Battle of the Bulge
The last desperate fight that changed the course of history.
Five months after D-Day, most American soldiers think the German army is broken. The Germans think otherwise. In an attempt to buy time to fill the skies with their invincible new jets, they launch one fast, furious offensive: the Battle of the Bulge.
For this epic recreation of one of World War II's most crucial confrontations, director Ken Annakin (The Longest Day) captures the explosive action of massive forces squaring off as well as the brave, individual ingenuity of weary GIs trying to survive a cruel European winter. The cast is a juggernaut of stars: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and more. Experience the vast panorama of war in all its intensity - and all its heroism.
Member Reviews
Terrific script, performances - Superdave
The re-creation of a large scale armor offensive is what this film is known for, and that aspect is certainly impressive, but the script is a knockout. Robert Shaw as a Nazi Colonel gets all of the best material, with memorable speeches (I can still recite the one about how a chocolate cake proves the Americans are soft years later) worthy of literature, a rare thing these days. The standout cast features Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan and Charles Bronson as some of the senior American officers, and Telly Savalas as a hustling tank Sgt. running black market goods out of his girlfriend's hotel room. There is excellent intrigue created via a subplot involving SS agents dropped behind U.S. lines to disrupt the retreat.
Charles Bronson has a key scene in which his defense of a town is collapsing and he goes looking for every able-bodied man.
Private - "But sir, we're cooks!"
Bronson - "Lunch is over. Get your rifles and follow me."
Would you say 'no' to the guy? Gives you chills.
A classic of the big budget war actioner with solid production values and good recreation of the bitter cold and poor intelligence that almost conspired to hand the U.S. Army a catastrophic defeat.Great WWII Movie - bUgs1
This is a great WWII movie that has finally been released with the scenes that were in the original release of the motion picture shown in theatres back in the 1960's. These scenes have been missing in the prior releases on the VHS and LaserDisc versions. I have the VHS version that was released in 2001 (I believe) and runs 156 minutes. The DVD version runs 170 minutes and contains the extra 14 minutes, which when you see the complete film is significant. In some cases certain scenes are extended and others were completely missing in prior versions. The video quality is excellent and much better than the VHS version. Sound quality is also superior. The DVD version also contains two short features about the making of the film which provide some interesting background material. They are in black and white and were made around the time of the film.Big On Action - Short On Historical Accuracy - Cruel_Intentions
The Battle of the Bulge took place over a period of several weeks, with many battles on many fronts around the Ardennes forest.
This movie condenses the whole thing into a single narrative involving a handfull of central characters, so it is inevitable that some of the accuracy and realism is compromised. The roles are pretty stereotypical, Robert Shaw as the evil Nazi, Robert Ryan as the stalwart American general, and Henry Fonda is his usual straightforward noble self. The rest of the cast is a who's who of WWII movies. Telly Savalas seems to play the same wiseguy in every war picture, Charles Bronson as the solid tough guy. And James McArthur as the guy who starts out green and scared, only to find strength and courage after his buddy gets killed.
To its credit, many of the scenes in the movie actually did happen in the real battle; the English-speaking Nazis who parachuted in posing as Americans, the massacre of POWs by the SS near Malmedy, and the German tank commander who tried to capture a fuel depot. The major flaws are the tanks used in the movie. They were not real Tiger or Sherman tanks, but American Chaffee and Patton tanks which were Korean War era. Some of the tanks in the battle scenes were obviously miniature models, as were the burning towns. It reminded me of some Godzilla type movie where the props are ridiculous fakes.
Member Reviews
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Terrific script, performances - Superdave
The re-creation of a large scale armor offensive is what this film is known for, and that aspect is certainly impressive, but the script is a knockout. Robert Shaw as a Nazi Colonel gets all of the best material, with memorable speeches (I can still recite ...Great WWII Movie - bUgs1
This is a great WWII movie that has finally been released with the scenes that were in the original release of the motion picture shown in theatres back in the 1960's. These scenes have been missing in the prior releases on the VHS and LaserDisc versions. ...Big On Action - Short On Historical Accuracy - Cruel_Intentions
The Battle of the Bulge took place over a period of several weeks, with many battles on many fronts around the Ardennes forest.
This movie condenses the whole thing into a single narrative involving a handfull of central characters, so it is inevitable ...