On November 14, 1944, the U.S. Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion is tasked with besieging the German town of Bergstein and Hill 400; a highly strategic position that provides the Germans with high... Read allOn November 14, 1944, the U.S. Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion is tasked with besieging the German town of Bergstein and Hill 400; a highly strategic position that provides the Germans with high ground for artillery.On November 14, 1944, the U.S. Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion is tasked with besieging the German town of Bergstein and Hill 400; a highly strategic position that provides the Germans with high ground for artillery.
Justin Lee Dudo
- Private Petty
- (as Justin Dudo)
Andreas Gabriel
- Lt. Neumann
- (as Andreas Grabiel)
Curtis Arney
- German Soldier
- (uncredited)
Andrew J. Forner
- Corporal Jensen
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
So they send out a platoon of 5 guys and a war photographer and they take the best defended hill in the first 30 minutes. Stopped watching at 44 minutes. Utter dross.fight scenes laughable. 2 machine gun nests taken by 4 guys and mo with carbines making a frontal assault with no cover. These guys also forgot to take their rations of grenades with them. If they had any they could have saved themselves a lot of grief in the fire fights. This hill should just have been obliterated with artillery and then assaulted by 2 tanks. No trenches, no minefields and 1 pillbox. Monte casino it was not. Thank goodness the yanks joined the war or we would all be speaking German.
The very first scene was a dead giveaway that I was in for a crapfest. We have a lieutenant general from one division and a brigadier general from a different division, who's supposed to be the real-life Dutch Cota, but looks like he's going to keel over and die at any moment. These generals, a corps commander and an assistant division commander, without any staff anywhere to be seen, are giving a mission briefing to two lieutenants - platoon commanders. Admittedly, if these generals have nothing better to do while running a war, it's probably more efficient to cut out four levels of the chain of command and brief the lieutenants directly. These two platoon commanders are told that if they don't take Hill 400, the Allies will lose the war. General Cota mentions that he watched from Omaha Beach as the lieutenants, or one of them, scaled the cliff at Pointe-du-Hoc. This is pretty amazing, because I've been to both Omaha Beach and Pointe-du-Hoc twice, and not only are they blocked from view from each other by terrain, they are too far apart to see human beings even if they weren't blocked.
The lieutenants take their platoon out, which clearly hasn't been trained in small unit tactics, along with an embedded (a term that wasn't used in the 1940s) octogenarian photographer who is constantly taking photos of nothing, yet never uses up the film in his camera, because he never puts in a new roll.
Honestly, after the lame briefing by the generals I stopped paying much attention to the movie. I worked on my Duolingo lessons and occasionally looked up to see what implausibility was happening. I'm not even sure if I watched it until the end.
It just gets exhausting listing all the problems with these terrible independent films, one right after another. I don't know how these filmmakers make money performing these abortions.
The lieutenants take their platoon out, which clearly hasn't been trained in small unit tactics, along with an embedded (a term that wasn't used in the 1940s) octogenarian photographer who is constantly taking photos of nothing, yet never uses up the film in his camera, because he never puts in a new roll.
Honestly, after the lame briefing by the generals I stopped paying much attention to the movie. I worked on my Duolingo lessons and occasionally looked up to see what implausibility was happening. I'm not even sure if I watched it until the end.
It just gets exhausting listing all the problems with these terrible independent films, one right after another. I don't know how these filmmakers make money performing these abortions.
How to do a better job on this production?
First, hire a military consultant. That would get by the majority of the issues.
Next, hiring an acting coach. Not a really expensive one. Maybe a director from the Little Theater of east New Jersey.
Taking these two steps would great enhance the production value of this movie.
Then the next step would be to follow just a little of the historical facts associated with this battle.
This film is almost a disservice to the memory of the heroes that fought in this battle.
Dialogue is awful, could could have used a little polishing.
If nothing else I learned to never watch a film directed by this guy.
First, hire a military consultant. That would get by the majority of the issues.
Next, hiring an acting coach. Not a really expensive one. Maybe a director from the Little Theater of east New Jersey.
Taking these two steps would great enhance the production value of this movie.
Then the next step would be to follow just a little of the historical facts associated with this battle.
This film is almost a disservice to the memory of the heroes that fought in this battle.
Dialogue is awful, could could have used a little polishing.
If nothing else I learned to never watch a film directed by this guy.
Best thing the producers did was use Eastern Costume for the wardrobe or this film would have a 2/10 rating. I would expect better from an Asylum movie by now. Just grabbing a couple veteran actors is not enough to overcome bland script and poor special effects. Set locations were also very bad along with camera work. Cinematography is almost non existent save for one scene opener showing the hills with some very dense low fog. As far as the "battle sequences", not in any way plausible. So much for the crack German troops that were mentioned by the general with his helmet on in the HQ. Only other + was shooting on Red Digital. Thumbs down!
I am an avid war film watcher. The acting in this film is one of the worst I have seen. Helmets that don't fit and over their eyes, shooting from the most ridiculous positions you can imagine, and a pillbox that apparently can fire bullets that come back and it the wall below from slot they are firing from /facepalm
Then there is 5 soldiers that take out a farmhouse without being noticed by the obs point in an upstairs window, despite crossing a 300m open field!
As someone else mentioned German soldiers standing in open spaces in the line of fire waiting to get shot my goodness...
don't waste your time folks.
Then there is 5 soldiers that take out a farmhouse without being noticed by the obs point in an upstairs window, despite crossing a 300m open field!
As someone else mentioned German soldiers standing in open spaces in the line of fire waiting to get shot my goodness...
don't waste your time folks.
Did you know
- GoofsIn the opening scene General Weaver (William Baldwin), wearing the rank insignia of a lieutenant general, introduces himself as "General Weaver from the 8th Division". Divisions didn't and still don't have lieutenant generals. The highest rank in a division is a major general. A lieutenant general commands a corps, which is two or more divisions, or they can be the assistant commander of an army, which is two or more corps.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- 1944 ヒュルトゲンの森の戦い
- Filming locations
- Buffalo, New York, USA(studio and exteriors)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 27m(87 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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