I have a special fondness for "Is Paris Burning?" for its historical realism. The German Mark V Panther tanks were convincingly portrayed by US-built M24 Chaffee tanks with added on appliques to resemble German panzers. Compare this to "The Battle of the Bulge", or "Patton" where unaltered postwar tanks and trucks were passed of as period vehicles. This is akin to having Bonnie and Clyde driving a 1960's muscle car and robbing banks with Glocks and M16s.
shareYes, in the film they at least took care that the vehicles looked like those in use at the time. Also, some of the battle (and other) scenes were actually taken from documentary films.
The scene where the Sherman tank rammed the Panther tank really happened in history, and was described in the book which I read a long time ago.
I find it hard to believe the guy would plop a grenade into the Panther while his tank was still adjacent, though. The tank is potentially going to explode and cook off all the ammunition it contains. I'd want to be a fair distance away when that bomb goes off.
shareI also liked it for its realistic depiction, and I generally avoid watching for the Goofs Page (which I have open normally, following along like a bouncing ball), when there's a good WWII movie like this, which is reminiscent of The Train (1964) while "Is Paris Burning" was made in 1966. Sometimes IMDB patrons get so far into the nitpickery that they miss the hand clappery of the film, like "so-and-so's cigarette mysteriously gains length", or someone's glass is half full, but then suddenly is 3/4 full.
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