ActionAdventureDramaWar

Battleground

- The First Great Picture Of The Second World War!

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

Release Date : 1949-11-09

Language :CzechFrenchGermanEnglish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Loew's IncorporatedMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Holley

Original Name : Van Johnson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jarvess

Original Name : John Hodiak

Gender : Male

Character Name : Roderigues

Original Name : Ricardo Montalban

Gender : Male

Character Name : 'Pop' Stazak

Original Name : George Murphy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jim Layton

Original Name : Marshall Thompson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Abner Spudler

Original Name : Jerome Courtland

Gender : Male

Character Name : Standiferd

Original Name : Don Taylor

Gender : Male

Character Name : Wolowicz

Original Name : Bruce Cowling

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kinnie

Original Name : James Whitmore

Gender : Male

Character Name : 'Kipp' Kippton

Original Name : Douglas Fowley

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Chaplain

Original Name : Leon Ames

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hansan

Original Name : Herbert Anderson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Doc

Original Name : Thomas E. Breen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Denise

Original Name : Denise Darcel

Gender : Female

Character Name : Bettis

Original Name : Richard Jaeckel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Garby

Original Name : James Arness

Gender : Male

Character Name : William J. Hooper

Original Name : Scotty Beckett

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lieutenant Teiss

Original Name : Brett King

Gender : Male

Character Name : G.I.

Original Name : Bob Porter

Gender : Male

Character Name : German Soldier

Original Name : Robert Boon

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

The Battered Bastards Of Bastogne. Dedicated to the battered bastards of Bastogne, this major player in the war film genre is directed by William Wellman & tells the story of a U.S. Army division involved in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. The terrific cast features George Murphy, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, Van Johnson and James Whitmore. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two - one for Robert Pirosh's bold and fluctuating screenplay and one for Paul Vogel's realism inducing black-and-white cinematography. Battleground is an important war film in many ways. Coming as it did at the tail end of the 40s, it was not required to be a flag waving morale booster for a country at war. Free of this burden, Wellman & Pirosh (an actual veteran of the Bastogne engagement), crafted a grunts eye view of the war. Forcing us the viewers to spend the whole of the movie with one army squad (the 101st Airborne Division), we get to know them, their fears & peccadilloes etc. Pirosh cleverly telling it as it was, scared men doing their duty. It's that we have been with them as their persona's have been laid bare, that makes the battle sequences even more potent. The jokes have stopped, the camaraderie and harmless rivalries replaced by men crying for their mothers or in some mud hole fighting for their lives. This snow covered and fog shrouded part of Belgium a bleak canvas for the harshness of war (amazingly shot on the lot). It's a stunningly structured film, one that doesn't resort to type, it subverts the many war film plot developments that are rife in genre pieces that both preceded and came post its release. The cast are uniformly strong, and all get get ample time to impact on the narrative. Something that isn't always the case with ensemble pieces. Somebody else was strong too, Producer Dore Schary, who had to fight an unconvinced Louis B. Mayer (MGM head man) to get the film made. Schary's faith in the piece was rewarded as the film became a critical darling and a box office winner. It's not hard to see why for this is a realistic and gritty look at the hardships of war and those that fought in it. Influencing many that followed it by entertaining without gusto histrionics, Battleground is still very much a template war film. 8.5/10