Battleground (1949)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The Battle Of The Bulge, December 1944. The US 101st Airborne Division are holding the strategically vital town of Bastogne against overwhelming odds. We follow a squad of soldiers of the 101st as they battle the Germans, the elements and lack of supplies, equipment and ammunition. Superb WW2 drama. Very gritty and realistic - no gung ho heroics, no Hollywoodisms. Quite novel for its time in that most movies were still very much in WW2 propaganda mode. Great work by Van Johnson in the lead role. Good supporting performances. James Whitmore got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his efforts.

Actual soldiers (paratroopers) from the 101st Airborne Division were hired as advisers, and, starred in this movie, to make sure 'every' detail was covered. I only wish they did that with "Battle of the Bulge" in 1965!?!?This movie includes oldies-but-goodies like Van Johnson ("Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and "The Caine Mutiny"); Ricardo Montalban ("Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"); James Whitmore ("Planet of the Apes" and "The Shawshank Redemption"); James Arness as 'Jim' Arness ("Gunsmoke" and a US Army Veteran and Purple Heart recipient of Anzio during WW2); Richard Jaeckel ("The Dirty Dozen" and "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid"); and, The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division! :)This is 'really' a great movie that even mentions some of the ordnance that Americans used during World War 2...like the 1903 Springfield rifle; the M1 Garand rifle; and, such techniques that were adapted by American soldiers who didn't expect what they got; but, as American soldiers...they adapted, overcame, and, survived!This movie is not only a great movie, but, a "TRIBUTE" to all of the American Military, all over the world, then and now! :)I love this movie!MM/USN 1985-1993

During the Battle of the Bulge, an American squadron is trapped in a small French town, fighting not only the Nazis but also the elements of a brutal winter. The focus is more on characters than on action, and it is interesting to watch the interactions among the colorful characters played by a large cast of familiar faces. While the battlefield scenes are mostly effective, the film runs out of steam about two-thirds of the way through and bogs down in the latter stages. While the acting is good by the ensemble, particularly effective are Montalban, Thompson, Whitmore, and Hodiak, an actor who died too young. Playing a wise guy, Johnson provides most of the comic relief.

"Battleground" depicts without a shred of either glamor or false heroics the trials and tribulations of the beleaguered 101st Airborne Division and its stubborn defense of the town of Bastogne against the onslaught of the German army during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. "Wings" director William Wellman and scenarist Robert Pirosh--Pirosh served in the 101st Division at Bastogne—have fashioned the first wave of a new kind of war movie unlike the patriotic, flag-waving propaganda war movies made between 1942 and 1945. This gritty, realistic World War II combat film pulls few punches compared with its predecessors. The grimy G.I.s here get to grouse more about the war, the conditions, and themselves."Battleground" consists largely of campfire scenes around foxholes and eschews those familiar briefing room scenes with big battle maps and brass making points. Indeed, this movie focuses strictly the infantry. No sooner do two replacements show up in a camp somewhere in France than they find themselves in the woods carving foxholes out of the earth. Similarly, no sooner do they have those foxholes dug than they find themselves again on the march. Whereas "The Battle of the Bulge" provided a bigger (Technicolor) portrayal of this event on a grander scale, the black & white "Battleground" is content to follow the exploits of the fictional 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon of Item Company, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Incidentally, Paul G. Vogel received an Oscar for Best Cinematography for "Battleground." William Wellman was nominated for Best Director, and "Battleground" was nominated for Best Picture, with James Whitmore getting a nomination for Best Supporting actor."Battleground" begins with two replacement G.I.s, James Layton (Marshall Thompson of "They Were Expendable") and William J. Hooper (Scotty Beckett of "The Boy from Stalingrad"), arriving at the 101st Airborne Division's camp. Layton and Beckett are friends, but they have been ordered to different companies. Layton has been assigned to I Company and Hooper to K Company. Fatefully, it is the last time that they will have a conversation because a mortar round will land in Hooper's foxhole and instantly kill him. Grimly enough, when Layton finds K Company, he learns that Hooper got killed and the explosion obliterated his dog-tags so nobody could identify him. "Battleground" contains several tragic stories like Hooper's death. Wellman and Pirosh filter the story through the consciousness of Private Layton. Layton enters the 2nd Squad as a raw, green recruit who knows nobody and gets kicked off one bunk after another after he arrives in the platoon ten. When "Battleground" concludes Layton is still the same rank, but he has learned how to smoke cigarettes, drink liquor, and use phrases like ". . . take a flying leap in a rolling dough-nut." After Layton finds himself being forced out of one bunk after another, Holly (Van Johnson of "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo") walks him, having recovered from a war wound. Later, he rises to the rank of sergeant.Meanwhile, Sergeant Kinnie (James Whitmore of "Guns of the Magnificent Seven") makes an appearance in the platoon tent, chomping on a cigar. Typically, U.S. platoons in World War II movies consist of a cross-section of regions. Ironically, no G.I. hails from Brooklyn. Riccardo Montalban makes a brief appearance as a Hispanic G.I. named Roderigues. Ironically, he dies during an artillery barrage when the Germans take a farmhouse. The wounded Roderigues takes shelter underneath a jeep, but dies in the barrage. "Gunsmoke" star Jim Arness chuckles when Sergeant Holly orders everybody to check to see if the bolts on their rifles are not frozen. Later, the Arness character dies because his bolt-action rifle has frozen up. Until the final quarter hour, "Battleground" refrains from showing the enemy getting blasted. The G.I.s wind up manning roadblocks and occupying foxholes.One link that connects "Battleground" to the patriotic World War II era films is a sermon delivered to the G.I.s by a chaplain (Leon Ames of "The Lady in the Lake") that he calls 'Was this trip necessary.' Simply, the chaplain states that the trip was necessary because the Nazis started the war. He wants them to remember the fighting and always be vigilant of any regime that called itself or what it stands for as super. Clearly, this heavy-handed message was meant not only for the memory of the Nazis but also the threat that the Soviets projected in what came to be called the Cold War. Another scene that no Bulge movie would be without is the reaction that the German's had to Brigadier General McAuliffe's response to a German offer of surrender. The filmmakers make only a passing reference to the Malmedy massacre where 150 G.I.s were executed in cold blood, but they include a couple of dramatic scenes about German troops who impersonated G.I.s as a part of Operation Grief.Interestingly, in 1951, Van Johnson reunited with writer Robert Pirosh on "Go for Broke" about Japanese-Americans fighting the Germans in the Italian campaign. However, this time Pirosh was calling the shots behind the camera as the director. Mind you, the violence in "Battleground" pales by comparison with later movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Rambo," but Wellman pushed the envelop in their own right. Richard Jaeckel's demise is interesting because he plays a coward who runs from combat, takes refuge in a cook's company, but is eventually summoned back to combat. He refuses to join the fight and dies when a bomb flattens the building in which he cowered. "Battleground" compares favorably to Oliver Stone's "Platoon" because both concern the baptism by fire of a green soldier. Ultimately, the outstanding strength of "Battleground" lies in its meaningful story and the variety of characters in it.