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.

When I was a kid this Van Johnson film was a staple of the late show movies. I remember seeing it then and even when I see it now, I am impressed with it. This one has the feel of really being near Bostogne in 1944. I think what helps it is that it was made only 5 years after the war. You get the feeling that the film crew has a bunch of vets in it and they are busy behind the scenes making it feel like the real battle.In addition to Van Johnson in one of his better roles, we have James Whitmore and Ricardo Montoban in support. All the actors seem to be perfectly cast in this one. The main weakness in it is in the late scenes where things fall into place a little too perfectly to get to the happy ended. Up until that, the film feels like a real war.Still, the marching sequence at the end of the movie is so good that it is copied in technique several times in later combat films. This one is one of the better ones and if your too young to be in the greatest generation, this is as close as you can now get to feeling what the war in Europe in WW2 was really like.

It's rare to encounter a movie in this genre where most of the actors aren't obviously "acting." The cast, for the most part, seem to really live their part and know their stuff. The equipment, tactics, behavior, and language seems authentic and natural, not forced. That former members of the 101 Airborne helped train the cast really shines through.I appreciated how the movie didn't pull punches regarding the horrors of war. A character with a pleasing personality is just as likely to get killed as an "extra," and nobody comes across as being "bullet-proof." If your number's up, it's up, regardless of your "family back home" story. The wide variety of ages who fought in the war is nicely represented, as well. Memorable characters, with weaknesses not glossed over.The most realistic, naturally acted scene in the entire movie could have easily been cut, but I'm so glad it wasn't. The chaplain scene. So much was said, and not all of it with words. I won't spoil it, you'll know it when you see it.

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 Divsion}, 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