Battle of the Bulge (1965)

A dramatization of Nazi Germany's final Western Front counterattack of World War II.

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Philip Yordan, Milton Sperling

Stars:

Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Henry Fonda	...	Lt. Col. Dan Kiley
Robert Shaw	...	Col. Hessler
Robert Ryan	...	Gen. Grey
Dana Andrews	...	Col. Pritchard
George Montgomery	...	Sgt. Duquesne
Ty Hardin	...	Lt. Schumacher
Pier Angeli	...	Louise
Barbara Werle	...	Elena
Charles Bronson	...	Wolenski
Hans Christian Blech	...	Conrad
Werner Peters	...	Gen. Kohler
James MacArthur	...	Lt. Weaver
Karl-Otto Alberty	...	Von Diepel (as Karl Otto Alberty)
Telly Savalas	...	Sgt. Guffy
Steve Rowland	...	Eddy

Storyline

In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent this occurrence, Hitler orders an all out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp. "The Battle of the Bulge" shows this conflict from the perspective of an American intelligence officer as well as from a German Panzer Commander.

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Plot Keywords:

battle of the bulge | world war two in belgium | cold weather | wehrmacht | panzer | 

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Taglines:

The last desperate fight that changed the course of history.

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

19 January 1966 (France)

Also Known As:

Battle of the Bulge

Filming Locations:

Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

United States Pictures, Cinerama Productions Corp.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the Germans are played by real Germans with the one exception of Robert Shaw.

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Goofs

When the last vehicles get over the bridge (moments before the cover of the German soldiers gets blown), the shadow of a camera can be seen on the side of the last truck as it passes by.

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Quotes

Joe: If we were a hundred feet higher, I'd jump and leave you here.

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Alternate Versions

The Warner Brothers DVD released on 3 May 2005, restores all of the missing scenes as well as a fifth scene featuring James MacArthur and George Montgomery. The disc runs only a few seconds short of 170 minutes. The film is also presented in the correct 2.75:1 aspect ratio, not the 2.20:1 ratio which TV and Laserdisc versions were framed at.

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Connections

Referenced in Age of Consent (1969)

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Soundtracks

Der Panzerlied
(uncredited)
Written by Kurt Wiehle

User Reviews

a lot of reorganizing history but still compelling war movie

It's December 1944. The Allies troops are confident to finish the war quickly. The Germans plan a major offensive to retake Antwerp. Former cop Lt. Col. Kiley (Henry Fonda) tries to warn his superiors about an imminent attack against the thin worn American lines but Gen. Grey and Col. Pritchard dismiss his concerns. Sgt. Guffy (Telly Savalas) is a tank commander who is more concerned with wheeling and dealing. Maj. Wolenski (Charles Bronson) commands a frontline position.

The start is mostly Henry Fonda investigating the planned attack with a good side story of German Col. Hessler being put in command of the Tiger tanks. The tanks are obviously wrong but I understand the difficulties. There are a lot of rewriting of history in this movie. Henry Fonda being at every important place gets way too coincidental. Essentially, a massive battle in the war is boiled down to an one-man crusade. The fuel depot fight looks silly compared to the other parts of the movie. Nevertheless this is a compelling old-fashion big-action war movie. The tank battles looks pretty good.