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| Battle of the Bulge | 
 enlarge | Director: Ken Annakin
Actors: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $4.12
You Save: $10.86 (72%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  (138 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2511
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 167 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD11086D
ISBN: 0790765241
UPC: 085391108627
EAN: 9780790765242
ASIN: B0007TKNGA
Release Date: May 3, 2005
Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 1965
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Description
Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign. Year: 1965
Amazon.com
The German offensive in December 1944 became the basis for this all-star Hollywood take on the Battle of the Bulge. Henry Fonda is an officer who predicts the assault, Robert Ryan and Dana Andrews are Army brass skeptical of his intuitions, and Robert Shaw (his hair dyed yellow and his eyes glinting with malice) is a German officer leading the tank attack. Shaw is certainly the most compelling thing about the film, especially in his philosophical debates with ambivalent underling Hans Christian Blech. Elsewhere, the movie jumps around to sidebar stories (cowardly James MacArthur becomes a leader, wheeler-dealer Telly Savalas falls in love) while messing around with the historical facts of the battle. There are interesting episodes, such as the Malmedy massacre of American POWs and the Germans' use of English-speaking spies, but overall Battle of the Bulge has the feeling of having been patched together from different scripts. On the physical level the movie comes up short, with the Spanish locations rarely suggesting the wintry misery of the battle, and the use of models and studio sets highly inadequate. A number of war films from this era are compelling on their own terms, but in the wake of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, this one looks antique. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 133 more reviews...
 Oh So Bad! November 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well as a former US Army Tanker, I am writing this from that view. I had the privilege of serving with good soldiers, who on one occassion watched this movie together, as a company. The critisicm never ended.
I do like the actors in this movie, but the background, tactics and overall unit organizations shown in this picture, were pitiful. I can understand the equipment that had to be used to film this picture, but the dialogue could of been much more based on military reality. I feel that all the sides protrayed in this picture were not done proper justice. They were protrayed as a bunch of amatuers, fighting a war, like hollywood amatuers playing at war. This picture was put together like a bunch of pix up stix, that were put up half way and forgotten.
 Battle Of The Bulge, Blu Ray - The entire movie is fogged November 6, 2008
There had been others commenting on the "fogged picture". I believe the whole movie is fogged, may be due to light leaking on the camera during filming. Go to the "train in tunnel scene" on time line 1:37 and you can see clearly what seem like fogging on both side of the picture, more so on the left side. The amount of fogging that you see depends on the scene at the time. Scenes with high contrase or brightness tend to hide the fogging.
I also have the 2005 dvd version of the Bulge and it has the same fogging problem. I believe the problem is with the original master. So is there a good copy of the Bulge where a good Blu Ray can be produced? If not, can present computer technology clean up the fogging?
I enjoy the movie and the Blu Ray clearity. I am giving a 5 star rating for that. The 3 star is because of the fogging.
Relentlessly Idiotic 60's War Movie November 3, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Let's get this out of the way, first. The movie has nothing to do with the Battle of the Bulge (the Ardennes Offensive) of December 16, 1944. It is one of a whole string of truly dismal action films set in World War Two that were churned out by the American film industry in the 1960's. In 1965, a Hollywood movie company hired some "name" actors, wrote a script suitable for a comic book, and rented the Spanish Army's M47 Patton tanks (the "King Tigers" of the script), and M24 Chaffees (standing in for the larger but unavailable Sherman tanks).
Real soldiers will either laugh or cry when they see this. The final battle scene where the plucky Americans defeat the German heavy tanks by rolling barrels of gasoline down a hill at them is unintentionally hilarious, as is the scene where Telly Savalas' tank has its turret blown apart, leaving Telly sitting there in in the open in his commander's seat without a scratch on him. And despite the fact that the battle is supposed to take place in a Belgian forest in midwinter, the final confrontation takes place in a desert for some reason (presumably a Spanish Army training facility).
If you just want to gawk at Eisenhower-era tanks tearing up the landscape, this movie is mindless fun. But if you really want to see an honest depiction of the Battle of the Bulge, there are far better films, most recently the "Band of Brothers" miniseries.
 battle of the bulge October 24, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Outstanding product.
Sent it to my brother-in-law in the Netherlands who had just visited the Bastogne area. He was unable to buy the movie in Europe
A fun movie to watch, despite the many inaccuracies October 16, 2008
Among the best WWII-themed movies of the 1960's are 'Battle Of Britain', 'The Dirty Dozen', and this particular flick 'Battle of the Bulge'. Chock-full of big Hollywood names at the time, such as Henry Fonda, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, and Robert Shaw, this film is big on action if you love watching tank duels. Unfortunately the film suffers from historic inaccuracies, among them the lack of harsh winter weather conditions, and color scheme of AFV's (not to mention that the German 'Tigers' aren't really Tigers).
Memorable moments include the storming of the German command bunker by the men participating in 'Operation Greif', the tank crews under Hessler's command doing the 'Panzer Stomp' before going into battle, and the antics of Savales and his crew.
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