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Reviews
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Not as inaccurate as you'd think
Okay, it has M24 Chaffees as the US tanks. The M24 was introduced into US service during the Battle of the Bulge. However, in the movie the Germans call them Shermans.
The German tanks are called Tigers, not Royal or King Tigers, and in WWII, Americans called ALL German tanks Tigers, whether they were or not. In this case they are Spanish Army M47 Patton tanks (little irony there, in that Patton's contribution to the Battle of the Bulge is left out of the movie)
The German tanks for once are accurately marked with turret numbers, and the German tankers are all wearing the appropriate Panzer uniforms, with the Panzer Grenadier troops wearing the gray version of this uniform. Someone did their homework on the uniforms.
The first battle with the US troops getting overrun by the Panzers is accurate as far as most accounts of the US green divisions in the face of Peiper's panzers in the real battle.
In the last battle, (the one in the desert) something similar happened when a US corps commander threw his armor at the Germans to keep them away from the Meuse. And the dialogue and fire commands are correct for WW2 era tank battles, they even mention hypershot, the special US armor piercing round that could kill a Tiger at close range.
They tried and got close, no cigar, but not as bad as you'd think.
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Simply the best...
It creates a specific time (mid July 1944), a specific unit (35th Infantry) and a specific place (near St Lo and Nancy)
The accuracy is top-notch, the cast is top-notch. "Oddball" is not a '70s character as he is the Bohemian in all of us and tank crewmen were and are that strange. One tank commander in France in 1944 was known for carrying a colt 38 rather than the issued 45 and wearing cowboy boots. Some did effect Aviation leather jackets like Oddball, and yes there are plenty of pictures of soldiers with beards.
I was in the amry for 11 years and a tank crewman, and we all quoted the movie and we loved the character of Oddball, and when off the line he was all fun and games, when in action, he was all business, just the way real tankers were and still are.
Armor rules!