Battle of the Bulge

*****

E for effort..for it's time a great depiction........not so now..............ergo the O U C H

This film was shot in Ultra Panavision 70, which has an aspect ratio of 2.76 to 1. The version on iTunes IS in the correct aspect ratio of 2.76 to 1. This means it looks more letterboxed than most other films, but the entire frame, as shot, is visible here throughout.

I have not seen a war movie this good in quite a while. And that might be due to the fact that the market for war films isn’t great right now and that movies like Fury are making the genre worse. Anyhow this is a well directed movie with an all star cast. It is a family friendly war film and every once in a while they manage to sneak in a smile or a laugh. Definitely one of the best war movies of all time. The runtime takes its freedom though.

It was interesting to view this film as a lesson in the evolution of films about WWII. Writers, directors, producers, and technology have come quite a distance in the 50 years since this film was made. There were several scenes that appeared too staged, tank scenes that looked like model tanks fighting each other, and soldiers falling too many seconds after being shot. What was a positive feature of this film was seeing the war through the Germans' eyes. Robert Shaw did an excellent job portraying a German officer.

A very difficult and confusing battle - made simple. A lot of the complexities have been brushed over in the interest of entertainment. Still it was a commendable effort to pay tribute to the men who fought in this great battle of the Second World War. It has been called "Hitler's last gamble" . Henry Fonda and Robert Shaw are superd in their roles as an American intelligence officer and the commander of the German spearhead respectively. Ty Hardin is convincing as a German officer dressed as an American MP. One thing I really like about the movie was the emphasis on the desparate state of German fuel reserves. This motivates the Germans to try to capture the allied fuel dump at Stavelot. I also liked the emphasis on the Germans acting as American MPs - something that is not widely covered in other movies about the same events in history. Unfortunately, the film version does not do justice to the fight for Stavelot, the Malmedy massacre or really any of the sacrifices of the men of the 106th Infantry Division, Pattons Third Army, the 101st Airborne at Bastogne or Combat Command B. That said, it does give one a sense that this was a desparate fight for key road junctions, the fuel depot and the port of Antwerp. Like I said - a very difficult battle to cram into two hours. They really should have been able to locate some Shermans, Panthers and Pzkw IVs - but a tank is a tank in hollywood. Bottom Line is - iloved it. The did a good job with a difficult subject. Two thumbs up!!

Really good movie with a rare german point of view. The movie was great except for a few historical errors, like the supposed "King Tiger" tanks aren't even german in the film and the lack of snow from many locations, but aside from that, a really great movie. The German Colonel Hessler (robert shaw) is my favorite in this supurb film.

i actually converted it to avi format and then used free studio managers converter to convert it back. then voila!! Its not technically wide screen, but it makes the whole movie fit on the screen. But still, this is one of my favorite.

Great movie but on close ups some of the actors/action is cut off screen. In true widescreen this would not happen. Movie is great, description "widescreen' is inaccurate! Do I get a refund?