“This story is about, and dedicated to, those Americans who met General Heinrich von Luttwitz and his 47 Panzer Corps and won for themselves the honored and immortal name – ‘The Battered Bastards of Bastogne’”.
The Battle of the Bulge, which stretched from December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945, marked the final German offensive of WWII, a last-ditch effort by the Nazis to catch the Allies off-guard. And for a while, they managed to do just that, surrounding (among others) the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. With heavy fog preventing bombing runs, and cut off from supplies, the 101st and their comrades held out as long as possible until reinforcements could arrive.
It proved to be the turning point in the war, and director William A. Wellman puts us in the middle of the fighting, following a group of soldiers as they freeze, starve, and begin to lose hope. Wellman recreates the conditions and events of the Battle of the Bulge wonderfully, but as with many of his movies it’s the characters that transform Battleground into one of the finest World War II films ever made.
Battle weary and in need of a little relaxation, the 2nd squad 3rd platoon of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, which is assigned to the 101st Airborne, have been given a temporary leave, and hope to spend the next few days unwinding in Paris. The Germans, however, have other plans for them, and launch a surprise attack. With their leave cancelled, the bitter men of 2nd squad head first to the city of Bastogne, then deep into the forests of the Ardennes, where they are to await further orders.
Cut off from the outside, they have no idea they are being surrounded by the Germans, and are heavily outnumbered. Still, even with heavy fog and freezing conditions settling in, the hungry troops continue to fight, praying that the Allies will quickly come to their rescue.
No stranger to war films (having directed 1927's Wings, the first movie ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), William A. Wellman knew how to stage a dramatic battle scene, and Battleground would also go on to win an Oscar for Best B&W Cinematography (courtesy of Paul C. Vogel). Yet before any battle is staged, and before the brilliant shots of the snowy Ardennes landscape, Battleground introduces us to its characters, and we spend a good deal of time with them prior to the skirmishes.
Van Johnson, playing the sarcastic PFC Holley, is technically the lead, yet in the end we know him about as well as we do the other men of 2nd squad. Pvt. Jim Leyton (Marshall Thompson) is the newest arrival, a raw recruit thrust into a situation for which he is not prepared, alongside a group of men he has barely met. Pvt. Donald Jarvess (John Hodiak) worked as a reporter for a local paper, and regularly praised the Allied efforts against the Nazis in his columns. Now, on the ground and part of the fighting, he has a slightly different outlook on war.
Pvt. Johnny Roderigues (Ricardo Montalban) is a native of Los Angeles, and is excited to experience the first snowfall of his life, while his good friend Pvt. “Pop” Stazek (George Murphy) has received word he is going home. Unfortunately, at the time the squad was sent to Bastogne, Pop’s official orders had not yet arrived.
Staff Sgt. Kinnie (James Whitmore) is a hardened veteran who leads the men into battle, but is also just ‘one of the guys’. Pvt. “Kipp” Kippton (Douglas Fowley), having heard that regulations state a soldier must have at least six of his own teeth to continue serving in the army, at one point knocked all of his teeth out with the butt of his rifle. Instead of a discharge, though, the army gave him a set of false choppers. Then there’s Pvt. Bettis (Richard Jaeckel), who suffers from battle fatigue.
This is just a sampling; there are more characters, and the personalities, fears, and idiosyncrasies of each and every one are front and center.
ames Whitmore was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and while he does a fine job, definitely delivering an Oscar-worthy performance, he is no more impressive than any other actor throughout Battleground, his Sgt. Kinnie no more memorable than any other soldier. If the Academy had an award for Best Ensemble, this film would have walked away with it.
The men of the 101st Airborne were a part of history, and as Battleground shows us, they had no idea just how important it was at the time. In one key scene, a dispatch has made its way through, and as Jarvess is reading it to the others, he refers to the battle they are engaged in as “Bulge”. It was the first that the men ever heard that word, not realizing that their families back home, and people around the world, knew the word all too well by this point, and were following the action intently. Yes, it was an historic battle, and Battleground does a wonderful job recreating the harsh conditions. But history would have to wait; for these men who lived through it, it was all about survival, and getting themselves and their buddies out alive. We see and feel their struggles, their suffering, and even their victories. Wellman and his crew ensured that we lived it right along with them, and that is why Battleground is damn near a masterpiece.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
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