Hart's War (2002)

A law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.

Director:

Gregory Hoblit

Writers:

John Katzenbach (novel), Billy Ray (screenplay),

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Col. William A. McNamara
Colin Farrell	...	Lt. Thomas W. Hart
Terrence Howard	...	Lt. Lincoln A. Scott
Cole Hauser	...	Staff Sgt. Vic W. Bedford
Marcel Iures	...	Col. Werner Visser
Linus Roache	...	Capt. Peter A. Ross
Vicellous Reon Shannon	...	Lt. Lamar T. Archer (as Vicellous Shannon)
Maury Sterling	...	Pfc. Dennis A. Gerber
Sam Jaeger	...	Capt. R.G. Sisk
Scott Michael Campbell	...	Cpl. Joe S. Cromin
Rory Cochrane	...	Sgt. Carl S. Webb
Sebastian Tillinger	...	Pvt. Bert D. 'Moose' Codman
Rick Ravanello	...	Maj. Joe Clary
Adrian Grenier	...	Pvt. Daniel E. Abrams
Michael Weston	...	Pfc. W. Roy Potts

Storyline

Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, as the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of the Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never giving up the fight to win the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment to strike back at the enemy. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan in motion. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his life against the good of his country.

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Plot Keywords:

honor | pilot | lieutenant | racism | interrogation | 

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Taglines:

Heroes Are Measured By What They Do.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong war violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Hart's War Official WebSite

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

15 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Tribunal

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$353,894 (Japan) (27 September 2002)

Gross:

$1,229,194 (Japan) (11 October 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cheyenne Enterprises, David Foster Productions, David Ladd Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the movie's credited writers, Billy Ray, reports that he never read the novel, "Hart's War," which is the basis for the movie. In The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Billy Ray, he calls this revelation a "painful admission." But, he explains, by the time he came on the project, the screenplay had been through so many drafts that what was in the book itself did not matter much for his job of getting the screenplay to work. Ray says that one of the movie's producers, David Foster "constantly" sent him excerpts from the novel, advising him to include those particular things in the movie. But he implies that he felt no need to include something simply because it came from the novel. He then makes a point of saying he "admires" the novel's author, John Katzenbach and his father, Nicholas Katzenbach, whose time as a World War II prisoner of war was the basis of the novel. Ray explains further that he worked from the existing drafts and from the large amount of World War II research he did for the project, especially relying on the writing of Stephen Ambrose.

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Goofs

The film's geography is convoluted. Apart from mixing infantry and aviation personnel in the camp, it is extremely unlikely that any tuskegee airmen of the Italy-based 15th Air Force would be to northern Germany where POWs from the Battle of the Bulge were kept.

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Quotes

[Lt. Hart offers condolences upon learning that Col. Visser's own son was killed in action on the Russian Front]
Col. Werner Visser: I killed my share of French and English in the last war; All of *them* had fathers.

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Connections

References Stalag 17 (1953)

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Soundtracks

"Der Fuehrer's Face"
Written by Oliver Wallace
Arranged by Paul Englishby
Produced by Gary Gold

User Reviews

Well crafted and thoughtful entertainment

I recently had the good fortune of seeing an advanced screening of Hart's War. It took a good half hour for me to warm up to it but once the many plots twists took hold, I was pretty well hooked. Collin Farrell displays a good deal of screen charisma as Lt. Hart. Surprisingly, Bruce Willis is in a supporting role. Although the trailers I have seen would lead you to believe otherwise.

The story takes some surprising turns and that is one of the strengths of the movie. I won't spoil it by giving away too much.

As a student of history, particularly World War Two, I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie, not just for the original story line but the mood cast by the photography and the music score.

I highly recommend Hart's War as an intelligent, entertaining movie.

8.5 out of 10