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on August 16, 2017
Battleground is my favorite World War II movie of all time. I have it on tape, DVD and now Blu-Ray. It is a great story of combat infantryman who are just pawns on a chessboard trying to survive from day to day. Frankly, I am disappointed in the quality of the Blu Ray transfer. The Blu Ray transfer contains glitches in the film transfer that should have been cleaned up and that did not seem to be visible in the DVD transfer. The film was briefly offered in a colorized version on tape many years ago and I was hoping that when it was released on Blu Ray that it would contain both the original black and white and colorized versions. The colorized version brought the film up to date and the colorization was respectable. It would have been nice if this Blu Ray release would have given the opportunity to view both the original black and white and colorized versions. Unfortunately, that did not occur. Though the Blu Ray version shows more detail as you would expect in a higher resolution version, the minor glitches that should have been removed during transfer are a distraction.
on April 28, 2017
After the Second World War ending, the public began to grow tired of the war films that depicted the heroics of the fighting men & women of the armed services. "Yes, yes, the hero gets the Medal of Honor, the Germans and Japanese are the bad guys, etc etc." So the people at MGM were actually convinced that this movie was to turn into another box office bomb. Boy were they wrong...
The film itself is a flat-out superb classic, giving you a rather grimy and rugged experience of the men of the 101st Airborne Division and their last stand at Bastogne. Instead of portraying the usual strong, flawless, heroic fighting men, as so many previous war films at the time did. This film depicted the men of the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne" sick, hungry, freezing, tired, and occasionally even cowardly. It was a portrayal that many veterans of the war found relatable. The events throughout the film were surprisingly accurate and it really drew out that the Battle of Bastogne was the greatest trial for the 101st.
The one thing that will make you love this film are the characters. I have never seen such quirky, bright, colorful, humorous array of characters in a war film like this. Not only bringing out the stereotypes, but making each one unique and just as memorable and lovable as the heroic ones. To us, they may be flawed, but at the end, they all would become our heroes, because what they had to endure was something that the vast majority of the whole world never would have done. I never adored such colorful and memorable characters, like the rugged Platoon Sergeant who can't go on a second without looking like a Chipmunk; cheeks stuffed with chewing tobacco. The New Replacement, who despite doesn't get treated respectfully in the beginning, gets the chance to redeem himself through the struggles of war. The back-country Southern Boy who wouldn't stop singing folk songs in his thick Southern accent. Or even the PFC who desires only two things in life, good food and women. Each character though flawed, will win your heart.
This movie has many moments of adorable humor, bringing the sense that despite the circumstances, the men at Bastogne would do anything to keep spirits up. It also makes you more attached to every single character that pops up on that screen. That being said, this is a war film, and a war film needs to have its serious moments. And this movie does a superb job in taking these moments as serious as it should be, like the death of a character, the realizations of one's or the whole unit's circumstances, and even the combat itself. You can always add humor to war films, but aspects like death, starvation, mental stress, physical stress, should always be taken seriously, and this film has succeeded in doing so.
The two inaccuracies I found in this movie was that German Special Forces (Operation Greif) disguised as Americans were never present at Bastogne, but it was easily used to help provide the mentality that the men had to face during the Battle of the Bulge; the idea that the man wearing the same uniform, may not be on your side. Another inaccuracy, but this one is a understandable and reasonable one, the unit that composed of our protagonists (Third Plt, I Co. 3rd Battalion, 327th PIR) never existed, now clearly, this was done in an effort so they wouldn't offend any veterans that were actually present at the battle and they didn't want to use an actually unit because for the same reason. Despite these two inaccuracies, it does very little harm to the film itself and even veterans and critics would find these inaccuracies small and appropriate.
This film is an absolute must-see. A rather realistic depiction of the hardships that the 101st had to endure during the Siege of Bastogne, despite the characters being not of saints, they are easily lovable and indeed memorable. This movie has won two Oscars and holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a war film that will not fail your needs for a good war film and it is definitely worth your while. You'll get nearly everything you want out of this film, great characters, great humor, great action, great dialogue, great special effects (as in terms of weather inside a studio, which was very impressive). I absolutely loved this film.
The film itself is a flat-out superb classic, giving you a rather grimy and rugged experience of the men of the 101st Airborne Division and their last stand at Bastogne. Instead of portraying the usual strong, flawless, heroic fighting men, as so many previous war films at the time did. This film depicted the men of the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne" sick, hungry, freezing, tired, and occasionally even cowardly. It was a portrayal that many veterans of the war found relatable. The events throughout the film were surprisingly accurate and it really drew out that the Battle of Bastogne was the greatest trial for the 101st.
The one thing that will make you love this film are the characters. I have never seen such quirky, bright, colorful, humorous array of characters in a war film like this. Not only bringing out the stereotypes, but making each one unique and just as memorable and lovable as the heroic ones. To us, they may be flawed, but at the end, they all would become our heroes, because what they had to endure was something that the vast majority of the whole world never would have done. I never adored such colorful and memorable characters, like the rugged Platoon Sergeant who can't go on a second without looking like a Chipmunk; cheeks stuffed with chewing tobacco. The New Replacement, who despite doesn't get treated respectfully in the beginning, gets the chance to redeem himself through the struggles of war. The back-country Southern Boy who wouldn't stop singing folk songs in his thick Southern accent. Or even the PFC who desires only two things in life, good food and women. Each character though flawed, will win your heart.
This movie has many moments of adorable humor, bringing the sense that despite the circumstances, the men at Bastogne would do anything to keep spirits up. It also makes you more attached to every single character that pops up on that screen. That being said, this is a war film, and a war film needs to have its serious moments. And this movie does a superb job in taking these moments as serious as it should be, like the death of a character, the realizations of one's or the whole unit's circumstances, and even the combat itself. You can always add humor to war films, but aspects like death, starvation, mental stress, physical stress, should always be taken seriously, and this film has succeeded in doing so.
The two inaccuracies I found in this movie was that German Special Forces (Operation Greif) disguised as Americans were never present at Bastogne, but it was easily used to help provide the mentality that the men had to face during the Battle of the Bulge; the idea that the man wearing the same uniform, may not be on your side. Another inaccuracy, but this one is a understandable and reasonable one, the unit that composed of our protagonists (Third Plt, I Co. 3rd Battalion, 327th PIR) never existed, now clearly, this was done in an effort so they wouldn't offend any veterans that were actually present at the battle and they didn't want to use an actually unit because for the same reason. Despite these two inaccuracies, it does very little harm to the film itself and even veterans and critics would find these inaccuracies small and appropriate.
This film is an absolute must-see. A rather realistic depiction of the hardships that the 101st had to endure during the Siege of Bastogne, despite the characters being not of saints, they are easily lovable and indeed memorable. This movie has won two Oscars and holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a war film that will not fail your needs for a good war film and it is definitely worth your while. You'll get nearly everything you want out of this film, great characters, great humor, great action, great dialogue, great special effects (as in terms of weather inside a studio, which was very impressive). I absolutely loved this film.
on April 27, 2017
CLASSIC Battle of the Bulge war movie.
on April 17, 2017
Great movie about the life of a GI during WWII. Gritty and humorous at times. Really shows the fighting spirit of the US.
