Band of Brothers 

The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord, through V-J Day.

Stars:

Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston

Top Rated TV #3 | Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 33 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

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

airborne troops | american abroad | u.s. soldier | american soldier | 20th century | 

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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 Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Dutch French German Lithuanian

Release Date:

9 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Band of Brothers

Filming Locations:

Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, DreamWorks Television, HBO Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

594 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The episode where the soldiers enter Eindhoven and are greeted by the Dutch resistance, they were asked to talk "broken" English. This because the director thought the Dutch actors spoke too perfect English.

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Goofs

In "Currahee", Robert Strayer is (correctly) wearing the rank insignia of a major when Easy Company is celebrating its paratrooper qualification. Strayer was promoted to lieutenant colonel in January or February of 1943, and Winters refers to him as such during his explanation to Sobel about the latrine inspection incident. On D-Day (in episode 2) just prior to the attack on the 105mm guns at Brecourt Manor, Winters and another officer refer to Strayer as a major. He had been an LTC long enough (16 or 17 months) to rule out a slip of the tongue, especially by two different officers.

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Quotes

Cpt. Nixon: What do you think about New Jersey?
Richard Winters: New Jersey?
Cpt. Nixon: There's a company in Nixon, New Jersey. It's called Nixon Nitration Works.
Richard Winters: Sounds picturesque.
Cpt. Nixon: Yeah, well, oddly enough, I know the owners. Probably gonna expect me to make something of myself. I thought maybe I'd drag you along with me.
Richard Winters: Are you offering me a job?
Cpt. Nixon: We'll see how you do on your interview, but, you know, a man of your qualifications... I think probably scrape something up commensurate with your current salary level.

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Alternate Versions

All episodes except the third were rated "Not under 16" in Germany. For commercial reasons (films with a rating higher than "Not under 16" are restricted in distribution and may not be sold online) the third episode, which was rated "Not under 18", was edited for violence. The uncut DVD is available separately in video stores in a red snapper case.

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Connections

References A Bridge Too Far (1977)

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Soundtracks

Band Of Brothers (Suite One)
(uncredited)
Composed by Michael Kamen
Performed by The London Metropolitan Orchestra

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.