Talk:Attack Force Z

Mad Mel's machine gun

I've just seen the film on a relatively large screen. Considering Mel's actual height I'm wondering if they used a scaled down M1919 .30 cal that Mel picks up for his hero moment in the film?Foofbun (talk) 20:14, 30 April 2014 (EDT)

Mel isn't what anyone would call big, but he's also not that tiny (unlike say, Tom Cruise). Most of the sources I've seen have Mel at just under 5'10", which is fairly respectable. For comparison, here's Jon Seda, who is listed at 5'9" with an M1919. --Funkychinaman (talk) 01:56, 1 May 2014 (EDT)

• Thanks for that Funk. When I saw Mel he looked closer to 5'6 (my Dad was 5'7 that seemed to be the average height in WWII).

In the 1998 book 'Living Dangerously' it mentioned in publicity handouts, Mel's height was given as "between 5ft 9 and 5ft 10". Actor John Phillip Law thought he was 5ft 6 and when filming Attack Force Z all types of tricks were used to make Mel look taller. Law said he was taken aback by his size and that he "had to regularly kneel down and have him alongside me, standing...there was a lot of effort made to make him look the same height...a lot of actors are sensitive about it." He also mentioned in close ups he would spread apart his legs so both their heads were in frame. (from the Celebrity Heights website)
Maybe it was just the way it was filmed but the weapon didn't look quite right compared with the detail in that great photo you provided (fired the .303 Browning on tripod myself). Some posts talked about Efram Zimbalist Jr in 77 Sunset Strip using a snubnosed .32 instead of a .38 to make him look taller, and as the film was shot in Taiwan (Oz never used M-3s; used suppressed Stens for a long time) perhaps Taiwan has smaller sized weapons for some of their films?Foofbun (talk) 02:55, 1 May 2014 (EDT)

I know Asian countries design their equipment for men of smaller stature, like tanks, but I don't think they modified imported equipment. Even if they did, I doubt they'd bother to modify an M1919, which isn't supposed to be used by one man anyway. --Funkychinaman (talk) 03:08, 1 May 2014 (EDT)