Unimog in "Act of Valor"

[totaljoint]

I just saw the movie "Act of Valor". Sorry, no Pinzgauers, but there is a Unimog scene. It's driving up to two airplanes meeting in the desert.
The Unimog (404?) has a square peak in the hood, over the radiator which is visible in the front end shots.
(This is the scene, not the front end!).

Has anyone who is familiar with Unimogs seen the film?
Is that just a movie modification, or did Unimog's ever have such a hood?

[berger]

How was the movie??

[totaljoint]

Loved it. The action scenes are great. Despite the reviews, I thought the acting by the SEAL's was as good as some I've seen by professional actors. The story was a little hard to believe toward the end, but wouldn't hold that against the overall picture.

The amount of shells pouring out of the mini guns is impressive! Apparently that was a "live fire" scene.

[ExpeditionImports]

Not a Unimog. It's a French abortion with some Unimog roots.

Hey it even uses a 404 Carb...thats about it though.

Simca Marmon Sumb - http://www.g0ozs.org/marmon/

Cheers,

Scott

[GenevaPinz]

Do Special Forces actually use binoculars/night optics that look like they're out of Star Trek? Or just regular, bulletproof Steiner binos and Night-Vision Goggles that do the job without the greenish stuff on the side?

I'd love to be proven wrong, but in my opinion the greenish "data display" on the picture is just something made up... Why not in Sci-Fi, but in a movie where you bother to feature actual Navy SEALs for the sake of realism, why would you want to do this? Beats me...

Ok, off the soap box... sorry about the off-topic.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

I'll back that up. The SUMB is, well, just really weird. I played with importing some back when I was doing that and I tested out some that were offered to me in England. Very odd truck. I passed on that one. (it is French after-all)

[mockingbird812]

Do Special Forces actually use binoculars/night optics that look like they're out of Star Trek? Or just regular, bulletproof Steiner binos and Night-Vision Goggles that do the job without the greenish stuff on the side?

I'd love to be proven wrong, but in my opinion the greenish "data display" on the picture is just something made up... Why not in Sci-Fi, but in a movie where you bother to feature actual Navy SEALs for the sake of realism, why would you want to do this? Beats me...

Ok, off the soap box... sorry about the off-topic.

Not sure if I understand what you are asking wrt "greenish data display" as I have not seen the movie. But, our current state of the art NVGs provide a green display as that is the color of the sensitive phospor chemical used in the tubes inside the googles.

[GenevaPinz]

Not sure if I understand what you are asking wrt "greenish data display" as I have not seen the movie. But, our current state of the art NVGs provide a green display as that is the color of the sensitive phospor chemical used in the tubes inside the googles.

Just referring to the picture in the first post. It looks like the film-makers show us what a guy sees through a binocular vision system of some kind. The image is in black and white, which can be a number of things (daytime video, or would-be Infrared although the shades should not be here if it was actual IR).

What seems out of place to me are the lines on the sides and the sort of "scale" on the left and in the top and bottom center that are superimposed in light green over the b/w image.

I haven't seen the movie so I may very well be ranting about nothing (I have been told I do it sometimes... )...

[mockingbird812]

Jan - the photo in the 1st post was not viewable to me at work and I only saw it last night on my home computer. I have not seen this apparatus display before. I am sure it is poosible that the movie makers took some poetic license and the SEALs have some pretty radical/advanced technologies that they will not reveal in a movie for the sake of realism. I am sure they have at their disposal technologies that allow them to exploit night sky energy from the visible to well into the infared spectrum.

[GenevaPinz]

Sam, this is my point exactly: why the "poetic license" in a movie that is realistic to the point of having scenes filmed while firing live rounds?

Why not stick to what you know is in use? They had the real guys on set and a heavy dose of US Navy advice and support (nuclear subs and VTOL aircrafts are unfortunately still not available even from LA's best prop shops...), they could show quite a lot of impressive gear without getting into video-game-like gimmickry.

In the same vein, whenever there is a computer/radar display (even in the trailer, which I ended up watching), most of the times there is a chirping noise behind it... supposedly to make the thing sound even more advanced than we can imagine... and I personally don't think it brings anything to the movie.

I guess I should watch documentaries rather than movies for the extra realism...

[mockingbird812]

My best guess is "poetic license" so they don't tip their hat to the bad guys on their true capabilities. Our technological and training edges are what allow us to smack the bad guys silly before they even know it!

[totaljoint]

And now that the SEALs are in the media lime light, there is even a push (discussed on FOX news talk, XM radio tonight) from some senators to
add more "diversity" to this elite corps. Apparently not enough minorities evident in the film. The SEALs don't want to be in the public eye, and their names are not even given in the credits.
Great movie showing brave and capable special forces and some of their equipment. Perhaps we should keep our aces a little more up the sleeve?

[berger]

And now that the SEALs are in the media lime light, there is even a push (discussed on FOX news talk, XM radio tonight) from some senators to
add more "diversity" to this elite corps. Apparently not enough minorities evident in the film. The SEALs don't want to be in the public eye, and their names are not even given in the credits.
Great movie showing brave and capable special forces and some of their equipment. Perhaps we should keep our aces a little more up the sleeve?

Do you think this movie was in the works before Seal Team 6 took out Bin Laden, or do you think it was made to ride that wave? I read somewhere that it was originally done as a recruitment like film, then a director got on board and created a story. While I love the concept and want to see it, I do think it reveals to much.

I remember watching a documentary on military snipers and a competition between some of the worlds best (a Canadian sniper used to hold the longest confirmed kill in the Sandbox), and while many nations revealed the faces of these sharp shooters, the CF would not allow the faces of our snipers and special forces soldiers to be shown. Made sense to me.

[ARVOps]

A friend of mine is in the "business" and he said those guys in the movie volunteered to do it and now won't be doing that kind of work anymore. They will be working training and support jobs now.
the whole movie thing was bitter sweet for them, but it was pushed on them from up on high.