# Power Play. First and Second-hand accounts of extras and advisors



## Shrek1985 (3 Feb 2016)

So i managed to secure a copy of this very cool movie recently and I loved it! What a cool movie!

For those who don't know; Power Play was a feature film based (loosely) on Edward Lutwak's book; Coup de Tat (also a very cool book). The film is about (duh!) a coup de tat and get this; it stars the Canadian Army of the 1970s! How cool is that? Now the movie itself is not much like the book; it's not a forensic break-down of the how-to's or history of coups, and it features "no particular nation", but it's still well worth tracking down a copy in my opinion.

Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnIBkd9uraA

Not only did they use Canadian Army extras, it's achingly obvious; C1, C2, C4, C5, Super-Bazooka and other distinct combinations of weapons; M38 Jeeps and m113s with Centurion tanks; there is even a hanger filled with RCN Grumman Trackers with visible RCN Roundels. The dress uniforms are nearly perfect summer tans and the slip-ons are just a different colour when you see the field uniforms.

I think the biggest bit of camouflage is the use of S&W76 SMGs here and there; but even those were common with police departments at the time. At one point, you even see at the "Secret Police" headquarters (Exterior-shot; classic CF Barracks building!) a gun rack with just the kind of weaponry you would find in an RCMP armoury of the time.

I'd love to hear any first or second-hand accounts from people in the army at the time or generally with first or second, or third-hand knowledge of the production and filming of the movie, as well as any side-stories. It must have been the talk of the army at the time.

I mean, come on! At the height of the Trudeau era, the Canadian Army starred in a movie about a coup? That's amazing!

Anyway, thanks for your time and I hope this shakes the cobwebs loose. This is just the sort of history we need to talk about more; strange, entertaining and just a little bit (or a lot!) irreverent!


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## George Wallace (3 Feb 2016)

A lot of that movie was filmed in and around 4 CMBG in Lahr and Baden Baden, and at CFB Borden.

A RCD Sgt, Dickie Kitcher, was the stand in for Peter O'Toole in some of the tank scenes.


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## mariomike (3 Feb 2016)

Others may have more vivid memories of it. I drove a deuce and half from the old Dennison Armoury to CFB Toronto ( where some of it was filmed. ). I never saw the movie. 

We were also extras in Jalna Series and Wedding in White.


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## cavalryman (3 Feb 2016)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> A lot of that movie was filmed in and around 4 CMBG in Lahr and Baden Baden, and at CFB Borden.
> 
> A RCD Sgt, Dickie Kitcher, was the stand in for Peter O'Toole in some of the tank scenes.


Wasn't some of it also filmed in Hammelburg?  I was on an Ex in the FIBUA area a few years after seeing the movie and it seemed familiar.

Edit - the training area was called Bonnland IRRC


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## mariomike (3 Feb 2016)

cavalryman said:
			
		

> Wasn't some of it also filmed in Hammelburg?  I was on an Ex in the FIBUA area a few years after seeing the movie and it seemed familiar.
> 
> Edit - the training area was called Bonnland IRRC





			
				Horse_Soldier said:
			
		

> State of Shock, aka Power Play  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078105/.   IIRC, some of the outdoor scenes looked like Bonnland, the Hammelburg FIBUA training "town".


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## Shrek1985 (11 Feb 2016)

mariomike said:
			
		

> Others may have more vivid memories of it. I drove a deuce and half from the old Dennison Armoury to CFB Toronto ( where some of it was filmed. ). I never saw the movie.
> 
> We were also extras in Jalna Series and Wedding in White.



What are those two movies about? Are they any good?


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## mariomike (12 Feb 2016)

Shrek1985 said:
			
		

> What are those two movies about?



The Whiteoaks of Jalna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whiteoaks_of_Jalna

The scenes at the Wintergarden were fun:
"By the 1970s, the Elgin was showing mainly B movies and soft-core pornography."

We assembled at Moss Park Armoury and walked / marched to the Wintergarden. 

Those who were legal age drank beer and sang old WW1 songs.

I remember beer being served to some, but they served us ginger ale. 

There was also a minor ( Don't think Saving Private Ryan ) battlefield scene. They bused us out somewhere out of town.

Wedding in White
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_in_White

Was set in Toronto during WW2.

This was the most fun. I drove an old ( but still in service ) army ambulance to a dive out in Scarborough. They bused in pretty girls and our job was to dance with them.  

They had a couple of professional dancers doing the Jitter-bug!

We were still wearing the old RCASC battle-dress back then.

Power Play ( or whatever they called it ) wasn't much fun.



			
				Shrek1985 said:
			
		

> Are they any good?



I doubt any of them will rank with "From Here to Eternity."  

I never saw Power Play or Jalna series. But, I thought Wedding in White wasn't bad.


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