Battleground! (1949)

Arguably one of the best war movies to come out of Hollywood. It is the story of the 101st Airborne's 327th Glider Infantry Regiment fighting in Belgium during the German push at the Battle of the Bulge. Item Co. is in France waiting on their ride to Paris when Kinney enters and tells them they are on their way to the front. They are unknowingly sent to Bastogne or as Abner Spudler calls it Bas-stog-nee. Many people think this is William Wellman's war story but the fact is it belongs to writer Robert Pirosh and is the partial history of the 320th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division units he supported when he went into Bastogne.



Ian MacDonald - The Colonel


Leon Ames (L) - Chaplain & Brett King (R) - Lt. Teiss

Attention to Detail
One thing about this movie is that it was filmed in Hollywood and at Fort Lewis Washington. Many of the character actors were trained by the paratroopers from the 101st and other army units. An interesting note is that the M4A3E8 Shermans used in the ending sequence were late model heavy Shermans with the upgraded armor package.

In the early 40's star Van Johnson was in a car accident that almost took his life. One of his surgeories required a steel plate be placed in his forehead. In almost all of his movies the scar is covered by makeup BUT in making harsher more violent films his scar is not covered and in several sequences in Battleground his scar is very prominent.

Stars
Van Johnson, James Whitmore, Marshall Thompson, John Hodiak, Richard Jaeckel, Herbert Anderson, Ricardo Montalban, and Denise Darcel

Famous Line
Holley: Yeah, they really shoulda sent out a bigger patrol.
PFC. Johnny Rodriguez: Do you want to goof off?
Holley: Who said anything about goofing off?
PFC. Johnny Rodriguez: Nobody. I'm just saying, the best way is to tell them you heard voices talking in German.
PFC. Donald Jarvess: Let's say we heard voices talking in Japanese and let G-2 figure that out.

Also Watch
The Longest Day
Band of Brothers - Rated R for extreme war violence

I give this movie....