agreed to investigate using Sayer's evidence. The State Department investigation did not conclude until 1997. On 11 December 1997 Sayer was invited, by the Secretary General of the TCRMG, to view the two bars in the gold bullion vaults of the Bank of England. In addition to being accorded this rare honour, he was also photographed holding the bars, which he had been instrumental in tracking down. Filming The project was announced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in November 1968 under the title of The Warriors. Filming commenced in July 1969 and was completed in December. The film was made and released during a time of great financial difficulties for MGM, in the early days of the turbulent ownership by Kirk Kerkorian. It was shot on location in the Istrian village of Vižinada in Croatia, in the ruins of the Beočin palace in Serbia, in the Yugoslavia, and finally in London. One of the reasons for the selection of Yugoslavia as the main location was that, in 1969, it was one of the few nations whose army were still equipped with operating World War II mechanized equipment, both German and American, including in particular the M4 Sherman tank. This simplified the film's logistics tremendously. During pre-production, George Kennedy turned down the role of Big Joe, despite an offered fee of $300,000, because he did not like the role. The original script included a female role which was removed just before filming began. Ingrid Pitt had been cast in the role (she had worked on Where Eagles Dare with Eastwood and Hutton the previous year). She later said she was "virtually climbing on board the plane bound for Yugoslavia when word came through that my part had been cut". In the film's climax, there is a nod to the ending of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, another Eastwood film, including a similar musical score, and the overdubbing on the soundtrack of non-existent jangling spurs. Vehicles and weapons The Tiger I tanks were actually Soviet T-34 tanks that had been modified to look like the German tank. The U.S. Sherman tanks were the M4A3E4 variant. Kelly's platoon also drove an M3 Gun Motor Carriage before it was destroyed on the hill, as well as several half-tracks. The Germans also drove a Kübelwagen. Kelly's men were armed with a mix of .30 caliber machine guns, Browning Automatic Rifles, and Thompson submachine guns, with few