Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

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prr
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Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#1

Post by prr » 01 Feb 2010, 09:33

I just finished watching the 1960s movie "The Battle of the Bulge." At the end, since the Germans failed to procure the Allied fuel, the Germans had to simply abandon their tanks and walk back to Germany. They were doing this in good order, marching in a column along a road. I was thinking that this wasn't very realistic, as I'm sure the victorious Americans would have chased them and imprisoned these helpless men walking back to Germany.

Was this sheer Hollywood? Or did that scene actually take place?

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the movie as a whole? It seemed like they may have used individuals who weren't historical, but who illustrated the various concerns and positions of the Americans and the Germans.

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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#2

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 01 Feb 2010, 17:10

That movie sucked rotten eggs.

Sure many German units walked back to Germany after they were ordered to evacuate the Bulge in late January, and discipline was maintained. But, marching in parade formation???? What a target for a air or artillery attack! Also the withdrawl order came weeks after the failure to capture the necessary fuel. Late December and most of January contained the bulk of the combat and dying. The movie jumps over all that, from a relatively minor event in the first week to the final days over a month later.

There were many other points in the script that were suposed to represent actual events, but which were so distorted and dumbed down they should have been left out. Forget everything you saw in it. War movies are typically garbage in their final cut. Whatever the good intentions of the scriptwriter or director the end result is invariablly Hollywood crap fantasy.


JamesL
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#3

Post by JamesL » 01 Feb 2010, 18:39

Good grief, guys! Its a Hollywood movie. The intent was to make money for the investors, pay off the actors, and someplace down the line entertain audiences.

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IvanSR
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#4

Post by IvanSR » 13 Feb 2010, 22:37

Most of the German soldiers in this movie keep repeating the same sentence: "Es kommt von da oben!" ("It came from over there"), even when the words have nothing to do with the actual scene.

Stupid.

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Attrition
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#5

Post by Attrition » 16 Mar 2010, 13:43

I thought that it was a disguised James Bond film with Robert Shaw as Blofeld. They even had the man from James Bond films who did the voice-over on the tannoy in the secret-underground-factory-that-nobody-ever-notices-despite-the-thoudands-of-people-working-there. I can't work out who was playing Moneypenny though. 8-)

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Flint
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#6

Post by Flint » 26 Mar 2010, 03:41

I always wondered if this movie was supposed to be a comedy. Yes, it's a Hollywood movie, but how about some semblence of accuracy. Don't try to pass off shooting locations in Spain for the snow covered Ardennes. The final climatic tank battle takes place in the desert under a clear sunny sky. Good for filming but at that stage of the war, the Allied Air Force would have wiped out anything German that moved. I'm not a fan of re-making movies but this one could stand to be re-made.

The only real highlight is the Panzerlied scene early on.

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phylo_roadking
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#7

Post by phylo_roadking » 26 Mar 2010, 03:46

I'm not a fan of re-making movies but this one could stand to be re-made.
Do you actually think they'd get it any better? 8O
Twenty years ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs....
Lord, please keep Kevin Bacon alive...

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Flint
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#8

Post by Flint » 27 Mar 2010, 01:15

phylo_roadking wrote:
I'm not a fan of re-making movies but this one could stand to be re-made.
Do you actually think they'd get it any better? 8O
Possibly, just to clarify, I don't think the movie "Battle of the Bulge" should be re-made. I think another movie about the battle could and should be made. In the hands of an enthusiastic director and with cgi (not overused) a more accurate and better movie could be made.

binder001
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#9

Post by binder001 » 27 Mar 2010, 02:22

For me it's a "guilty pleasure". I know the story line is crud (and that insults crud) but I do like watching the tanks rolla round.

It is fun to think about what could be done with today's CGI and vismod vehicles. Now if they woud just hire a writer that has at least read the Wikipedia description of the battle!

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IvanSR
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#10

Post by IvanSR » 28 Mar 2010, 01:50

Another thing about the Battle of the Bulge WAS made. It is called Saints and Soldiers and it sucks even more than this one! There can't be anything worse than a movie, which is presenting itself as a "true story", but is in fact a pure fiction!

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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#11

Post by The_Enigma » 30 Mar 2010, 02:38

phylo_roadking wrote:
I'm not a fan of re-making movies but this one could stand to be re-made.
Do you actually think they'd get it any better? 8O
As long as its not filmed in a jungle ... could it get any worse? :P

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IvanSR
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#12

Post by IvanSR » 30 Mar 2010, 16:37

With today's situation in Hollywood you never know.

Carl Schwamberger
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#13

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 30 Mar 2010, 18:08

IvanSR wrote:With today's situation in Hollywood you never know.
It could be filmed in arid Southern California... oh, it was :roll:

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Flint
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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#14

Post by Flint » 30 Apr 2010, 22:06

If a movie was made today called the "Battle of the Bulge" and it dealt with weight loss, it would probably be more historically accurate than the orginal movie in 1965.

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Re: Movie "Battle of the Bulge"

#15

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 02 May 2010, 15:14

Caught part of it, & cant recall the title, but there was a 1950s style movie about a platoon of glider infantry fighting through the battle. Private Holley the platoon screwball ends up as acting plt sgt of the dozen survivors. The half I saw seemed fairly good quality. There was a scene of a shoot out in a dense fog that illustrated well the confusion in small unit actions.

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