Band of Brothers (2001– )

The story of Easy Company of the US Army 101st Airborne division and their mission in WWII Europe from Operation Overlord through V-J Day.

Stars:

Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 22 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Scott Grimes	...	TSgt. Donald Malarkey (10 episodes, 2001)
Damian Lewis	...	Maj. Richard D. Winters (10 episodes, 2001)
Ron Livingston	...	Capt. Lewis Nixon (10 episodes, 2001)
Shane Taylor	...	Cpl. Eugene Roe (10 episodes, 2001)
Donnie Wahlberg	...	C. Carwood Lipton (10 episodes, 2001)
Peter Youngblood Hills	...	SSgt. Darrel 'Shifty' Powers (10 episodes, 2001)
Nicholas Aaron	...	Pvt. Robert 'Popeye' Wynn (9 episodes, 2001)
Philip Barantini	...	Sgt. Wayne 'Skinny' Sisk (9 episodes, 2001)
Michael Cudlitz	...	Sgt. Denver 'Bull' Randleman (9 episodes, 2001)
Rick Gomez	...	Sgt. George Luz (9 episodes, 2001)
James Madio	...	Sgt. Frank Perconte (9 episodes, 2001)
Doug Allen	...	Sgt. Alton More (8 episodes, 2001)
George Calil	...	Pvt. James 'Moe' Alley (8 episodes, 2001)
Dexter Fletcher	...	SSgt. John Martin (8 episodes, 2001)
Nolan Hemmings	...	Sgt. Charles 'Chuck' Grant (8 episodes, 2001)
Ross McCall	...	Cpl. Joseph Liebgott (8 episodes, 2001)
Neal McDonough	...	1st Lt. Lynn 'Buck' Compton (8 episodes, 2001)
Rick Warden	...	1st Lt. Harry Welsh (8 episodes, 2001)
Robin Laing	...	Pvt. Edward 'Babe' Heffron (8 episodes, 2001)
Dale Dye	...	Col. Robert Sink (7 episodes, 2001)
Michael Fassbender	...	Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson (7 episodes, 2001)
Matthew Leitch	...	SSgt. Floyd 'Tab' Talbert (7 episodes, 2001)
Rene L. Moreno	...	Pvt. Joseph Ramirez (7 episodes, 2001)
Frank John Hughes	...	SSgt. William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere (7 episodes, 2001)
Tim Matthews	...	Cpl. Alex Penkala (7 episodes, 2001)
Douglas Spain	...	Pvt. Antonio Garcia (7 episodes, 2001)
Richard Speight Jr.	...	Sgt. Warren 'Skip' Muck (7 episodes, 2001)
Eion Bailey	...	Pvt. David Kenyon Webster (6 episodes, 2001)
Craig Heaney	...	Pvt. Roy Cobb (6 episodes, 2001)
Kirk Acevedo	...	SSgt. Joseph Toye (6 episodes, 2001)
Peter McCabe	...	Cpl. Donald Hoobler (6 episodes, 2001)
Matthew Settle	...	Capt. Ronald Speirs (6 episodes, 2001)
Ben Caplan	...	Cpl. Walter 'Smokey' Gordon (5 episodes, 2001)
Phil McKee	...	Lt. Col. Robert L. Strayer (5 episodes, 2001)
Mark Huberman	...	Pvt. Lester 'Leo' Hashey (5 episodes, 2001)

Storyline

This is the story of "E" Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from their initial training starting in 1942 to the end of World War II. They parachuted behind enemy lines in the early hours of D-Day in support of the landings at Utah beach, participated in the liberation of Carentan and again parachuted into action during Operation Market Garden. They also liberated a concentration camp and were the first to enter Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgarten. A fascinating tale of comradeship that is, in the end, a tale of ordinary men who did extraordinary things.

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Plot Keywords:

behind enemy lines | comradeship | machine gun | steel helmet | american soldier | 

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Taglines:

There Was A Time When The World Asked Ordinary Men To Do Extraordinary Things.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

HBO

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Dutch French German Lithuanian

Release Date:

9 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frères d'armes

Filming Locations:

Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Television, Home Box Office (HBO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

705 min 705 min (10 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The series was screened at Fort Cambell, KY in Aug 2001 to members of the 101st Airborne Division just a few weeks before the attacks of 9/11. Several characters from the film, and the actors who portrayed them met with the currently serving Screaming Eagles, including Bill Guarnere, Carwood Lipton, and Don Malarkey. Bill Guarnere even danced the Jitterbug despite only having one leg. 18 months later, the 101st deployed and participated in the invasion of Iraq.

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Goofs

In, "Points", when Easy Company first enters Berchtesgarden, the first shot showing the white flags, on the left, in a first-floor window, you can see someone with a handycam/miniDV shooting the actual film crew and cast.

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Quotes

[Easy Compagny is patrolling through the Bavarian woods]
Frank Perconte: Hey, George.
George Luz: Yeah?
Frank Perconte: Kind of remind you of Bastogne?
George Luz: Yeah, now that you mention it. Except, of course, there's no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren't fucking exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah... Frank... other than that, it's a lot like Bastogne.
Frank Perconte: Right?
George Luz: Bull, smack him for me please?
[thump]
George Luz: Thank you.

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Connections

Referenced in The Ladykillers (2004)

User Reviews

One of, if not the best, mini series' ever made

Band of Brothers finds us following the exploits of Easy Company throughout their campaign in Europe, from their inception all the way to the end of the war. The commentary from the actual soldiers that were in those situations is touching, to say the very least. These commentaries also help to move the character development along quite a bit, as it lets us into their own personal thoughts on the situations they faced. This project, to the best of my knowledge was undertaken at roughly the same time as Saving Private Ryan, using many of the same locations and also employing DreamWorks special effects, giving it a very familiar feel for anyone that has seen Private Ryan. As I've already touched on, the character development is greatly due to the fact that this story is not told in a two hour segment, but throughout several hour long intervals, giving us the chance to truly "get to know" the characters personalities as the story develops. In my humble opinion, the only other military type mini series' that even come close to the scope of this one are The Blue and The Grey, and North and South.

All of the actors in this series do and excellent job at playing the roles appropriately and making us believe the hell these men were put through. The thing I also appreciated about the cast is the lack of any "real" names, leading to us not knowing who may or may not be making it out the scenes alive and unscathed.

This mini series is everything Saving Private Ryan was, as well as everything it wasn't. If you're a fan of war time stories and "army" movies, this is hands down the best of the best… I don't even think I could name ANY movies about WWII that could even compare to this one… A bold statement, I know, but I'm making it any how.