Battle of the Bulge

 

 

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I'm not going to waste your time telling you about the movie, and how great it is.
The only thing I have to say is someone did something right for a change. Whoever put this one together gave you the full version as it was first shown.
On the VHS and when showing on TV, the Fifth Column portions of the film, were usually cut out, but they are included in this version.
My advice if you know and love this movie, this is the one to buy, and dump your VHS.
This review does not apply to the Battle of the Bulge [HD DVD] released may 22, but the prior release.

P.S. if you have the DVD, don't bother buying the Blu-Ray

This abortion uses the excuse that it is a "synthesis" of events, but it is simply an abomination. Not only are the characters and events for the most part complete fiction, or completely fictional in the way they are portrayed, but just some of the lack of realism in what happens is ludicrous as well. A tank gets hit and ends up looking like a blow torch was used to remove the top half of the turret (probably closer to how it actually got that way), yet the tank commander, sitting higher up in the command hatch than his fellow crewmembers, miraculously escapes unharmed! In the real world, a tank round would make a small hole in the armor and spew hot shrapenel all over the interior of the vehicle, with fuel and ammo likely catching fire/exploding/cooking off. This is more a comic than a serious film. As far as the historical inaccuracies, there was no "Col. Hessler", and for those who think this is a pseudonym for Col. Joachim Peiper, think again; if you recall, "Hessler" is supposed to be a Wermacht officer, not an SS officer, although his "brigade" begins its attack in the Losheim Gap (i.e., where Peiper began his attack). Next, the Germans had very few Tiger tanks, and even fewer King Tiger tanks; the bulk of their tank strength at that point in the war would have been Panzer Mk IV's and Panthers, with the Tigers and King Tigers being attached "heavy tank battalions" that reinforced the Panzer divisions. In the movie you'd get the impression that the entire German army was equipped with King Tiger tanks exclusively. And it wasn't as if the Bulge was the first time the Americans/Allies had seen this tank, since some early examples were knocked out in Normandy. The Malmedy Massacre was portrayed as an organized execution, when in actuality it was not - rather it was spontaneous, started by a single SS tank officer with a pistol at point blank range after he stopped his assult gun at the Baugnez crossroads where the unfortunate prisoners had been assembled (south of the namesake town which was never entered by the German forces during the entire battle). The fuel depot incident is a topic of some controversy, as some historians have it as fact and others fiction, but in any event it was the Francorchamps fuel dump (deep in the Ambleve River valley), the biggest on the continent with over 1,500,000 gallons of gasoline, not a dump on the Meuse River. While we're on the subject, there is the completely ridiculous "calculation" of the German fuel situation by the (fictitiuos) American General, using the fuel consumption of a Tiger tank, the exact distance from the Zeigfried Line to the Meuse, and the estimated fuel reserves of the German Army. Like tanks are the only thing that uses gasoline, like they only had Tiger tanks, like they new what route should be used for the mileage, like even if that were the only information they needed they new exactly HOW MANY tanks, etc. Ludicrous! The Germans in point of fact had accumulated more than enough gasoline for the Ardennes Offensive, but had it on the EAST bank of the Rhine River (in keeping with the extreme secrecy of the operation and its cover plan as a "defensive" operation), and they quite often couldn't get it to the front lines where it was needed because of Allied bombing of bridges railways and road centers. Finally, it wasn't as if the Germans swept the Americans aside like insects and then advanced unnoticed through the fog and then ran out of fuel, nor was the battle a big "tank battle" ala Kursk (which is the way it was portrayed). Indeed, there were some Americans that "bugged out" providing little organized resistance, and some large scale surrenders (think the 106th Infantry Division, the green outfit surrounded on the Schnee Eifel), but there were also stiff resistance and heroic stands that either stopped crack Panzer divisions in their tracks or cost them critical delays and detours (think the 2nd/99th Infantry Divisions in the Elsenborn Ridge area and the Engineer Battalions in the Ambleve River Valley blowing bridges in Peiper's face). The one positive note about this film in terms of historical accuracy is that it wasn't focusing on Bastogne as the "key" to the whole offensive. The Battle of the Bulge was won and lost on the northern flank where the 6SS Panzer Army was stopped, bloodied, delayed and detoured by fierce resistance and swarms of reinforcements in rugged terrain. Bastogne was anticlmactic; though an important road junction, its importance arose more from the failure of the Germans to break through where they intended to rather than due to its location in the middle of the area that ended up being their deepest penetration. Their Panzer Divisions in the south made some half-hearted probes but basically surrounded and bypassed it, leaving its capture to following infantry. It was only later when it was clear the Meuse couldn't be crossed until the lines of communication were cleared up that the Germans made any serious effort to capture it, and by then it was no longer isolated and had been reinforced and fortified. In any event, I'm sure that one small element of realism was purely accidental, since this film could have been a cartoon for all its accuracy.

Now that we can bring back the real tanks and other equipment with the miracles of digital effects, it's time for someone to do an historically accurate epic about this battle or the most important parts of it (Peiper's breakout and his subsequent sacking in the Ambleve River valley if they must keep the scale confined).

This is supposed to be an epic war movie. And it is. It is a great vehicle for many of the popular actors of the time which includes some immortals. This is not intended to be a documentary. The over all intent of this presentation other than entertainment is to show that war has a lasting effect on those people that live through it.

The story is of course the title "Battle of the Bulge" only instead of concentrating on Bastogne we are treated to the formula which on the U.S. side Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley (Henry Fonda) figures out them sneaky Germans is going to attack through the forest and of course Col. Pritchard (Dana Andrews) wants to have Lt. Col. Kiley committed. On the German side Col. Martin Hessler (Robert Shaw) just wants to have fun playing tank and wants the war to go on for ever; however his sidekick Cpl. Conrad (Hans Christian Blech) has this thing about preserving his offspring from joining the fun of an endless war.

Can Gen. Grey (Robert Ryan) find a mistake the Germans have made and turn this around or will the German juggernaut just keep coming on. No fair looking at this movie from hindsight.

I have watched this movie on and off for several decades and even though the Blu-ray version does not add any new words or scenes to the movie it does add a sort of 3D effect that adds to ones viewing pleasure. As an added bonus Director Ken Annakin and Actor James McArthur (who plays Lt. Weaver in the movie) are still alive and adds a voice over commentary

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3.0 out of 5 stars Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]
OK but not a home run hitter. Lite on the realism side. Some extra footage then the televised version. Still entertaining but not compelling. Read more

Published on Oct 12 2009 by Seraphof7

2.0 out of 5 stars A sad excuse for the real story
I saw this film in the theatre in the 1960's and again recently. My original impression hasn't changed. The writing and acting are generally mediocre. Read more

Published on July 6 2008 by Kenneth Cohen

1.0 out of 5 stars Gawd Awful American Garbage
No historical accuracy here - fictionalized everything - the action and the tanks are the stars here. Read more

Published on Jan 15 2008 by Book N Movie Buff

2.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly inaccurate film !
I saw this film in the theatre when it was released. It is incredibly inaccurate and has little to do with the reality of the battle. Read more

Published on Dec 5 2007 by dmitri

4.0 out of 5 stars coming soon on dvd
Just heard the news from a reliable source that Battle of the Bulge will be released May 3, 2005 on DVD. Read more

Published on Feb 11 2005

4.0 out of 5 stars AN UNDER-APPRECIATED BUT GREAT WAR FLICK
I won't bother to dwell upon the historical inaccuracies this film suffers from such as armour and terrain. Read more

Published on April 13 2004 by edward41

4.0 out of 5 stars great war flick
I seen this movie when i was a kid, around the age of 10 , i went to the hobby shop and bought a model of the tiger tank. Read more

Published on April 8 2004 by schackdaddy

5.0 out of 5 stars Battle of the Bulge.......A epic war drama
Battle of the is one of my favorite war movie to watch, next to Devil's Brigade, The Great Escape, The Green Berets, Where Eagles Dare, and Ice Station Zebra.
The U.S. Read more

Published on April 4 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars DVD News
Battle Of The Bulge is coming on DVD - next year! This was revealed on The Digital Bits Home Theatre Forum during a chat with Warner executives recently. Read more

Published on Mar 26 2004 by Kev Mc.

1.0 out of 5 stars Give us a DVD Warners!!!
Why oh why has Warners not got around to putting this out? Is it legal restrictions, bureaucracy or just plain stupidity?

Published on Feb 21 2004 by musicfaninnewyork

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