Battle Of The Bulge

Directed by English-born Ken Annakin Battle Of The Bulge is typical of mid-60s big scale Hollywood productions of the bum-numbing variety with stereotypical characters uttering the kind of hackneyed manly dialogue worthy of The Thunderbirds.

Based in fact it tells the story of the last large German offensive of WWII known as "The Ardennes Offensive" or "The Battle Of The Bulge" (named for the bulge in the Allied lines that the German attack caused). The opening shot of Henry Fonda in a simulation of a small single wing plane earnestly reconnoitering enemy lines against a back-projected sky tells you all that you need to know about this film which despite trying to impress with its combat sequences relies overmuch on unconvincing studio sets and incongruous back-projected inserts and simply drags out scenes rather than achieving the epic scale to which it purports (including a gratuitous overture and intermission).

Not only dated technically the typology of characters are familiar from many similar films of the period. From Robert Ryan’s tough General, Fonda’s dedicated intelligence officer trying to convince the obdurate top brass of the danger of a forthcoming offensive, to Telly Savalas’s hustling Sgt. Guffy and James MacArthur’s rookie lieutenant, the film leaves little to interest us dramatically.  Only Robert Shaw as an obsessive German tank commander distinguishes himself from the otherwise rote portrayals, even if this is at the cost of a certain amount of caricature. 

 

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