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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A sequel of sorts to "The Longest Day," (same director, some of the same actors like Fonda playing different characters), this is one of the best restorations of a film I've seen in recent years. The picture and sound have been digitally remastered and 17 minutes of previously-unseen footage has been added (you even get a hilarious 1960s intermission card onscreen halfway through, how's that for restoring everything!). The film looks and sounds brand new again and there are new things to enjoy.
Having said that, the film itself doesn't do justice to the real Battle of the Bulge or Ardennes Offensive as it is also called. The real battle was fought in blizzard conditions, there are scenes in this film that look like summertime with not a flake of snow in sight. The tanks are also not the gigantic German Tiger and King Tiger tanks that were used in reality. Of course, it was hard to find all the real elements when making this movie 21 years later, but I'd love to see a Saving Private Ryan-style remake where they could put realistic-looking Tiger tanks in with CGI.
Robert Shaw gives a strong performance, even if he does look like the stereotypical bleach-blond, blue-eyed Nazi. The Malmedy Massacre is well-handled, which is unusual for a film from 1965. There are also some interesting black-and-white interviews and "Making Of" documentaries from the time included on the DVD.
I don't think the average viewer will worry about the historical inaccuracies too much. They'll just see an entertaining, old-school, all-star Hollywood war epic of the kind they don't make anymore. Recommended.
Having said that, the film itself doesn't do justice to the real Battle of the Bulge or Ardennes Offensive as it is also called. The real battle was fought in blizzard conditions, there are scenes in this film that look like summertime with not a flake of snow in sight. The tanks are also not the gigantic German Tiger and King Tiger tanks that were used in reality. Of course, it was hard to find all the real elements when making this movie 21 years later, but I'd love to see a Saving Private Ryan-style remake where they could put realistic-looking Tiger tanks in with CGI.
Robert Shaw gives a strong performance, even if he does look like the stereotypical bleach-blond, blue-eyed Nazi. The Malmedy Massacre is well-handled, which is unusual for a film from 1965. There are also some interesting black-and-white interviews and "Making Of" documentaries from the time included on the DVD.
I don't think the average viewer will worry about the historical inaccuracies too much. They'll just see an entertaining, old-school, all-star Hollywood war epic of the kind they don't make anymore. Recommended.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The film at its original length was terrific, however this dvd has lost at least 20 minutes of footage, spoiling a lot of the build up and anti-war sentiment. A fierce argument over war between Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson has been cut out, as have some of the scenes of brutality by the Germans against civilians in a town. If you have never seen the full length original then you might not notice but a shame all the same.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
An interesting cast and fairly bomb-proof premise are squandered in Ken Annakin's Battle of the Bulge. Henry Fonda is the purer-than-water ex-cop who, miraculously, is the only person in the entire US Army who predicts an offensive move by the weakened Germans. Naturally, he's right, and the rest of the US Military Intelligence community has egg on their face, presumably. Robert Shaw is on typically badass form as an uber-Nazi spearheading the offensive, and there's fun support from Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and a pre-Hawaii Five-0 James MacArthur.
Can't go wrong with this set-up, right? Then how does the film mange to feel overlong, boring and uninteresting? Simply put, this is war-film-making by numbers. The characters are all but paper thin, the exposition is textbook (and too long), even the score is like a parody of itself. Worst of all, the action sequences are particularly wet. I know we're a few years ahead of The Wild Bunch here, but something really bothers me about seeing men being riddled with bullets and simply falling over with a groan - not a bullet hole or a drop of blood in sight. I know what defenders of the film are thinking right now and the answer is yes, I'm perfectly capable of using my imagination but, by that token, why bother watching a film at all? I might as well stare at a blank piece of paper and imagine a decent war movie.
After nearly three hours, I wish I had....
On the plus side, the DVD restoration is fabulous. If you're a fan of the movie, rest assured that this is probably as good as it will ever look on DVD.
Can't go wrong with this set-up, right? Then how does the film mange to feel overlong, boring and uninteresting? Simply put, this is war-film-making by numbers. The characters are all but paper thin, the exposition is textbook (and too long), even the score is like a parody of itself. Worst of all, the action sequences are particularly wet. I know we're a few years ahead of The Wild Bunch here, but something really bothers me about seeing men being riddled with bullets and simply falling over with a groan - not a bullet hole or a drop of blood in sight. I know what defenders of the film are thinking right now and the answer is yes, I'm perfectly capable of using my imagination but, by that token, why bother watching a film at all? I might as well stare at a blank piece of paper and imagine a decent war movie.
After nearly three hours, I wish I had....
On the plus side, the DVD restoration is fabulous. If you're a fan of the movie, rest assured that this is probably as good as it will ever look on DVD.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Are you kidding ?
Possibly the worst war film ever made ! This film is an in house joke amongst the serious students of the history fraternity . Its very title is a punch line . Read more
Published 1 month ago by The Bard England
Not just a war film
A very watchable film on a number of levels. Many excellent performances and a number of "edge of the seat" moments and all without being filmed showing graphic quantities of gore... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Diana
What a waste of a restoration subject
Great restoration but what a waste of time, terrible plot, highly fictional, very inaccurate and in dire need of a historically more accurate remake, not really worthy of the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by TOM W. WOODHOUSE
Not historically accurate but it gives the real sense of war
This is not historically accurate but no-one should watch films for history. There are many aspects of this which are not factually correct and there is a lot of Hollywood too but... Read more
Published 5 months ago by RR Waller
of questionable merit
By bringing in actors who had long passed their 'sell by date', i.e. Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and George Montgomery, the studio no doubt assumed that these dinosaurs... Read more
Published 8 months ago by lycidas
Lack of information
Unfortunately there is no information about work zones. So I had to return the disc back because I have no Moltizon player.
Published 11 months ago by Adi Segal
A Brilliant Film
For those interested in war films,the Battle of The Bulge is well worth watching,Its a massive tank battle and there are very few films involving tank battles. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Nigel Kenyon
Battle Of The Bulge
A great war film, it is virtually historically correct. How very close the German counter attack through the Ardenne Forest nearly succeeded in pushing the Allies back to the... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Michael R. Wiltshire
Tanks but no tanks.
Battle Of The Bulge is a fictionalised account of the battle of the Ardennes in December 1944. Directed by Ken Annakin, it's an ensemble piece that stars notably Henry Fonda,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Spike Owen
"IT CAN BE DONE"!!!
The only time I had known anything about "Battle Of The Bulge" was fleeting mentions of it in World WarII books and articles, as I recall it was the biggest tank battle of the war... Read more
Published 15 months ago by JIMBO (Dublin,)
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