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Battleground


Justin
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Chunky Monkey

Hey I have seen that one before! Now that you guys have enlightened me a little bit more on it I am gonna keep and eye out for it. ;)

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Two reasons why this movie was so well done are the director, William Wellman, who served in WWI with the Lafayette Flying Corps, and the screen writer/producer, Robert Pirosh, who served in the 320th Infantry, 35th Division during WWII...including the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. It certainly helps to tell a story when you've experienced similar things yourself.

 

The producers also used, as mentioned above, a bunch of actual WWII 101st vets to consult on the movie. Holley's Class A was actually that of one of those vets who let him wear it for the tent scene in the beginning of the film. They would have had more vets, but the producers asked the veteran consultants to play germans in the film and many walked off the set, refusing to do so.

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This movie is definitely in the top 5 of my all time war movies. I forget where I saw or read it but, James Whitmore based his character off of Bill Mauldin's Willie & Joe cartoons. Look at the cartoon and then at Sgt. Kinnie once they are in combat, mirror image.
I had never heard that before but it sounds quite plausible. It’s mentioned here among a lot of other interesting trivia points: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041163/trivia I wish there was a reference to the quote itself or where it was printed. Mauldin was coming down from the height of his fame around the time this movie came out.

This is a film I think any veterans (regardless of time they served) appreciate even more. The actors mostly have the “beat down” haggard look that soldiers have quite well. I need to get this on DVD but I still have a VHS of it I watch from time to time. In my opinion, this film was for ground pounders what “Twelve O’clock High” was for flyers.

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One of my favorite movies. One of the things that I really like about it is how every time they stop they start to dig in, then get told they have to move again shortly after they begin. I like that aspect, it's something you don't see in many if any other movies.

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Yeh, definitely one of the greatest films ever made. Really realistic without being bloody and gorey. Got to love it. Own it on DVD in B&W, anyone got anymore info on the Colour version?

 

P.S.

 

Agree about the helmets. You feel a bit like a pervert drooling over them!

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Yeh, definitely one of the greatest films ever made. Really realistic without being bloody and gorey. Got to love it. Own it on DVD in B&W, anyone got anymore info on the Colour version?
I’d avoid the colored version. Thankfully that was a trend that didn’t last very long. You simply cannot colorize black and white movie film in a reliable way and those films often look like hand-tinted photos from back in the day. It’s often done by people who don’t know the colors that things should be. For example, I saw a b/w WW2 movie once (can’t recall which one it was, it might have been “Command Decision”) where all the pinks and greens were the same color as modern Army Class A uniforms. For me it killed the look completely and I couldn’t place my attention on anything else...
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I agree, avoid the colorized version, also cant stand the colorized version of Sands of Iwo Jima......terrible and im glad the colorization nonsense seems to have stopped!!....mike

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They even went so far as to include an African American outfit that was trapped in bastogne along with the 101st. I looked it up once, forget the unit, but they were there. Thought that was a good thing they did to include them.

 

Josh

333rd FA & 969th FA were the All Black units at Bastogne. 11 members of the 333rd C & HQ battery were executed by Kampfgruppe Hansen (1st SS Pzr Div) on Dec 17th 44 after capture. They had been beaten before execution, many had broken legs, bayonet wounds, etc.

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Garandomatic

Yeah, saw that documentary on those 11 men. At least ol' Peiper got what he had comin' in 1976.

 

333rd FA & 969th FA were the All Black units at Bastogne. 11 members of the 333rd C & HQ battery were executed by Kampfgruppe Hansen (1st SS Pzr Div) on Dec 17th 44 after capture. They had been beaten before execution, many had broken legs, bayonet wounds, etc.
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  • 1 month later...

One of my all time favorites. I think watching this movie is a requirement at West Point. One of the first WWII movies to come out.

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Charlie Flick

It is the 71st anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. Maybe it's not a bad time to pull "Battleground" off the shelf and into the DVD player. It is one war film I never get tired of seeing.

 

Regards,

Charlie

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I like Battleground also, especially that last scene as they straighten up and march away. I'll have to get a copy someday. Second best scene is when the sun comes out and the sky clears (the air corps must have been right on top of things as they show up in seconds). Great movie.

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