle will be
babied and/or "won't be doing anything out of the ordinary." Unfortunately,
one fellow in our chapter was told exactly that when he lent out his WC-63,
only to get it back filthy. When he asked how a vehicle supposedly 'not
doing anything out of the ordinary' could come back in such a state, he
received the usual condescending non-explanation, and left it at that.
Until he saw the episode in question, that is, with his 'baby' up to its
eyeballs in muck and mire ferrying ersatz terrorists across a slimy river -
only to be yarded out on-screen by another vehicle! (if memory serves.)
I've mentioned the money-thing before, but will again after seeing several
'letter to the editor' type queries in either Army Motors or Military
Vehicles. Case in point is a film I'm doing now, name unimportant, wanting
10 1960's East German vehicles on short notice. We don't have them, and
really, the only folks that do are spread all over North America, and even
if they were willing to rent them out on an individual basis, no film
company shooting a Movie-of-the-Week ("M-O-W" up here) would be willing to
pay for their rental plus the shipping, and all the ancillary costs. So, we
show them a few things, and wind up settling for the following:
1 x 5-Ton M.A.N.
2 x 1/4 Ton MUNGAs
1 x GMC M-220
3 x M35A2 Cargos
1 x M37
1 x M152
(and something else I've forgotten over the last four hours...dammit..oh
yeah, 1974 Kubelwagen'd THING)
Anyway, naturally, they want all these vehicles to be uni-coloured
(Hollywood always wants to rent vehicles in pairs, and if a large number
like this, invariably wants them "all the same" unless they're playing two
separate factions), but balked when told of the paint/repaint costs to get
them back to a state rentable to other productions. So, the uni-coloured,
correct East German fleet called for in the script gets accountant-ed down
to a motley handful of mis-matched vehicles from a host of nations in
several delightfully anachronistic colour schemes. This is by no means
confined to this production alone, as unless you're a Steven Spielberg with
a Spielbergian budget doing a feature, you're *always* fighting the same
fight, and making do with what you have. This is why reading certain
letters written to certain collector's publications tends to make my blood
boil when they suggest an indifference on the part of the vehicle suppliers,
as we're sort of stuck at the bottom of the proverbial two-storey outhouse
with no recourse save to duck appropriately and soldier on as best we can
with whatever dignity we're allowed.
So, when this film comes out and more than six of us watch it (probably with
their kids, if the script is anything to go by), please keep all of this
firmly in mind if you feel the sudden urge to twiddle your poison-pen and
fire off another missive to one of our fine collector's publications, or ask
any of your friends who may have had first-hand experience with the
Hollywarped crowd.
Soapbox is free if anyone else wants to have a go...
Andy Hill
MVPA 9211
Vancouver, B.C.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 09:34:12 PDT