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Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]
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Editorial Reviews:
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Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign. Year: 1965
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The German offensive in December 1944 became the basis for this all-star Hollywood take on the Battle of the Bulge. Henry Fonda is an officer who predicts the assault, Robert Ryan and Dana Andrews are Army brass skeptical of his intuitions, and Robert Shaw (his hair dyed yellow and his eyes glinting with malice) is a German officer leading the tank attack. Shaw is certainly the most compelling thing about the film, especially in his philosophical debates with ambivalent underling Hans Christian Blech. Elsewhere, the movie jumps around to sidebar stories (cowardly James MacArthur becomes a leader, wheeler-dealer Telly Savalas falls in love) while messing around with the historical facts of the battle. There are interesting episodes, such as the Malmedy massacre of American POWs and the Germans' use of English-speaking spies, but overall Battle of the Bulge has the feeling of having been patched together from different scripts. On the physical level the movie comes up short, with the Spanish locations rarely suggesting the wintry misery of the battle, and the use of models and studio sets highly inadequate. A number of war films from this era are compelling on their own terms, but in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this one looks antique. --Robert Horton
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Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]
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User Comments About Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]
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I had the privilege of serving with good soldiers, who on one occassion watched this movie together, as a company. The critisicm never ended.
I feel that all the sides protrayed in this picture were not done proper justice.
I do like the actors in this movie, but the background, tactics and overall unit organizations shown in this picture, were pitiful. This picture was put together like a bunch of pix up stix, that were put up half way and forgotten.
They were protrayed as a bunch of amatuers, fighting a war, like hollywood amatuers playing at war. Well as a former US Army Tanker, I am writing this from that view.
I can understand the equipment that had to be used to film this picture, but the dialogue could of been much more based on military reality.
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He was unable to buy the movie in Europe Outstanding product. Sent it to my brother-in-law in the Netherlands who had just visited the Bastogne area.
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Relentlessly Idiotic 60's War Movie
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The movie has nothing to do with the Battle of the Bulge (the Ardennes Offensive) of December 16, 1944. It is one of a whole string of truly dismal action films set in World War Two that were churned out by the American film industry in the 1960's.
In 1965, a Hollywood movie company hired some "name" actors, wrote a script suitable for a comic book, and rented the Spanish Army's M47 Patton tanks (the "King Tigers" of the script), and M24 Chaffees (standing in for the larger but unavailable Sherman tanks). And despite the fact that the battle is supposed to take place in a Belgian forest in midwinter, the final confrontation takes place in a desert for some reason (presumably a Spanish Army training facility).
Real soldiers will either laugh or cry when they see this. But if you really want to see an honest depiction of the Battle of the Bulge, there are far better films, most recently the "Band of Brothers" miniseries.
If you just want to gawk at Eisenhower-era tanks tearing up the landscape, this movie is mindless fun. Let's get this out of the way, first.
The final battle scene where the plucky Americans defeat the German heavy tanks by rolling barrels of gasoline down a hill at them is unintentionally hilarious, as is the scene where Telly Savalas' tank has its turret blown apart, leaving Telly sitting there in in the open in his commander's seat without a scratch on him.
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A fun movie to watch, despite the many inaccuracies
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Chock-full of big Hollywood names at the time, such as Henry Fonda, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, and Robert Shaw, this film is big on action if you love watching tank duels. Memorable moments include the storming of the German command bunker by the men participating in 'Operation Greif', the tank crews under Hessler's command doing the 'Panzer Stomp' before going into battle, and the antics of Savales and his crew. Among the best WWII-themed movies of the 1960's are 'Battle Of Britain', 'The Dirty Dozen', and this particular flick 'Battle of the Bulge'. Unfortunately the film suffers from historic inaccuracies, among them the lack of harsh winter weather conditions, and color scheme of AFV's (not to mention that the German 'Tigers' aren't really Tigers).
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