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The Beast (1988 film)

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1988 American war film directed by Kevin Reynolds
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The Beast
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Reynolds
Screenplay byWilliam Mastrosimone
Based onNənawā́te
by William Mastrosimone
Produced byGil Friesen
StarringGeorge Dzundza
Jason Patric
Steven Bauer
Stephen Baldwin
Erick Avari
Don Harvey
CinematographyDouglas Milsome
Edited byPeter Boyle
Music byMark Isham
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • September 16, 1988 (1988-09-16)
Running time111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Pashto
Budget$8 million
Box office$161,004

The Beast (also known as The Beast of War) is a 1988 American war film directed by Kevin Reynolds and written by William Mastrosimone, based on his play Nənawā́te. The film follows the crew of a Soviet T-55 tank who became lost during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The film has enjoyed a cult-favorite status in spite of its low box office statistics.

Plot

In 1981 Afghanistan, a Soviet tank unit viciously attacks a Pashtun village harboring a group of mujahideen fighters. A couple of remaining mujahideen attack the tanks with Molotovs, and Daskal(George Dzundza) a ruthless tank commander executes a surviving member by running him over. Following the assault, Daskl's tank takes a wrong turn through a mountain pass and enters a blind valley. Taj (Steven Bauer) returns to discover the village destroyed, and his father and brother killed—the latter by having been crushed under Daskal's tank. As the new khan following his brother's death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge and leads a band of mujahideen fighters into the valley to pursue Daskal's tank (which they call 'The Beast'), counting on their captured RPG-7 anti-tank weapon to destroy it.

Lost, isolated, and with their radio damaged in the village attack, the tank crew set out to find Kandahar Road and return to Soviet lines. While camping for the night, Afghan communist crewman Samad (Erick Avari) educates the reluctant tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko (Jason Patric), about the Pashtun people's code of honour, Pashtunwali; particularly nanawatai, which requires that an enemy is to be given sanctuary if he asks.

En route, the crew suffer several setbacks and ambushes from Taj's band. Suspecting Samad to be a traitor, Daskal murders him in front of his men; Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal for the illegal killing. At a brief stop, Koverchenko reports that their tank is breaking down; Daskal accuses him of mutiny and orders gunner Kaminski (Don Harvey) and loader Golikov (Stephen Baldwin) to tie him to a rock, and leave him with a grenade behind his head as a booby-trap for the mujahideen. Wild dogs eventually attack Koverchenko, but he is saved when the grenade rolls off the rock and explodes, scaring them off. Taj's band reunite with several vengeful women from the village and find Koverchenko, who pleads for nanawatai. The mujahideen give him food and shelter. Koverchenko befriends Taj after fixing the band's broken RPG-7, and agrees to help him destroy the tank.

Meanwhile, the remaining tank crew finally realize they are trapped in the valley, until a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal refuses the offer, after getting told the tank would be disposed of if they left it. Daskal has the tank refueled, and the crew heads back towards the narrow mountain pass where they entered, which the helicopter pilot says is the only way out. The crew drives through the night and find the helicopter crew dead, who had drunk from a waterhole the tank crew poisoned earlier with cyanide. The mujahideen and Koverchenko charge at the tank which now has a dead battery. The tank's .50 cal gun runs out of ammo and they finally get it running at the last second.

Koverchenko and Taj follow the leaking fuel trail from the tank leading to a chase in the pass. The tank runs out of shells and Koverchenko finally fires the RPG only to damage the tank's main gun. Just as it seems the tank will escape, the village women (armed with grenades) blow up the cliff-side, dropping boulders onto the tank and disabling it. Koverchenko sets fire to the tank's leaked fuel, forcing the crew to bail; he pleads nanawatai on their behalf, and Taj reluctantly agrees. Koverchenko confronts Daskal over his brutality, and desires that he live to see the Soviets lose the war.

Kaminski and Golikov flee on foot, but Daskal is chased down by the village women and murdered; they bring back his bloodied uniform to Taj as trophies. Horrified, Koverchenko waves down an arriving Soviet helicopter to be rescued. Koverchenko salutes Taj as he is hoisted by a harness, brandishing a jezail musket Taj had just gifted to him. The film ends with Koverchenko flying off with the helicopter over the Afghan landscape.

Cast

Production

Filming

The film was shot in Israel. Several actual T-55 tanks were used in the film; however, the helicopter used in the film was not a real Mi-8, but an Aerospatiale SA.321 Super Frelon. The tank in question in the movie is actually an Israeli modification of a Soviet T-55 captured by the Israelis from their Arab armies, redesignated as the Ti-67 and fitted with a 105mm main gun in place of the original 100mm gun, leading some to mistake it for a T-62. The Ti-67 tank in particular is more distinctly known as the Tiran 5Sh. Many of these conversions were used by the Israelis during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The film's military advisor, Dale Dye, has written that he negotiated the purchase of the tanks over drinks with Israel Defense Forces officers in a Tel Aviv hotel. The language spoken by the Afghan characters is Pashto. The Pashto dialogue is subtitled but some television screenings have omitted the subtitles.

Music

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack music was released by CBS/Columbia Records shortly after the movie's debut, written and performed entirely by Mark Isham. The back of the album suggests two tracks ("Badal" and "Nanawatai"), but there are, in fact, ten. Offered in 12-inch LP vinyl, CrO2 cassette and DDD-format compact discs. Used CD copies command rather high prices since limited numbers were released in spite of composer Mark Isham's celebrity status.

In addition to the soundtrack, the song Троллейбус ("Trolleybus") by the Russian rock band Kino is heard playing on the radio during a scene. However, Троллейбус was not released until 1983, two years after the events portrayed in the movie. The song was titled Streetcar Headed East in English-speaking countries.

See also

References

  1. "AFI|Catalog info". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  2. "The Israeli Tiran Tank Series". TankNutDave.com. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  3. "The Beast-Thoughts on the Production". Warriorsinc.com. Retrieved 2011-10-14.

External links

Works directed by Kevin Reynolds
Films
Miniseries
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