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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 1362
Released: May 3, 2005 |
| Our Price: $4.22 |
| Used Price: $3.80 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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
Description of Battle of the Bulge:
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
Battle of the Bulge Reviews:
Battle of the Bulge Blu Ray 
2009-10-09 - This edition of the movie on Blu-Ray is everything I hoped it would be. It appears to have the full width of the original and the colors are vivid, from the red lapels on the general's overcoat to Robert Shaw's piercing blue eyes. I was surprised at the clarity of the picture for such an old movie. The only problem with that clarity is that the rear- projection shots look really fake ! And I noticed that you can see the multiple studio light reflections in Sgt. Guffy's tank helmet in some scenes. I would strongly recommend this version. Regarding the use of non-authentic armor, ( M-47 and M-24's)the film was shot in Spain and the filmakers use armor currently in the inventory of the host country. The best job I've seen with Tigers was Kelly's Heroes, where they used T-34's mocked up quite convincingly to be Tigers.
Surprisingly good quality Blu-ray edition. The movie itself, not perfect but a big-budget classic 
2009-09-27 - Two of the four stars are credited to the Blu-ray edition. For a movie this old, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and the surprisingly bright and crisp picture, especially on the outdoors scenes should make it an almost mandatory upgrade from the DVD edition.
As for the movie itself... yes we all know that the Battle of the Bulge did in fact take place and that the Germans bet on the bad weather making the US air support near impossible. In fact, they premised their battle plan on bad weather. Strangely, the movie treats us with nearly 2.5 hours of mostly outdoor scenes done under mostly bright, crystal-blue skies after the German general explains that their surprised offensive was made possible by a couple of days of very bad weather. And it's not a low-budget movie, in fact, it was one of the more expensive war movies made in the 60's.
From an acting standpoint, more than Henry Fonda, Telly Savalas or Charles Bronson, this is Robert Shaw's performance. He is believable and, possibly to the chagrin of the producers, he comes pretty close to make the German colonel a rather sympathetic character. All the other first tier actors do a good job but Shaw eclipses them all as the square jawed, intransigent, unforgiving but strangely fascinating German warrior.
For extra features, the Blu edition comes with a contemporary trailer and 2 contemporary featurettes, one of the history of the Battle of the Bulge and the other on the filming of the movie, all three in 'low res'. The bombastic, wide screen, color trailer and the two black and white, 'narrow screen' featurettes I found actually interesting as time capsules of the 60's ways of promoting a 'super-production' of this 'never-seen-before' caliber. For this, the Battle of the Bulge is a keeper.
More Anti-Nazi Crap From Hollywood 
2009-09-26 - This movie is no Schindler's List. The characters were laughable (Henry Fonda states at one point that the Germans had better watch out because now He is angry; Robert Shaw is an SS man with a thick Irish accent). But the most laughable section were the tank battles: the real Battle of the Bulge took place in the Ardennes, a heavily forested, mountainous region in Belgium; the film was shot in the flat Arizona desert).
Henry- One Of The Greats!
2009-08-23 -
I remember seeing this movie at a drive-in theater with my husband, and we have been married for 45 years. (My husband likes to tell people that he has been happily married for 45 years, and "my wife says she has had 36 pretty good years, too." Henry Fonda and John Wayne were the best there was, and they really DON'T make them like they used to. I am glad to say that my kids and my grandkids all have enjoyed these "oldies but goodies."
Inaccurate historically but highly entertaining
2009-08-04 - I originally saw this film in 1973 on a black and white television set, and was immediately impressed by its spectular battle scenes, which, after all these years, are still amongst the best ever made, even though they were filmed without the aid of computers, unlike those of today's movies. While the Battle of the Bulge is inauthentic by reenacting a real military campaign with fictional characters and contrived scenes (for example, in truth the German offensive was not halted by the death of their commander and some of his tank crew members in a failed attempt to capture an American fuel dump), it is very enjoyable for those who like Word War II action, or action in general, especially now, in a digitial format.
