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on January 23, 2017
This is really a good war movie, that doesn't have to rely on war and carnage. There is some action scenes but most this this is a character driven story about the battle of Bostone or "Battle of the Bulge" . If you can place your self in the time period of the movie, it must have been an edgy movie for the time.
It's mostly shot on a sound stage, so don't be bummed out about that, the with and humor adds to the movie.
It's mostly shot on a sound stage, so don't be bummed out about that, the with and humor adds to the movie.
on September 1, 2010
This is not the standard WW2 ultra-patriotic "shoot-em-up movie", but rather one which emphasizes the life of the soldier as a member of a platoon. To be sure, there are some skirmishes, with fatalities involved, but this is not a movie dependent upon explosions and gun fire at all times.
The cast is excellent, with Van Johnson ( Holley), the light-hearted wisecracker of the outfit, and John Hodiak ( Jarvess), who portrays a small-town journalist who enlisted to fight. Other cast members are as follows:
Ricardo Montalban ( Rodriguez), an religious LA native who has never seen snow;
George Murphy ( Pop Stazak), an older soldier who accepts a dependency discharge to help his ailing wife at home, but who can't leave just yet;
James Whitmore ( Kinnie), an experienced platoon leader with the common touch, who suffers from frozen feet, but soldiers on;
Doug Fowley ( Kip), the biggest griper in the unit, and the one who constantly clicks his false teeth that he may have acquired through dubious circumstances;
Don Taylor ( Standiferd), a light-hearted soldier with a fondness for cognac;
Herbert Anderson( Hansen), a bespectacled family man from Springfield, IL, who demonstrates quiet competence and bravery in a critical moment;
Richard Jaeckel (Bettis), a soldier who experiences "shell shock", and has difficulty with battle scenes;
Bruce Cowling ( Wolowicz), a football-loving sergeant-type who has strong leadership skills;
Jerome Courtland ( Abner), the stereotypical rural Southerner, with a pleasant, easy-going manner, and a fondness for folk songs;
Marshall Thompson ( Layton), the young newcomer, who must learn to find his way into adjusting to life in a combat platoon;
A good movie, the characters are fairly well-developed, and there are a number of scenwes that are quite memorable, and with no small amount of humor , as well. Some of the characters exhibit questionable bevaior at times, but they are all likeable, and tehy redeem themselves well. Not all of them make it, but in war movies, this is not unusual. I can recommend this movie strongly; it will surprise and entertain you at the same time.
The cast is excellent, with Van Johnson ( Holley), the light-hearted wisecracker of the outfit, and John Hodiak ( Jarvess), who portrays a small-town journalist who enlisted to fight. Other cast members are as follows:
Ricardo Montalban ( Rodriguez), an religious LA native who has never seen snow;
George Murphy ( Pop Stazak), an older soldier who accepts a dependency discharge to help his ailing wife at home, but who can't leave just yet;
James Whitmore ( Kinnie), an experienced platoon leader with the common touch, who suffers from frozen feet, but soldiers on;
Doug Fowley ( Kip), the biggest griper in the unit, and the one who constantly clicks his false teeth that he may have acquired through dubious circumstances;
Don Taylor ( Standiferd), a light-hearted soldier with a fondness for cognac;
Herbert Anderson( Hansen), a bespectacled family man from Springfield, IL, who demonstrates quiet competence and bravery in a critical moment;
Richard Jaeckel (Bettis), a soldier who experiences "shell shock", and has difficulty with battle scenes;
Bruce Cowling ( Wolowicz), a football-loving sergeant-type who has strong leadership skills;
Jerome Courtland ( Abner), the stereotypical rural Southerner, with a pleasant, easy-going manner, and a fondness for folk songs;
Marshall Thompson ( Layton), the young newcomer, who must learn to find his way into adjusting to life in a combat platoon;
A good movie, the characters are fairly well-developed, and there are a number of scenwes that are quite memorable, and with no small amount of humor , as well. Some of the characters exhibit questionable bevaior at times, but they are all likeable, and tehy redeem themselves well. Not all of them make it, but in war movies, this is not unusual. I can recommend this movie strongly; it will surprise and entertain you at the same time.
on August 8, 2007
Long before there was the miniseries "Band of Brothers", there was "Battleground." The story of the 101st Airborne's heroic stand against Germany's final massive assault in the Ardennes - commonly referred to as the "Battle of the Bulge" - and the effects of combat on regular GIs. This movie is as spectacular as it is underrated. Whereas movies such as "Patton" and "Battle of the Bulge" get much airplay and acclaim, "Battleground" sort of sneaks by under the radar, even though it was a fairly major film for its time. With stars such as James Whitmore, Richard Jaeckel, Van Johnson, Denise Darcel, and John Hodiak (did I forget a young Ricardo Montalban?), this film had a substantial talent pool. It also did what few films made today: it took a real event that was remarkable for its drama and importance, and did not overblow it. Rather, they "played it straight," and the result can be overwhelmingly powerful at times.
"Battleground" is a black and white picture, and it makes the images of snow "feel" colder to the eye. The lack of bright red blood is not missed - you know it is there. It is conspicuous by its absence, but again, your mind knows it is there. And you get to like these guys - you really do. And it hurts when they die. Rarely do you really get to care about soldiers in a war movie, and here you really do. Maybe it's because in real life, my uncle was one of those guys at Bastogne - or perhaps it is because it is just an excellent film.
In short, "Battleground" is easily my pick for the best film made about land combat in the European Theater (for air combat, I would say "12 O'Clock High," and for sea, it would most likely be "Das Boot.") It is simply that outstanding a movie, and if I could, I would replace the annual Patton-fest on Ted Turner's networks with it (not to short-change George C. Scott, even though he got the voice all wrong.)
If you want a great WW2 movie, get "Battleground." You will thank me.
"Battleground" is a black and white picture, and it makes the images of snow "feel" colder to the eye. The lack of bright red blood is not missed - you know it is there. It is conspicuous by its absence, but again, your mind knows it is there. And you get to like these guys - you really do. And it hurts when they die. Rarely do you really get to care about soldiers in a war movie, and here you really do. Maybe it's because in real life, my uncle was one of those guys at Bastogne - or perhaps it is because it is just an excellent film.
In short, "Battleground" is easily my pick for the best film made about land combat in the European Theater (for air combat, I would say "12 O'Clock High," and for sea, it would most likely be "Das Boot.") It is simply that outstanding a movie, and if I could, I would replace the annual Patton-fest on Ted Turner's networks with it (not to short-change George C. Scott, even though he got the voice all wrong.)
If you want a great WW2 movie, get "Battleground." You will thank me.
on March 16, 2017
great old time war movie without blood and gore
on April 27, 2017
CLASSIC Battle of the Bulge war movie.
on October 28, 2015
I saw this when it was first released and liked it very much. Since then I have aged and have encountered some men who were actually there, and even though they did not want to talk about it some info was forthcoming after getting to know them much better. It has given this movie a new meaning. Even though there is the usual creative editing and drama, it still reminds of what this countries people are all about. Guts and determination for a worthwhile cause!
on July 6, 2007
My father, Everest R. Kenne, died in the 1970's. I knew he'd served in the battle of the Bulge and had endured frozen feet in the process. He was made an acting sergeant at the time and remained on the front lines despite his painful condition until he was made a cook behind the lines. Can you imagine my family's surprise recently discovering (tears after my dad's death) that he'd been portrayed by James Whitmore in this old movie? Admittedly, he is depicted as a rougher character than the man I knew. His name is misspelled as well, in the credits it is shown as "Sgt. Kinnie".
I watched the film last night and though it doesn't quite compare to Band of Brothers, which more fully depicts men enduring the full harshness and desperation of the same battle, Battleground is a worthy offering and stands the test of time. I just wish my dad had seen the film. He was a fan of WWII movies.
My mother said he'd never talked about his war experiences after returning, choosing instead to quietly forget them. What she didn't know was that before my oldest brother went to Vietnam, my father had shared his war experiences with him privately. If he had not, we would never had known my dad was portrayed in this film. Every one of the main facts regarding his experiences in the Battle of the Bulge related by my father to my brother was shown in the movie in the character with the same last name.
I have speculated that possibly my dad knew about the movie but did not want any of the personal attention that would have followed had others known he was depicted in it. Perhaps he was never contacted by the film makers and others in his unit described his actions and role. My dad was a musician, a quiet creative person, and I always felt he suffered from his own private demons while keeping a calm exterior and fully being the husband and father that was expected.
Thanks, Daddy for your unselfish service!
I watched the film last night and though it doesn't quite compare to Band of Brothers, which more fully depicts men enduring the full harshness and desperation of the same battle, Battleground is a worthy offering and stands the test of time. I just wish my dad had seen the film. He was a fan of WWII movies.
My mother said he'd never talked about his war experiences after returning, choosing instead to quietly forget them. What she didn't know was that before my oldest brother went to Vietnam, my father had shared his war experiences with him privately. If he had not, we would never had known my dad was portrayed in this film. Every one of the main facts regarding his experiences in the Battle of the Bulge related by my father to my brother was shown in the movie in the character with the same last name.
I have speculated that possibly my dad knew about the movie but did not want any of the personal attention that would have followed had others known he was depicted in it. Perhaps he was never contacted by the film makers and others in his unit described his actions and role. My dad was a musician, a quiet creative person, and I always felt he suffered from his own private demons while keeping a calm exterior and fully being the husband and father that was expected.
Thanks, Daddy for your unselfish service!
on October 5, 2012
I have always liked this movie. One of my favorites and would always watch it on TV when I could. I always felt like I was another GI who was just part of the unit and simply observing. Simple and effective story about the regular guys who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The simple personal bits and pieces of each of their lives during that time. Feet too big for rubber galoshes, eggs dripping from a helmet, lost false teeth, the kid that had never encountered snow before, frozen feet, fear and wanting to run away, brave so not to let your buddy down, why did I have to be the one to start shooting?, getting busted back to civilian but can't leave because they were surrounded, your buddy getting killed in a nearby unit and they did not even know his name. No big battle scenes, but you felt what it was like to be a part of that small unit of GIs.
HALL OF FAMEon January 29, 2004
The first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" raised the bar on the realism of war film in terms of the portrayal of the violent hell of combat. But in terms of showing us in a movie what it was like to be combat troops in World War II, the standard still remains the 1949 film "Battleground," directed by William Wellman (and I say this having loved "Band of Brothers"). The film won Oscars in 1950 for Robert Pirosh's script and Paul Vogel's black & white cinematography, and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (James Whitmore), and Best Editing (John D. Dunning).
The setting for "Battleground" is the besieged city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and focuses on I Company of the 101st Airborne. Pirosh had based the story on his own experiences during the battle, which including the details like Private Kippton (Douglas Fowley) always losing his false teeth and Private Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalban), who came from L.A. and had never seen snow before he got to Belgium. The situation was pretty simple: the Germans have Bastogne surrounded and the 101st is short on food and ammunition. Sgt. Kinnie (Whitmore) and the men of I Company have there sector to control, so they sit in the freezing cold, waiting for the Germans to attack and praying for the cloud cover to lift so they can get air support and supplies.
I am sure I am not the other kid from my generation who learned to do the cadence call of "Sound off," not knowing that it came from older kids who had seen this movie. This is a movie full of memorable scenes: Private Holley (Van Johnson) trying to make eggs, a checkpoint exchange that shows the importance of knowing baseball terminology like "Texas Leaguer," and a befuddled German officer trying to understand if General McAulliffe's infamous reply of "Nuts" to the demand for the 101st's surrender is a negative or an affirmative response.
For me the key moment in the film comes when I Company finally receives supplies dropped from C-47s. These guys have been freezing and pretty much starving for a week, and when they open up crates of SPAM and K-Rations, they are clearly disappointed. It is not until they find ammunition that they finally get excited. The montage of defeating the Germans is superfluous at that point, because the look in the eyes of these guys captures the moment even better.
In terms of realism I do have one slight knock on this film, in that I Company is atypical because they had winter coats (compare with the Bastogne episode of "Bad of Brothers"), but that is rather secondary to the point of this film, which is to celebrate the citizen soldier. As Holley explains to a major, "PFC" means "praying for civilian." Even when the Chaplain (Leon Ames) answers the big question, as to why these guys had to leave their families and jobs to fight in Europe, in has less to do with fascist ideology and more with the idea that the Germans were bullies throwing their weight around and killing a lot of people.
Still, "Battleground" comes down to the guys in I Company, Jarvess (John Hodiak), "Pop" (George Murphy), Layton (Marshall Thompson), Spudler (Jerome Courtland), Standiferd (Don Taylor), Hansan (Herbert Anderson), Bettis (Richard Jaeckel), Doc (Thomas E. Breen), and Sgt. Walowizc (Bruce Cowling). There is a tendency to make fun of the idea of the melting pot nature of these units, but we are talking diversity in terms of ethnicity more than racial lines and is certainly in keeping with everything I have read about the 101st. The humor in the trenches is a lot grimmer than you hear in most of these movies, an advantage of being made several years after the war ended (compare it with Wellman's 1945 film "Story of G.I. Joe").
This film is more about the psychology of war, putting up with the weather, the lack of supplies, the Germans trying to get them to surrender and showing up dressed in American uniforms, and keeping up morale than it is about actual fighting. That makes it rather unique in terms of movies about World War II in general or the Battle of the Bulge in particular. "Battleground" remains one of the classic films about grunts in the army.
The setting for "Battleground" is the besieged city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and focuses on I Company of the 101st Airborne. Pirosh had based the story on his own experiences during the battle, which including the details like Private Kippton (Douglas Fowley) always losing his false teeth and Private Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalban), who came from L.A. and had never seen snow before he got to Belgium. The situation was pretty simple: the Germans have Bastogne surrounded and the 101st is short on food and ammunition. Sgt. Kinnie (Whitmore) and the men of I Company have there sector to control, so they sit in the freezing cold, waiting for the Germans to attack and praying for the cloud cover to lift so they can get air support and supplies.
I am sure I am not the other kid from my generation who learned to do the cadence call of "Sound off," not knowing that it came from older kids who had seen this movie. This is a movie full of memorable scenes: Private Holley (Van Johnson) trying to make eggs, a checkpoint exchange that shows the importance of knowing baseball terminology like "Texas Leaguer," and a befuddled German officer trying to understand if General McAulliffe's infamous reply of "Nuts" to the demand for the 101st's surrender is a negative or an affirmative response.
For me the key moment in the film comes when I Company finally receives supplies dropped from C-47s. These guys have been freezing and pretty much starving for a week, and when they open up crates of SPAM and K-Rations, they are clearly disappointed. It is not until they find ammunition that they finally get excited. The montage of defeating the Germans is superfluous at that point, because the look in the eyes of these guys captures the moment even better.
In terms of realism I do have one slight knock on this film, in that I Company is atypical because they had winter coats (compare with the Bastogne episode of "Bad of Brothers"), but that is rather secondary to the point of this film, which is to celebrate the citizen soldier. As Holley explains to a major, "PFC" means "praying for civilian." Even when the Chaplain (Leon Ames) answers the big question, as to why these guys had to leave their families and jobs to fight in Europe, in has less to do with fascist ideology and more with the idea that the Germans were bullies throwing their weight around and killing a lot of people.
Still, "Battleground" comes down to the guys in I Company, Jarvess (John Hodiak), "Pop" (George Murphy), Layton (Marshall Thompson), Spudler (Jerome Courtland), Standiferd (Don Taylor), Hansan (Herbert Anderson), Bettis (Richard Jaeckel), Doc (Thomas E. Breen), and Sgt. Walowizc (Bruce Cowling). There is a tendency to make fun of the idea of the melting pot nature of these units, but we are talking diversity in terms of ethnicity more than racial lines and is certainly in keeping with everything I have read about the 101st. The humor in the trenches is a lot grimmer than you hear in most of these movies, an advantage of being made several years after the war ended (compare it with Wellman's 1945 film "Story of G.I. Joe").
This film is more about the psychology of war, putting up with the weather, the lack of supplies, the Germans trying to get them to surrender and showing up dressed in American uniforms, and keeping up morale than it is about actual fighting. That makes it rather unique in terms of movies about World War II in general or the Battle of the Bulge in particular. "Battleground" remains one of the classic films about grunts in the army.
