"Battle of the Bulge"

[Garandomatic]

Man, I don't need a documentary, but I do require a bit of snow in a movie about the Bulge!

 

That's how I've learned to look at it, I think the major disappointment people have with the film (aside from prop issues) is that they really do want a documentary and all they can find is a movie.

 

If you accept it as a movie it's not all that bad.

[TonyD]

This one has always been one of those movies I'll sit and watch when ever I run across it. I even have it on DVD and will watch it from time to time. It was one of my favorite films as a boy. what wasn't there to like? Lots of action, and tanks out the wazoo. Even as a boy I knew that the Tigers were really M-47s and the Shermans really M-24s, but as was pointed out, it is a movie and not a documentary. Compared with some before and many that have come since, it is short on both accuracy and authenticity. Did one ever notice in the opening sequence, the narrator states " in the north General Montgomery's 8th Army"?;and how the battle starts it what looks like the Skyline Drive portion of the Ardennes and ends on the plains of Spain. I'm sure we all laugh at that. We could fill a book with the inaccuracies. Again, it is a movie, meant for entertainment.

 

Now that being said, I do think IMHO that one thing the film does have going for it is that it captures quite well the absolute shock and confusion that befell the U.S.troops at the beginning of the German offensive. I think the best sequence of the film is when the troops in the captured German bunker, lead by Charles Bronson, realize that something is amiss and are suddenly being overrun by the attacking Germans. Based upon all the accounts I have read of the battle, that small segment of the film does a pretty respectable job at capturing that portion of the battle. They even seemed to get the weather right. Few folks realize that during the opening days of the battle the Ardennes wasn't covered in thick snow, but mist, fog and a cold freezing drizzle blanketed the region. That is one part of the film too where the terrain bears a passing resemblance to the Schnee Eifel and the area to the east of St. Vith. However, once that part of the film is past, things tend to go off on a tangent and things tend to look more like Spain than Belgium and Luxembourg. I guess the battle for "Ambleve", an actual river in the Ardennes, and not a town was supposed to be a fictionalized account of the battle for St. Vith, and the climatic tank battle the fight between the U.S. 2nd Armored Division and the German 2nd Panzer Division at Celles on December 24th. This was the point of maximum penetration, nearly 60 miles, for the Germans. Inaccurate?Hokey? Absolutely!!!, but still based upon reality.

 

I still find the film entertaining. Of course no one in my family will watch it with me because I won't stop pointing out the inaccuracies and anachronisms in the film. Come to think of it, the 69th anniversary of the start of the battle is rapidly approaching. Maybe it's time to pop this one in the DVD player and enjoy it for what it is; a fairly entertaining movie.

[patches]

Telly Savalas, the Movie's Comic Relief.

 

IT"S LIKE HITTING EM WITH TENNIS BALLS.....LETS GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!!!

[BILL THE PATCH]

Charles Bronson is pretty good in the movie, I liked his character. Still Horse S√÷t, lol

[gwb123]

Robert Shaw as Colonel Hessler, and Hans Christian Blech as his faithful and long suffering attendent Conrad. 

 

I was 10 years old when this movie came out.  Shaw's performance was my definition of a Wehrmacht Heer officer for years to come. 

 

If you watch the scene where he is introduced to his new crop of tank commanders, the part where they are singing is very carefully choreographed.

 

At first Hessler is dubvious about the quality of his commanders and remains aloof from the singing.  But gradually the music fill his head and he

is drawn into it.  By the end of the scene, he is actually leading the song, with his voice being the loudest on the song track.  It's subtle,

but it signals his change in heart about his assignment. 

 

Cinematically, the scene conveys very convincingly that the Germans were far from defeated at this point of the war.

 

 

There is a scene later in the movie where Hessler is confronted by captured Charles Bronson, when Bronson's character goes out of his way

to antagonize Hessler in order to be assured his captured men would not be harmed.  Word had spread of the Malmedy Massacre.  Hessler

recognizes that such brutality was actually stiffening resistance to the German offensive, and relays that to his higher headquarters.  I though it was a

very telling scene implying that not all Germans condoned atrocities in the midst of fighting.  In 1965, with the war fresh in the memories of many

Americans, it was a bold statement.

[patches]

19 hours ago, BILL THE PATCH said:

Charles Bronson is pretty good in the movie, I liked his character. Still Horse S√÷t, lol

Yes indeed, loved his character.

 

Major. Wolenski

 

[patches]

Lets add one more of Major Wolenski

[patches]

Every time I would watch this, I would get a kick out of Guffy's Tank after it takes a hit from what was supposed to be a 88mm Shell (Remembering that the Patton Tanks used by the Germans were supposed to be Tiger Royals )

 

How did the live the crew  

 

[patches]

I also thought it was a clever take on the nickname of his tank BARGAN BASEMENT, seeing how he was, for a lack of a better name, a Hustler, nah that might be the wrong word, cause he didn't come off a con man, or rip off artist, maybe, a Go Getter, an Entrepreneur more like it. 

[jmd62]

I remember watching it for the first time in the late 60's with my Dad. It was one of those times we would talk about the war and all that. I looked forward to watching it every year when it came on TV and it wasn't until I got much older that I realized all the historical "issues" with it. Having said that, I own the dang movie now and watch it from time to time because in the end, it's simply entertaining and it brings back good memories. 

[patches]

On 9/22/2021 at 8:56 PM, jmd62 said:

I remember watching it for the first time in the late 60's with my Dad. It was one of those times we would talk about the war and all that. I looked forward to watching it every year when it came on TV and it wasn't until I got much older that I realized all the historical "issues" with it. Having said that, I own the dang movie now and watch it from time to time because in the end, it's simply entertaining and it brings back good memories. 

I am positive this was first broadcast on a major television network sometime in the spring early summer of 1970, I remember this as I was a Sea Cadet, and was able to get home from our drill to see it, it was an event, so it probably stated at 9:00 PM, it was broadcast over two nights.

[RANDALL 1953]

On 1/7/2011 at 2:32 PM, BILL THE PATCH said:

AS A KID I THOUGHT IT GREAT, but as an adult i still find it ok, maybe because i watched it with my dad all the time. i think just sitting there with my hero was enough for me, that is why i thought it was great. i can still remember my dad say " what horse shi*" i even noticed the palm trees in the distance. to quote my dad " it's still horse shi*"

I saw it when I was a kid with my Dad who was a Sgt. in a US Combat Engineer Battalion and was at the bulge. He said the the same as your dad.

[patches]

 Spanish Instalaza M61 HEAT Rifle Grenades subbing for the WWII GI one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instalaza_rifle_grenade

[patches]

The Given The Wrong Directions by the Fake MPs Scene LOL.

[jmd62]

And the fake MP in that scene had that odd way of talking, not an accent per se, just weird  :D 

[patches]

[patches]

[patches]