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Fury (2014 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Fury' is a 2014 American war film written and directed by David Ayer, and starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pea, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs and Scott Eastwood. The film portrays US tank crews fighting in Germany during the final weeks of the European theater of World War II. Ayer was influenced by the service of veterans in his family and by reading books such as Belton Y. Cooper's 'Death Traps', about American armored units in World War II and the high casualty rates suffered by tank crews in Europe.
Production began in early September 2013, in Hertfordshire, England, followed by principal photography on September 30, 2013, in Oxfordshire. Filming continued for a month and a half at different locations, which included the city of Oxford, and concluded on November 13. 'Fury' was released on October 17, 2014, received positive reviews, and grossed $211 million worldwide.
Plot
In Nazi Germany in early April 1945, the Allies meet fanatical 'Waffen-SS' resistance. Don "Wardaddy" Collier, a battle-hardened US Army staff sergeant in the 2nd Armored Division, commands a surviving Sherman E8 tank nicknamed 'Fury' and its veteran crew: gunner Boyd "Bible" Swan, loader Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis, driver Trini "Gordo" Garcia, and the late bow gunner "Red", who was killed in the previous battle, all of whom have fought together since the North African campaign. The deceased Red is subsequently replaced by private Norman Ellison, a young clerk with no combat experience, when 'Fury' returns to base.
As 'Fury' moves deeper into Germany, Norman's inexperience becomes dangerous: He spots a team of concealed Hitler Youth but refuses to fire at the young combatants, who then ambush the platoon leader's tank with a 'Panzerfaust', killing its entire crew. Later, Norman hesitates under fire during a skirmish and as a result, Collier finds a captured German soldier and gives Norman his M1917 Revolver, ordering him to execute the prisoner. When he refuses, Collier wrestles the revolver into his hand and forces him to pull the trigger, killing the prisoner and traumatizing Norman.
After the platoon captures a small town, Collier and Norman search an apartment and encounter a frightened woman, Irma, and her younger cousin, Emma. Collier pays them for a meal and hot water while Norman and Emma begin to form a bond. Later, as the four sit down to eat, the rest of the crew drunkenly barges in. They harass the women and bully Norman until Collier angrily slams a table, enraged at their indecency. As the crew returns to the tank, German artillery hits the town, killing Irma and Emma, and angering Norman as a result.
The platoon receives orders to capture and hold a crossroads to protect the division's rear. En route, they are ambushed by a Tiger I tank, which destroys the other 3 Shermans. 'Fury' barely manages to destroy the Tiger by outmaneuvering the slower German heavy and firing at the thinner rear hull, but takes a hit to the side while doing so, destroying the turret's powered traverse and forcing Bible to manually turn the gun. Unable to notify his superiors because the radio was damaged in the fight, Collier decides they must complete their mission rather than risk going back. Upon arriving at the crossroads, 'Fury' is immobilized by a Teller mine. Collier sends Norman to scout a nearby hill, from which he sees a large number of 'Waffen-SS' approaching. When informed about the approaching battalion, Collier decides to stay, informing the others they are permitted to leave if they wish. Norman volunteers to stay with Collier and the rest of the crew decides to fight as well.
The men disguise 'Fury' to appear destroyed and hide inside. They give Norman the nickname "Machine" to show their acceptance of him and share a bottle of brandy together. They inflict heavy casualties on the unsuspecting Germans, but Grady is killed by a 'Panzerfaust' fired at the tank from behind after it penetrates the hull and goes through his torso, Gordo is shot and drops a live grenade into the tank and is subsequently killed while throwing himself onto it to protect the others. A sniper later kills a disoriented Bible when he emerges from a hatch and severely wounds Collier. Norman wants to surrender, but Collier warns him he will be tortured and killed. Out of ammunition and surrounded, Collier orders Norman to escape through the floor hatch as the Germans drop grenades into the tank. Norman slips out just before they explode, and Collier is killed. Norman tries to hide in the mud underneath 'Fury' but is spotted by a young 'Waffen-SS' soldier who decides to move on, sparing Norman's life.
The next morning, Norman is awakened and crawls back into 'Fury'. While inside, he hears someone on top of the tank and arms himself with Collier's revolver. The hatch opens and Norman prepares to fight, but realizes that the soldier is American. As Norman is driven away he is hailed a hero by a medic; the rest of the American soldiers continue their march into the heart of Germany.
Cast
* Brad Pitt as Staff Sergeant Donald "Don" "Wardaddy" Collier, tank commander
* Shia LaBeouf as Technician Fifth Grade Boyd "Bible" Swan, tank gunner
* Logan Lerman as Private First Class Norman "Machine" Ellison, tank assistant driver/bow gunner
* Michael Pea as Corporal Trinidad "Trini" "Gordo" Garca, tank driver
* Jon Bernthal as Private First Class Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis, tank loader
* Jason Isaacs as Captain Waggoner
* Brad Henke as Staff Sergeant Davis
* Jim Parrack as Staff Sergeant Binkowski
* Xavier Samuel as First Lieutenant Parker
* Scott Eastwood as Sergeant Miles
* Kevin Vance as Staff Sergeant Peterson
* Anamaria Marinca as Irma
* Alicia von Rittberg as Emma
* Chris Wilson as Chaplain
* David Rae as Tiger I Commander
* Laurence Spellman as Master Sergeant Dillard
* Zach Avery as a 'Waffen-SS' medic (uncredited)
* Adam Ganne as an 'Obersturmfhrer'
* Daniel Dorr as 'Obersturmfhrer' Schmidt
* Berhard Forscher as 'Sturmbannfhrer' Mller
* Edin Gali as 'Hauptscharfhrer' Wolfe
Production
Casting
On April 3, 2013, Sony started assembling the cast for the film when Brad Pitt, who previously starred in the WWII-set 'Inglourious Basterds' (2009), entered final talks to take the lead role of Wardaddy. On April 23, Shia LaBeouf joined the cast. On May 1, it was announced that Logan Lerman had also joined 'Fury's cast, playing Pitt's crew member Norman Ellison. On May 14, 'The Hollywood Reporter' announced that Michael Pea was in negotiations to play a member of Pitt's tank crew. With his addition to the cast, 'Fury' became one of the few films to show Hispanic-Americans serving in WWII. On May 17, Jon Bernthal joined the cast as Grady Travis, a cunning, vicious, and world-wise Arkansas native. On August 26, Scott Eastwood also joined the cast, playing Sergeant Miles. On September 19, Brad William Henke joined as Sergeant Roy Davis, commander of another tank, 'Lucy Sue' (the third Sherman destroyed by the Tiger). Jason Isaacs was cast on October 7, 2013. Other cast members include Xavier Samuel, Jim Parrack, Eugenia Kuzmina, Kevin Vance, and Branko Tomovi.the only operating Tiger I tank in the world was lent by The Tank Museum for the film. It is the first time a genuine Tiger I tank was used in a contemporary war film since 1950; '131' was restored to running condition between 1990 and 2003, and further work was only completed in 2012
in 2009.
Preparation
Ayer required the actors to undergo four months of preparation for filming, including a week-long boot camp run by Navy SEALs. Pitt said, "It was set up to break us down, to keep us cold, to keep us exhausted, to make us miserable, to keep us wet, make us eat cold food. And if our stuff wasn't together we had to pay for it with physical forfeits. We're up at five in the morning, we're doing night watches on the hour."Ayer also pushed the cast to physically spar each other, leading to black eyes and bloody noses. They insulted each other with personal attacks as well. On top of that, the actors were forced to live in the tank together for an extended period of time where they ate, slept, and defecated.
Ayer said, "I am ruthless as a director. I will do whatever I think is necessary to get what I want."
Filming
The film's crews were rehearsing the film scenes in Hertfordshire in September 2013. The crew were also sighted filming in various locations in North West England. Brad Pitt was spotted in preparations for 'Fury' driving a tank on September 3 in the English countryside. Principal photography began on September 30, 2013, in the Oxfordshire countryside. Pinewood Studios sent warning letters to the villagers of Shirburn, Pyrton, and Watlington that there would be sounds of gunfire and explosions during the filming of 'Fury'.On October 15, 2013, a stuntman was accidentally stabbed in the shoulder with a bayonet while rehearsing at the set in Pyrton. He was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford by air ambulance. Police treated it as an accident. In November 2013, the film caused controversy by shooting a scene on Remembrance Day in which extras wore 'Wehrmacht' and 'Waffen-SS' uniforms. Ayer and Sony apologized.
Music
On November 19, 2013, composer Steven Price signed on to score the film. Varse Sarabande released the original soundtrack album for the film on October 14, 2014.
Portrayal of history
Ayer sought authentic uniforms and weapons appropriate to the period of the final months of the war in Europe.
The film was shot in the United Kingdom, partly due to the availability of working World War II-era tanks. The film featured Tiger 131, the last surviving operational Tiger I, owned by The Tank Museum at Bovington, England. It was the first time since the film 'They Were Not Divided' (1950) that a real Tiger tank was used on a film set. Tiger 131 is a very early model Tiger I tank, and externally it has some significant differences from later Tiger I models. In the last weeks of the war, some early model Tigers were used in last ditch defense efforts; one of Germany's last Tigers to be lost at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was of a similar vintage.
Ten working M4 Sherman tanks were used. The Sherman tank 'Fury' was portrayed using an M4A2E8 HVSS Sherman tank named 'RON/HARRY' (T224875), also lent by The Tank Museum.
Ayer's attention to detail extended to the maps used in the film. A 1943 wartime map of Hannover, Germany, held in McMaster University's Lloyd Reeds Map Collection, was used to demonstrate the types of resources relied on by Allied forces.
While the storyline is fictional, the depiction of 'Fury' and its commander Wardaddy parallels the experience of several real Allied tankers, such as the American tank commander Staff Sergeant Lafayette G. "War Daddy" Pool, who landed just after D-Day and destroyed 258 enemy vehicles before his tank was knocked out in Germany in late 1944,[https://archive.today/2014.10.29-022207/http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/pool.pages/ordnance.journal.htm Dean and Nan Kleffman "The Forgotten Tank Ace: Staff Sergeant Latayette G. Pool, an American to Remember", 'Journal of Military Ordnance' (March, 1998)] and the small number of Sherman tanks to survive from the landing at D-Day to the end of the war, such as 'Bomb', a Sherman tank that landed at D-Day and survived into the bitter fighting in Germany at the war's end, one of two[https://globalnews.ca/news/7424703/londons-1st-hussars-fundraising-campaign-holy-roller-tank/ "Londons 1st Hussars launch fundraising campaign to preserve historic Holy Roller tank", 'Global News', Oct. 27, 2020] Canadian Sherman tanks to survive the fighting from D-Day to VE Day.[http://www.cbc.ca/player/AudioMobile/Quebec%2BAM/ID/2563691912/ "The Bomb's legacy lives on in Sherbrooke", 'Quebec AM, CBC Radio', Oct. 20, 2014] The plot also has some similarities to the battle of Crailsheim, fought in Germany in 1945. The last stand of the crew of the disabled 'Fury' appears to be based on an anecdote from 'Death Traps', wherein a lone tanker was "in his tank on a road junction" when a "German infantry unit approached, apparently not spotting the tank in the darkness". This unnamed tanker is said to have ricocheted shells into the enemy forces, fired all of his machine gun ammunition, and thrown grenades to kill German soldiers climbing onto the tank. Cooper concluded: "When our infantry arrived the next day, they found the brave young tanker still alive in his tank. The entire surrounding area was littered with German dead and wounded."
Release
Sony Pictures Releasing had previously set November 14, 2014 as the American release date for 'Fury'. On August 12, 2014, the date was moved up from its original release date of November 14, 2014 to October 17, 2014. The film premiered in London on October 20, 2014 as a closing film of London Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2014.
'Fury' had its world premiere at Newseum in Washington, D.C. on October 15, 2014, followed by a wide release across 3,173 theaters in North America on October 17.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on January 27, 2015. It was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 22, 2018.Partnership with 'World of Tanks'
The film additionally had a partnership with the video game 'World of Tanks', where the main tank from the film, 'Fury', was available for purchase in-game using real currency for a limited time after the film's release. The tank also served as the centerpiece in themed events in the vein of the film following its release. The Blitz version has been widely criticized due to the lack of attention to detail on the in game Fury Model.[https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2014/10/07/world_of_tanks_video_game_teams_with_brad_pitt_film_fury.html "World of Tanks video game teams with Brad Pitt film "Fury""], Online news article reporting on the partnership, Retrieved November 15th, 2014[http://canadianonlinegamers.com/2014/10/sony-pictures-fury-coming-to-world-of-tanks/ "Sony Pictures FURY Coming to World of Tanks"], Another online news article reporting on the partnership, Retrieved November 15th, 2014[http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/17/fury-special "Fury Enters World of Tanks"] World of Tanks official website's news post on the matter, describing partnership and special in-game events, Retrieved November 15th, 2014 An Ipetitions page was created with a goal of 1,000 signatures seeking Wargaming to fix the Fury tank model, only 176 signatures have been signed as of Thursday, September 6, 2018. Additionally, in the 2019 Blitz fair, the Fury was sold for 30,000 in-game gold, prompting players to criticize Wargaming for greed and the overall ridiculous price.As part of the UK DVD release, the game also hid 300,000 codes inside copies of the film, which gave in-game rewards and bonuses.
name="SPREAD_THE_WORD_CONTEST(GamePage)">[http://wotblitz.eu/en/news/pc-browser/competitions/spread-the-word-fury-contest/ " SPREAD THE WORD CONTEST - FURY IN UK STORES"] World of Tanks Blitz official website's news post on the matter, describing partnership and special in-game events, Retrieved February 23rd, 2015
Piracy
The film was leaked onto peer-to-peer file-sharing websites as part of the Sony Pictures hack by the hacker group "Guardians of Peace" on November 27, 2014. Along with it came four unreleased Sony Pictures films ('Annie', 'Mr. Turner', 'Still Alice', and 'To Write Love on Her Arms'). Within three days of the initial leak, 'Fury' had been downloaded an estimated 1.2 million times.Reception
Box office
'Fury' was a box office success. The film grossed $85.8 million in the US and Canada, and $126 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $211.8 million, against a budget of $68 million.
US and Canada
'Fury' was released on October 17, 2014, in North America across 3,173 theaters. It earned $1.2 million from Thursday late-night showings from 2,489 theaters. On its opening day, the film grossed $8.8 million. The film topped the box office on its opening weekend earning $23,500,000 at an average of $7,406 per theater. The film's opening weekend gross is David Ayer's biggest hit of his (now five-film) directorial career, surpassing the $13.1 million debut of 'End of Watch' and his third-biggest opening as a writer behind 2001's 'The Fast and the Furious' ($40 million) and 2003's 'S.W.A.T.' ($37 million). In its second weekend the film earned $13 million (-45%).
Other countries
'Fury' was released a week following its North American debut and earned $11.2 million from 1,975 screens in 15 markets. The film went number one in Australia ($2.2 million) and number five in France ($2.1 million). In UK, the film topped the box office in its opening weekend with 2.69 million ($4.2 million) knocking off 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' which earned 1.92 million ($3.1 million) from the top spot. In its second weekend the film added $14.6 million in 44 markets, bringing the overseas cumulative audience [cume] to $37.8 million. It went number one in Finland ($410,000) and in Ukraine ($420,000).
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 257 reviews, with an average rating of 6.92/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Overall, 'Fury' is a well-acted, suitably raw depiction of the horrors of war that offers visceral battle scenes but doesn't quite live up to its larger ambitions." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. The opening weekend audience was 60% male, with 51 percent over the age of 35.Mick LaSalle of the 'San Francisco Chronicle' gave a 4-out-of-4 rating and wrote: "A great movie lets you know you're in safe hands from the beginning." 'The New York Times' critic A. O. Scott praised the film and Pitt's character, "Within this gore-spattered, superficially nihilistic carapace is an old-fashioned platoon picture, a sensitive and superbly acted tale of male bonding under duress." James Berardinelli also gave the film a positive review saying: "This is a memorable motion picture, accurately depicting the horrors of war without reveling in the depravity of man (like 'Platoon'). Equally, it shows instances of humanity without resorting to the rah-rah, sanitized perspective that infiltrated many war films of the 1950s and 1960s. It's as good a World War II film as I've seen in recent years, and contains perhaps the most draining battlefield sequences since 'Saving Private Ryan'." Kenneth Turan for the 'Los Angeles Times' praised the film highly, writing: The "best job I ever had" sentence "is one of the catchphrases the men in this killing machine use with each other, and the ghastly thing is they half believe it's true."
Peter Debruge said in 'Variety', "Brad Pitt plays a watered-down version of his 'Inglourious Basterds' character in this disappointingly bland look at a World War II tank crew." 'New York' magazine's David Edelstein said, "Though much of 'Fury' crumbles in the mind, the power of its best moments lingers: the writhing of Ellison as he's forced to kill; the frightening vibe of the scene with German women; the meanness on some soldiers' faces and soul-sickness on others'."
Accolades
References
Further reading
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