Every time I see Battleground, I find more reasons to appreciate it.

[slaytonf]

And I wasn't even paying close attention to it this time.  Yet I caught the squeaking of the snow under the soldier's boots, the realistic sound of the rifle fire, the forest's effect of flattening the tone of their voices, the shrouded anonymous figure scrounging the garbage cans, Holley's horror watching Denise cutting toward her br-- um, body while slicing bread, and the priceless shot of the GI picking up German leaflets before he walks off into the trees. . . .

 

Sure it has it's gung-ho aspects, but what's wrong with that?  It's a deeply textured portrayal of soldiers and their conditions in the most desperate time of the Allied advance on Germany.

[Dargo]

And I wasn't even paying close attention to it this time.  Yet I caught the squeaking of the snow under the soldier's boots, the realistic sound of the rifle fire, the forest's effect of flattening the tone of their voices, the shrouded anonymous figure scrounging the garbage cans, Holley's horror watching Denise cutting toward her br-- um, body while slicing bread, and the priceless shot of the GI picking up German leaflets before he walks off into the trees. . . .

 

Sure it has it's gung-ho aspects, but what's wrong with that?  It's a deeply textured portrayal of soldiers and their conditions in the most desperate time of the Allied advance on Germany.

 

Absolutely, slayton. Well said!

 

And ya know ANOTHER little aspect that makes this such a superior war film, and a genre which of course also always touches upon the subject of "death"?

 

Uh-huh, as I sure you know, there's a lot of LEVITY expressed within this film TOO, now isn't there!

 

(...funny ain't it, or maybe better said, INTERESTING how that kind'a thing will often make some movies-and occasionally some forum threads-"come to life" a little more, ain't it!)

,  

[scsu1975]

Absolutely, slayton. Well said!

 

And ya know ANOTHER little aspect that makes this such a superior war film, and a genre which of course also always touches upon the subject of "death"?

 

Uh-huh, as I sure you know, there's a lot of LEVITY expressed within this film TOO, now isn't there!

 

(...funny ain't it, or maybe better said. INTERESTING how that kind'a thing will often make some movies-and occasionally some forum threads-"come to life" a little more, ain't it!)

,  

I also like the fact that people from all walks of life come together to defeat a common enemy.

[slaytonf]

I also like the fact that people from all walks of life come together to defeat a common enemy.

 

That was a strong theme in wartime, and early post-wartime movies.  World War II, that is.  In almost every war move, especially the ones that spent time with the regular guys, you get your Anglo-Americans, your Irish-Americans, your Italian-Americans, your Jewish-Americans. . . .in short, the all ethnic and religious populations that the social-propagandists wanted to unite, however temporarily, and however insincerely, for the war effort.

[Dargo]

Btw slayton, bein' a native Angeleno, one of the characters in this film who I immediately identified with the very first time I watched this movie years ago was the one played by Ricardo Montalban, and who playing the native of Los Angeles in this film found the snow falling during The Battle of The Bulge so enchanting and novel, and to the amazement of all the others in his squad who merely found it a pain in the you-know-what.

 

(...and something which of course would ironically lead to his sad end)

[slaytonf]

Btw slayton, bein' a native Angeleno, one of the characters in this film who I immediately identified with the very first time I watched this movie years ago as the one played by Ricardo Montalban, and who playing the native of Los Angeles in this film found the snow falling during The Battle of The Bulge so enchanting and novel, and to the amazement of all the others in his squad.

 

(...and something which of course would ironically lead to his sad end)

 

And being a native Angelino myself, and having experience living in snow-prone regions (insert shudder here--both temperature and psychologically induced), I know he would find it enchanting and novel for precisely one week, after which he would look on going out in it with loathing.

[Dargo]

And being a native Angelino myself, and having experience living in snow-prone regions (insert shudder here--both temperature and psychologically induced), I know he would find it enchanting and novel for precisely one week, after which he would look on going out in it with loathing.

 

Ever tell ya about all those times Northwest Airlines would send this ol' L.A. boy to the frozen tundra location of their headquarters in Minneapolis Minnesota during January of each and every year for updated security training seminars???

 

(...oh, I HAVE?...then never mind)

 

[slaytonf]

Ever tell ya about all those times Northwest Airlines would send this ol' L.A. boy to the frozen tundra location of their headquarters in Minneapolis Minnesota during January of each and every year for updated security training seminars???

 

(...oh, I HAVE?...then never mind)

 

 

Well, no, but let's pretend you did.  I never went to regions that infernally cold, but I got cold enough.

[Bogie56]

Might be interesting to follow Battleground with White Christmas one of these days.

[TheGayDivorcee]

I also like the fact that people from all walks of life come together to defeat a common enemy.

Yes, and the hope that good shall eventually prevail.

[scsu1975]

Yes, and the hope that good shall eventually prevail.

Good always prevails. Sometimes it just takes awhile.

[HelenBaby2]

Ever tell ya about all those times Northwest Airlines would send this ol' L.A. boy to the frozen tundra location of their headquarters in Minneapolis Minnesota during January of each and every year for updated security training seminars???

 

(...oh, I HAVE?...then never mind)

 

My brother, who lived in Arkansas, had to go there for six weeks in Feb. & March for some training. He hated it. I'm convinced it's a plot to keep business going in the dead of winter.

[FredCDobbs]

I figure most of the snow is some kind of plastic material, but I noiced that when the snowflakes hit the tops and sides of the helmets, it melted and turned into water droplets. So that was some kind of shaved ice designed to fall like snow, and it did indeed melt.

[Sepiatone]

And I wasn't even paying close attention to it this time.  Yet I caught the squeaking of the snow under the soldier's boots, the realistic sound of the rifle fire, the forest's effect of flattening the tone of their voices, the shrouded anonymous figure scrounging the garbage cans, Holley's horror watching Denise cutting toward her br-- um, body while slicing bread, and the priceless shot of the GI picking up German leaflets before he walks off into the trees. . . .

 

Sure it has it's gung-ho aspects, but what's wrong with that?  It's a deeply textured portrayal of soldiers and their conditions in the most desperate time of the Allied advance on Germany.

Y'know, I was wondering if that was the movie with the "bread slicing" scene in ti!  Always liked it!

 

 

Sepiatone

[jakeem]

I also like the fact that people from all walks of life come together to defeat a common enemy.

 

I wouldn't say all. The U,S. military was thoroughly segregated then.

[Movie Collector OH]

I was just talking about Battleground with a friend of mine who has a new interest in WWII movies (thanks to yours truly).  I think I am kind of in the mood to watch it again tonight.