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IMDbPro

Battleground

  • 19491949
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 58m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
7.4K
YOUR RATING
Battleground (1949)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:57
1 Video
38 Photos
ActionDramaHistory
True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
7.4K
YOUR RATING
    • William A. Wellman
    • Robert Pirosh(story and screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Van Johnson
    • John Hodiak
    • Ricardo Montalban
    • William A. Wellman
    • Robert Pirosh(story and screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Van Johnson
    • John Hodiak
    • Ricardo Montalban
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 95User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 2 Oscars

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:57
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos38

    John Hodiak at an event for Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Van Johnson and John Hodiak in Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Van Johnson in Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Van Johnson and John Hodiak in Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)
    Battleground (1949)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Van Johnson
    Van Johnson
    • Holley
    John Hodiak
    John Hodiak
    • Jarvess
    Ricardo Montalban
    Ricardo Montalban
    • Roderigues
    George Murphy
    George Murphy
    • 'Pop' Stazak
    Marshall Thompson
    Marshall Thompson
    • Jim Layton
    Jerome Courtland
    Jerome Courtland
    • Abner Spudler
    Don Taylor
    Don Taylor
    • Standiferd
    Bruce Cowling
    Bruce Cowling
    • Wolowicz
    James Whitmore
    James Whitmore
    • Kinnie
    Douglas Fowley
    Douglas Fowley
    • 'Kipp' Kippton
    Leon Ames
    Leon Ames
    • The Chaplain
    Herbert Anderson
    Herbert Anderson
    • Hansan
    • (as Guy Anderson)
    Thomas E. Breen
    • Doc
    Denise Darcel
    Denise Darcel
    • Denise
    Richard Jaeckel
    Richard Jaeckel
    • Bettis
    James Arness
    James Arness
    • Garby
    • (as Jim Arness)
    Scotty Beckett
    Scotty Beckett
    • William J. Hooper
    Brett King
    Brett King
    • Lt. Teiss
      • William A. Wellman
      • Robert Pirosh(story and screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    4.2
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      James Arness (Garby) served in World War II and is the most decorated of the actors in the film. He received the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze campaign stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge for his service.
    • Goofs
      Near the end of the film, when the C-47s are paradropping supplies to the soldiers, one of the stock footage pieces is of paratroopers jumping from planes, not supplies being dropped.
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Holley: [as they begin marching from the battlefield, passing their replacements as they enter] Hey, Kinnie - what ever happened to Jody?

      Sgt. Kinnie: All right, come on! Come on! What do you want these guys to think, you're a bunch of WACs? Alright, alright pick it up now. Hut, two, three. Hut, two, three, four. Hut, two, three, four. You had a good home but you left...

      I Company: You're right!

      Sgt. Kinnie: You had a good home but you left...

      I Company: You're right!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Jody was there when you left...

      I Company: You're right!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Your Baby was there when you left...

      I Company: You're right!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: One, two

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: Three, four.

      Sgt. Kinnie: Cadence Count

      I Company: One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Your baby was lonely - as lonely as could be...

      I Company: 'Til Jody provided company!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Ain't it great to have a pal...

      I Company: Who works so hard to keep up morale!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: One, two

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: Three, four.

      Sgt. Kinnie: Cadence Count

      I Company: One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four!

      Sgt. Kinnie: You ain't got nothing to worry about...

      I Company: He'll keep her happy till I get out!

      Sgt. Kinnie: But you won't get home 'til the end of the war...

      I Company: In nineteen hundred and seventy-four!

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: One, two.

      Sgt. Kinnie: Sound off!

      I Company: Three, four...

    • Alternate versions
      Also available in a computer colorized version.
    • Connections
      Featured in Kisses (1991)
    • Soundtracks
      Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
      (uncredited)

      Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

      Sung by the soldiers

    User reviews95

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    The Battered Bastards Of Bastogne.
    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 Division), 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
    helpful•9
    0
    • hitchcockthelegend
    • Mar 10, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 20, 1950 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
      • French
      • German
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Fort Lewis, Washington, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 58 minutes
      • Black and White

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