Is "Band of Brothers" The Best War-Movie DVD Package Ever?

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

Well, Les, my two favorite war movies are the 5-hour version of "Das Boot" and "Band of Brothers". I honestly can't pick my favorite between the two. Why? Because they are about the men, and about the fact that much of the time, the guys were fighting boredom and the everyday humdrum of war. In the humdrum, you get to know the guys, and I think this is fine. This is is definitely the antidote and dose of real life that you do NOT get in an abstract wargame like SPWaW ( even though it DOES have its share of boredom on occassion).

You cannot deny that the glory and non-stop action of sensationalistic books and movies don't portray the real-life experience as well as these two miniseries do.

Now, strictly speaking, the "BoB" packaging is much superior to "Das Boot" uncut. Nevertheless, if you wanna "get real", at least as well as a dramatic recreation can do, then these are it.

Holy Cow! A FIVE HOUR version of Das Boot? I thought it was a great movie as it was. Is the 5 hour version available anywhere? Nobody else in my house would sit through five hours of it, but I would if it's good.

Chris, "Das Boot: The Original Uncut Version", should be available at retail outlets like Circuit City. It is two DVDs, and it is the entire TV miniseries as broadcast in Germany. There's a couple of other threads about this on the forum. In this version, Werner (the
correspodent) does a voiceover narration.

[freeboy]

Piece of cake? is that in response to my ?

[KG Erwin]

Two more items about "Band of Brothers". I greatly admire two men featured in this series. One is Richard Winters, played by Damian Lewis. This man is soft-spoken but with a commanding presence that denotes an inner strength. The interviews with the real Richard Winters demonstrate this. A master of analyzing tactical situations quickly, his men believed in him and trusted that he would make the right decisions. He didn't glorify in war--he hated it, but these things had to be done, so he did them. A drive is underway to get the Medal of Honor awarded to him for the action at Brecourt Manor, which is recreated in "Day of Days".

The same sort of spirit exemplifies West Virginia-born Carwood Lipton, played by Donnie Wahlberg. As First Sergeant, he looks out for everyone, makes sure everyone is where they are supposed to be, and also displays an inward courage that doesn't require histrionics and flag-waving. The First Sergeants are the glue that keeps the unit from losing cohesion. This is the type of patriotism and workman-like "get the job done" attitude that I truly admire. The real life Sgt Lipton is also interviewed in this series. He was very ill at the time, but participated out of respect for his comrades. He passed away not long after these interviews were done. [:(]

[New York Jets]

ORIGINAL: Mark Carver

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog

I'd actually have to wonder what other war movie DVD pack it has to compete against?

The Kelly's Heroes DVD Pack? The Battle of the Bulge DVD Pack?

Even the Saving Private Ryan DVD pack? The field really is pretty small.

FWIW...

The Battle of the Bulge has yet to make it to DVD... at least the Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan movie version.

Good. It's the 2nd or 3rd worst war movie ever made. Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck is the all time worst war movie ever made.

[riverbravo]

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog
]

Good. It's the 2nd or 3rd worst war movie ever made. Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck is the all time worst war movie ever made.

Windtalkers with Nicholas Cage gets my vote as all time worst.

BoB is a great addition to any warheads collection.

I wish the Bastogne episode focused on a bit more action than focusing on Eugene Roe (medic).Well, more like mixed feelings on this one.I do like the fact they give great credit to the brave medics.But it is the battle of the bulge so I feel more than two episodes were in order for that one.

My favorite is the 'breaking point' episode and the assault on the town of Foy.

I also like the way they portrayed Lt/Cpt Spears.If you notice in episode 2 that he is hovering around the map at the CP before the brecourt assault.Then he 'pops up' with extra ammo...."command said you mite need some ammo,do you mind if Dog Company takes a shot at the last gun?"....lol...The in 'the breaking point' he charges down the hill to relieve Lt. Dykes and rally the assault on in.When the dreaded 88 fires and Spears come charging/leaping through the blast is just wicked and gives you feeling of courage and power.Although its probably BS to be that close to an exploding 88 round but still,the effect is cool.

I think everyone who watches or buys it will get something out of it.There is a strong sense of 'brotherhood' in it without the 'brothers' not wanting to get to attached to replacements...etc etc.

The package it comes in is pretty kewl.Its a metal, dog tag looking box.But the replay value is great with 10 episodes there is something for everyone in this epic mini-series!!

[Sarge]

NUTS



Its about as good as you can expect a warfilm from Hollyweird.
But I will say the documentary/interview disc was a nice addition.

[freeboy]

BOB related Lt Foy was not Killed per the Book, really was promotted by wars end! WPWA
.. West point Weiner Asso.! at its finest.. no offence to the better parts of west point..
pretty amazing!

and my vote for worst modern war movie, excluding everthing from OLiver "Stoned"..
lol is "Thin Red Line"

[Cmdrcain]

For those with "money tight" at least in my area in USA, going to a library is worth it, mine locally has a good collection of VHS and DVD's for loan, including the BoB collection and more.


[:D] Just took out 5 DVD's including From here to Eternity, Ben-Hur, etc

[Danny Boy]

Good. It's the 2nd or 3rd worst war movie ever made. Pearl Harbor with Ben Affleck is the all time worst war movie ever made.

At least Pearl Harbor tried to use realistic weapons and equipment....unfortunately the same cannot be said of Battle of the Bulge!

BoB is a very worthy addition to anyone's collection, however I still can't get over Damien Lewis being cast in the lead role...unless this was a proviso from the BBC...he's a Brit after all?! I can understand some of the lesser characters, but the lead?

Anyhow, The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far should also be given due consideration as being 'good' in the genre (Cornelius Ryan's books were probably v. hard to adapt by virtue of the sheer scale...but not bad attempts) and 'bad' in the genre would be Battle of the Bulge and Raid on Rommel....which, if I remember correctly even uses snippets of another film pasted in...Tobruk! I think?

Cheers!

[riverbravo]

ORIGINAL: Danny Boy
BoB is a very worthy addition to anyone's collection, however I still can't get over Damien Lewis being cast in the lead role...unless this was a proviso from the BBC...he's a Brit after all?! I can understand some of the lesser characters, but the lead?

I think they wanted the actors to look like the soldiers they were supposed to be.

I thought Damien Lewis did a good job!

[freeboy]

re Damien Lewis.. ditto gtreat performance

[KG Erwin]

I agree that Damien Lewis did an excellent job in portraying Richard Winters--the man was not demonstrative or brash, and seldom lost his cool. His reserve could perhaps only be played by a British actor with an ability to mimic a generic midwest American accent.

[Zeta16]

At least Pearl Harbor tried to use realistic weapons and equipment....unfortunately the same cannot be said of Battle of the Bulge!

Come one in Pearl harbor they keep showing shots of present day ships in the Harbor and they showed angled decked Aircraft carriers.

[Hexed Gamer]

Anyone saying ANYthing remotely favourable about that film Pearl Harbour, can just leave their credibility in the round file, as they won't have any further use for it.

Battle of the Bulge was admittedly a bad film for props, but they were indeed real tanks.

Pearl Harbour was made in an era when CGI is the rule, not the exception for starters.
Thus, getting a few neat visual scenes is well precisely a no brainer.

The film was nothing but a shitty melding of a lame excuse love story attached to some cheesy action scenes.

Hollywood turned a few bucks off of some dead sailors, instead of attempting something noble.

Pearl Harbour is a fine example of why I often download or copy a film rather than put any money in any hands of the undeserving.

They might have done so much, they might have offered us a suped up form of Tora Tora Tora, but they chose to just make garbage and take your money.

[The Gnome]

As a war movie fan, this is one of my absolute favorites. As a DVD/Home Theater fan I was left a little disappointed. Although the artistic work of BoB is terrific, the DVD's fall short. These are what would have made it the definitive DVD:

- Director/Actor commentary - it would have even been really nice to have some of the actual Easy Company people doing commentary
- Deleted Scenes - stuff that didn't make it out of the editing room. Maybe even have them re-editted into the features a la the extended versions of Lord of the Rings
- More about the actual men portrayed in the series. I felt the same about the book too, it just didn't spend enough time in one place or with one person..
- The featurettes and Livingston's diary were nice, but the 'Making of...' was broadcast on HBO and was kind of a throw in.


Don't get me wrong this is a fantastic set, but it didn't over take either the Godfather or the LoTR extended sets as far as a complete package - speaking as a DVD-phile.