When Trumpets Fade (1998)

Pretty Good

Absolutely Fantastic

Absolutely Brilliant!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is not a great movie. To me, a great movie is one that has an emotional catch of some sort. This one is lacking.

A film that over reaches itself in ambition despite having a good Director, John "Hamburger Hill" Irven at the helm, and a good story to work with, the battle of Hurtgen Forest which preceded the Battle of the Bulge. However two obstacles become insurmountable, a puny budget, and a terrible script.Made in 1998, it attempts to be gritty and realistic, but the dialogue does not feel contemporary, and the action sequences are unconvincing with close up gore shots used to try to compensate. The battle scenes cannot match Saving Private Ryan, nor the epic sweep of The Thin Red Line. Irven is simply not good enough to reprise Kubrick's success with similar limitations in Full Metal Jacket.Ultimately the film does not go anywhere. The frailties of men in battle, once shown, dull after a while. The failings in US Command strategy are only hinted at. Combine a fuzzy story and bad dialogue and you have a formula for creating characters which are half formed and unlikeable, which is what we have here.When you make a film fifty years after the event it really needs to say something, to shed some light on a hitherto unilluminated corner – this does neither.

this little gem of a movie is fairly unknown.it tells the story of a World War II battle that is pretty much forgotten(but no less important)and overshadowed by other more famous battles.it's a gritty movie,with a rough unpolished look to it.there no big name superstars here either.this film has a more intimate personal feel to than many other war movies.the acting is first rate all around here,but Martin Donovan and Dwight Yoakam are real standouts.this movie is well worth the watch in my opinion.just like the battle it depicts,it may have been overshadowed by other war pictures with bigger budgets and bigger names,but this one is no less important.for me,When Trumpets Fade is a 9/10

I know some people slate 'Saving Private Ryan' as being sentimental, and over hyped, but it was pretty damn good. The shame is that many other subsequent war movies are judged against this classic. WHEN TRUMPETS FADE is, on its own and out of the shadow of SPR, a very good film. If you forget the incorrect weapon effects, the wrongly worn caps and certain other aspects then it is certainly a worthy addition to any war movie film buffs collection. I think that the actual battle in this forest was much more challenging than depicted; the forest in the film was more like a pleasant wood. Also, the music was a bit naff really, and did not help the atmosphere. On the human side, the failings of the main 'hero' were quite refreshing and real. Watch it! CC