War Movie #4
Synopsis: Henry
Fonda pretty much single-handedly wins the Second World War in Europe.
Blurb From the VHS
Jacket: “It’s five months after D-Day and most Americans think the back of
the German army is broken. ‘We’ll be home for Christmas,’ they tell each other.
But the Germans have other plans.”
What Did I Learn?:
Apparently, the Battle of the Ardennes Forest wasn’t beaten back by Patton and
Montgomery’s forces at all – the German tanks simply ran out of gas, and the
crews walked home to Germany.
You Might Like This
Movie If: You know all about battling the bulge.
Really?: Oh wow…apparently,
this movie had so many historical inaccuracies that former US President (and
former Supreme Allied Commander) Eisenhower publicly slammed it. I can
certainly overlook the use of 1950s-era tanks, but holy crap – this movie takes
place in a forest, during a brutal snowstorm in 1944, but a lot of the tank
scenes were shot in arid, quasi-desert conditions where they would have been
sitting ducks for Allied planes. Oh, and
see: “Synopsis” and “What Did I Learn?”
Rating: Battle of
the Bulge isn’t bad for an evening’s entertainment, but it’s not a great movie
by a long shot. Leaving aside the “Really?” moments (and they start to pile up,
believe me…), Battle of the Bulge sometimes seems like two different movies
strung together: the first half historical drama, the second a 1970s disaster
film, complete with a neat little solution. The best example is Robert Shaw’s
character: in the first act, he’s a cynical, and world-weary German officer who
nevertheless wants to do his duty, and yet by the end he’s a war-mongering nut.
5.5/10 stars.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058947/?ref_=rvi_tt
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.