Battle of the Bulge (1965)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writers:

Philip Yordan (written by) &
Milton Sperling (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

War | Action | Drama

Tagline:

Unlike anything you've ever seen before

Plot:

In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent this occurrence...

Plot Keywords:

Tank | Fuel Depot | Battle Of The Bulge | Last Chance | Tank Battle

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes.

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 22

3:15 AM

AMC

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Lt. Col. Kiley
Robert Shaw	...	Col. Hessler
Robert Ryan	...	Gen. Grey
Dana Andrews	...	Col. Pritchard
George Montgomery	...	Sgt. Duquesne
Ty Hardin	...	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
Robert Woods	...	Joe (Kiley's pilot)
Charles Stalmaker	...	Maj. Burke (as Charles Stalnaker)
David Thomson
Sebastian Cavalieri
Raoul Perez
Jack Gaskins
Janet Brandt	...	Mother Superior
Max Slaten
Carl Rapp	...	American MP Lieutenant
Axel Anderson
Bud Strait
Donald Pickering
Ben Tatar
Peter Herendeen
Richard Ziedman		(as Richard Zeidman)
Paul Eslheman		(as Paul Eshelman)
John Schereschewsky
Victor Brandt
Richard Baxter
William Boone
John Clark
Ward Maule
Paul Polansky
Freddie Toehl
Leland Wyler
Quinn Donoghue	...	Nun #2
John Friess
Reginald Gillam
Peter Grzcegorczyk
Richard Laver
Harry Van Der Linden
Derek Robertson
Martin Rolin
Robert Royal
Russ Stoddard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Conrad	...	Narrator (uncredited)

Directed by
Ken Annakin

Writing credits
Philip Yordan		(written by) &
Milton Sperling		(written by) &
John Melson		(written by)

Produced by
Sidney Harmon	....	executive producer
Milton Sperling	....	producer
Philip Yordan	....	producer
Dino De Laurentiis	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Benjamin Frankel

Cinematography by
Jack Hildyard		(director of photography)

Art Direction by
Eugène Lourié		(as Eugene Lourie)

Costume Design by
Laure Lourie		(as Laure DeZarate)

Makeup Department
Trevor Crole-Rees	....	makeup artist
José María Sánchez	....	makeup artist (as Jose Maria Sanchez)

Production Management
Leon Chooluck	....	unit manager
Juan Estelrich	....	unit manager
Bernard Glasser	....	production supervisor
Miguel Pérez Marián	....	unit manager (as Miguel Perez)
Tíbor Reves	....	production manager (as Tibor Reves)
Gregorio Sacristán	....	production manager (as Gregorio Sacristan)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luis García	....	assistant director (as Luis Garcia)
José López Rodero	....	assistant director (as Jose Lopez Rodero)
Martín Sacristán	....	assistant director (as Martin Sacristan)

Sound Department
Kurt Hernfeld	....	sound editor (as Kurt Herrnfeld)
David Hildyard	....	sound recordist
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound recordist (as Gordon McCallum)
Otto Snel	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Alban Streeter	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Charles-Henri Assola	....	miniature construction (as Henri Assola)
Basilio Cortijo	....	special effectsman
Richard Parker	....	special effectsman
Alex Weldon	....	chief of special effects
Kit West	....	special effectsman

Stunts
Ken Buckle	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Cooper	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ronald Anscombe	....	assistant camera
John Cabrera	....	camera operator: second unit
Dudley Lovell	....	camera operator
Jack Willoughby	....	aerial photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Simminger	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Derek Parsons	....	supervising editor
Lester A. Sansom	....	post-production executive

Music Department
Benjamin Frankel	....	conductor

Other crew
Janet Brandt	....	dialogue coach
Louis Brandt	....	production coordinator (as Lou Brandt)
Colonel Sherman Joffe	....	military advisor (as Lt. Col. Sherman Joffe)
Joy Mercer	....	script supervisor
Luis Martín Pozuelo	....	military advisor (as Lt. Col. Luis Martin DePozuelo)
Meinrad von Lauchert	....	military advisor (as Maj. Gen. 'a.D.' Meinrad Von Lauchert)
Marie Wachsman	....	script supervisor
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
Major Edward King	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cinerama Productions Corp.
• United States Pictures
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner-Pathé Distributors (1965) (UK) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1966) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1971) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (1986) (UK) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Bros. (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• New Philharmonia Orchestra of London  orchestra

Runtime:

167 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | USA:Approved (Certificate #20947) | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | New Zealand:PG | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Cinerama Productions Corp.

Trivia:

The version of the film released on DVD contains approximately 1196 shots in 9397 seconds of action. This equates to an average shot length of about 7.9 seconds.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: There are no mountains in the Ardennes as seen in the movie.

Quotes:

Col. Martin Hessler: Our column has made the farthest advance! We have outrun the other Panzers! The eyes of Germany are on us! The Fuhrer himself will decorate me. We have done it Conrad! We have done it!
Cpl. Conrad: Then I was wrong. We have won the war.
Col. Martin Hessler: No.
Cpl. Conrad: You mean we have lost?
Col. Martin Hessler: No.
Cpl. Conrad: I don't understand. If we have not won, and we have not lost, than what is happening?
Col. Martin Hessler: The best thing possible is happening - the war will go on.
Cpl. Conrad: For how long?
Col. Martin Hessler: Indefinitely. On, and on, and on!
Cpl. Conrad: But it must come to an end.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Charlie Rose Show: Quentin Tarantino 2003" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Panzerlied

An Unsightly Bulge

After 20th Century Fox had put out The Longest Day to such critical and popular success, you might have thought that Warner Brothers would have learned and copied that formula. They even hired Ken Annakin who was one of the directors for The Longest Day.

But if you are looking for the names of Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Hodges, and Montgomery on the Allied side and Von Rundstedt and Model among the Germans you will be disappointed. All the names of the principals are changed. Folks like Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, and Dana Andrews are playing fictionalized characters.

A couple of things are brought in mainly because they are part of the legend of the Bulge, the Malmedy Massacre and the famous reply of General McAuliffe to the German inquiry about surrendering the besieged town of Bastogne. In fact the latter is just dropped into the story without any of the principal players involved. I guess the producers had a thought that no film about the Bulge would be accepted without it, no matter how forced.

It would have been nice if a straight dramatic narrative approach had been used like The Longest Day. With of course the names of the real people. Part of the Bulge story was told in MGM's Battleground and in Patton.

In this film the best performances are that of Robert Shaw as the fanatical Nazi Panzer commander and his war weary aide Hans Christian Blech. Honorable mention should also go to George Montgomery as a tough American sergeant and his lieutenant James MacArthur who grows in stature thanks to Montgomery's example.

For a film that is more than two and a half hours in length, I'd have liked to have seen the real deal though.