Battleground (1949)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Robert Pirosh (story)
Robert Pirosh (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 January 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Action | War | Drama

Tagline:

The First Great Picture Of The Second World War !

Plot:

A squad of the 101st Airborne Division copes with being trapped in the besieged city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Plot Keywords:

Army | Battle Of The Bulge | Infantry | Paratrooper | WWII

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Van Johnson	...	Holley
John Hodiak	...	Jarvess
Ricardo Montalban	...	Roderigues
George Murphy	...	'Pop' Stazak
Marshall Thompson	...	Jim Layton
Jerome Courtland	...	Abner Spudler
Don Taylor	...	Standiferd
Bruce Cowling	...	Wolowicz
James Whitmore	...	Kinnie
Douglas Fowley	...	'Kipp' Kippton
Leon Ames	...	The Chaplain
Herbert Anderson	...	Hansan (as Guy Anderson)
Thomas E. Breen	...	Doc
Denise Darcel	...	Denise
Richard Jaeckel	...	Bettis

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #13886) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Screenwriter Robert Pirosh based this story on his experiences as an infantryman during the Battle of the Bulge. Pirosh did not serve with the 101st Airborne and wanted to create a script that was faithful to their experiences. He used his fist hand knowledge of the battle of write the script. This was done with the blessing of General McAuliffe, who was commanding the 101st during Bastogne. Consequently many of the incidents in the film - such as Pvt. Kippton's habit of always losing his false teeth, or the Mexican soldier from Los Angeles who had never seen snow until he got to Belgium - that have always been derided as "typical Hollywood phony baloney" actually happened.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the beginning of the movie Holley (Van Johnson) enters the tent wearing a class A uniform. He is wearing a Combat Infantryman Badge which is incorrectly placed. The "C.I.B." is correctly worn above the ribbons not below.

Quotes:

Holley: That the new platoon leader?
Pvt. Johnny Rodriguez: Yeah, fresh off the boat.
Pvt. Ernest J. "Pop" Stazak: I understand your problems, men. I was once an enlisted man, myself.
Holley: For six months, maybe. Then seventeen weeks at OCS and he's an officer and gentleman by special act of Congress.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Some of the Best (1949)

I like this movie more every time I see it.

"Battleground" is probably the best movie made about the Battle of the Bulge. After seeing "Band of Brothers", I bought "Battleground" and watched it for the fourth(?) time. I thought the characters were well done. I saw this movie for the second time when I was in the US Army, and it turned me off. I couldn't believe guys were measuring their chances of getting off the line by hoping for the million dollar wound, or some other malady. The third time I saw this movie, I had grown up and realized that, human nature being what it is, nothing about their behavior was abnormal. While I was growing up, Van Johnson was the model GI in all of his movies, as he is in this. I liked the entire cast in this movie. I think one of the best scenes was the Christmas gathering with the Chaplin. His "Was this trip necessary?" speech was one of the high points of the movie for me then and now. This movie, along with "Band of Brothers" are a must see.