‘’When Trumpets Fade” is the best movie ever made
about the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. It
is also the only movie about the battle.
Anyone familiar with the battle knows it will be bleak if
realistic. That was one fucked up
battle. It is the type of movie that
could not have been made before its time.
It is one of the best examples of what I call the VioLingo School of
modern war movies. Vio refers to
realistic violence and Lingo refers to realistic soldier life and
language. This school also often
features an anti-hero. “When Trumpets
Fade” has one of the most memorable. The
film was directed by John Irvin (“Hamburger Hill”) for HBO. This was before HBO became the creative force
that it is today. The film was a preview
of great things to come.
The movie opens very strongly with Pvt. Manning (Ron
Eldard) carrying a buddy through a burned out landscape on his back. The mortally wounded soldier begs to be put
out of his misery and Manning complies.
Manning is an odd mixture of Audie Murphy and John Yossarian (“Catch-22”). He may be a bit anachronistic because he
realizes he is suffering from PTSD and is not ashamed to admit it. When he tries to get a Section 8 (mentally
unfit due to combat stress), Capt. Pritchett’s (Martin Donovan) counter offer
is to promote him to squad leader and hand him replacements. One of them is a fat guy with glasses named
Sanderson (Zac Orth) who in a typical war movie is the deadest of meat.
If you are smoking a cigarette in a 1998 war movie you are either bad or a badass |
On their first patrol, through a foggy forest,
Manning puts Sanderson on point seemingly to get the cliché accomplished as
fast as Gardner in “Platoon”. Sanderson
gets separated from the squad, but does encounter the face of Nazism in the
form of a German sergeant. Manning, ever
the self-preservationist, leaves Sandy behind.
Sandy (having never seen a war movie) does the WTF move of surviving.
The big picture is the Americans have to take a
bridge crossing “at all costs”. The big
push starts with the cannon fodder gingerly moving through the mine-laden
forest until… Plus the German artillery
opens fire. Tree bursts. Graphic wounds. Decapitations. Chaos.
There are now some openings in command.
Manning keeps getting promoted in spite of himself. You’ve heard of the Peter Principle, I
suggest the Manning Principle defined as “being promoted despite not wanting
it”. Manning is promised his Section 8
if he takes out a battery of 88s. When
one of his charges panics and it catches, Manning shoots him. This is the right
thing to do, but only adds to his reputation of being a dick. Sandy goes all flame-thrower on the battery -
mission accomplished. Unfortunately,
Pritchett has snapped due to a hellacious river crossing assault, so no
deal. In fact, how about another
promotion?
Manning has fought the system unsuccessfully and now
it’s time to play the game. He assembles
a crack trio that includes Sanderson and the fighting medic Chamberlain (Frank
Whaley). The idea is to eliminate some
German tanks so the next brainless frontal assault on the river crossing will
succeed. Better to die on a suicide mission. Who will be the “Lone Survivor”?
“When Trumpets Fade” is a great movie and yet
relatively unknown. It got lost in the
tumult over “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Thin Red Line”. While not as good as SPR, it is definitely
superior to TRL. Factor in the low
budget and the film is amazing. There
are few war films that are this sincerely anti-war and anti-authority.
The
acting is outstanding with Eldard the quintessential anti-hero. He could be the poster boy for the
archetype. He is dislikable and does not
care. Manning is in my top five all-time
war characters. Eldard does his best
work as does Orth. The supporting cast
is eclectic and includes Dwight Yoakam as the loathsome Lt. Col. Rickman. You know what kind of film it is when
Manning’s buddy at the beginning is played by Jeffrey Donovan. We also get Timothy Olyphant and Frank
Whaley. The film is the anti-all-star
epic. (I’m looking at you “Thin Red
Line”.) The cinematography is noteworthy
with a blend of hand-held, low angle, and plenty of close-ups. The colors are muted to fit the mood. The action is much better than most war
movies. The film is violent, gritty, and
graphic. This is very much a guy movie
(although I know at least one discerning female who loves it). The soldier talk and behavior are
authentic. The men are scared, not
confident, and clueless. The movie
admirably and surprisingly avoids clichés.
It is not really a small unit movie as the men aside from Manning and
Sanderson are not developed much. It
sets up nodding expectations and then does not go there. The only thing predictable is it will not
have a happy ending. The tactics are
realistic for small units in WWII Europe.
The tactical decisions reflect the unfortunate lack of creativity that
made the Battle of Hurtgen Forest such a tragedy.
As
far as accuracy, the movie is dedicated to the American soldiers who went
through the meat grinder of the Hurtgen Forest.
It was fought from September – December, 1944. It was the longest battle in American History. Although it resulted in 33,000 casualties, it
has been completely overshadowed by the more glamorous Battle of the Bulge. However,
it makes no attempt to instruct about the battle. In truth, the film could be
about any WWII battle where the general decides to use frontal tactics to
bludgeon his way to an objective. In
some ways, it reflects the “American way of war” as enacted by incompetent,
uncreative leaders. Not every American
Army commander was George Patton. Some
were Courtney Hodges. Hodges determined
that the Hurtgen had to be taken at all costs to pin down German forces and to
avoid a salient threatening his drive into Germany. Any basic understanding of the principles of
war would have called for by-passing the hellish terrain. Any foot soldier (Manning) could see the
tactics were futile. The Germans could
hardly believe anyone would launch an offensive through terrain that they had
incorporated into the Siegfried Line and which was so densely forested that
they could not even consider it for threatening the American drive on
Germany. The movie does a fair job of
replicating the terrain, but the Hungarian locale is not quite as dense and
creepy as the real deal. With its low
budget, it attempts to recreate the dragon’s teeth, but its low scale. It is more realistic in the mud and grime
department. It also does a fair job with
the tree bursts and mines. I could find
no evidence that what the characters in the movie went through was based on any
particular part of the battle. Their
experiences were generic, but Hollywood enhanced. Enhanced to the point where the movie is
among the most anti-war films ever made.
What better battle to advance the theme that war is Hell?
In
1998, three significant war movies came out that were set in WWII. “Saving Private Ryan” used the talents of
Steven Spielberg to take war movie entertainment into the 21st
Century. “The Thin Red Line”
brought an environmental and
philosophical approach to war plotting.
And “Where Trumpets Fade” helped develop the anti-hero, anti-cliché,
truly anti-war film. One of the trio is
in the Greatest 100 and does not belong and one is unheralded and does belong
among the best war movies ever made.
Guess which.
Cracker? Hell, yes. Possibly in the top twenty.
grade = A
Cracker? Hell, yes. Possibly in the top twenty.
grade = A
Sabotan's "Unbreakable"
What no comments? This is one of my favorites. great review. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOne of my my favorites, too.
DeleteVery, very underrated war film. Top 5, easy.
One of my NCOs at my first duty station gave me this movie on VHS. I think it was 2001. After I watched it (twice in a row) I was shocked that I had never heard of it before - or saw any previews of it. I was a junior in high school when it came out. But, somehow, I missed it.
I kept that VHS for as long as it lasted. So that tape went with me from Kansas to Afghanistan to Korea to New Jersey to Iraq (twice), then to South Carolina, Mississippi, Germany, Alaska and Uganda.
It finally quit in 2012.
Of course, I ordered the DVD from Amazon.
It has to be in my movie collection.
I think it premiering on HBO at a time when HBO was not known for original content may explain its lack of fame.
DeleteI was bit surprised, too. Maybe because few have seen it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note my grandfather(in-law) was the only survivor from the 8th during this battle, and from what he told me this is kinda close to what happened, I was lucky to be one of the very few people he spoke to about this battle. He was a great man and our family misses him greatly. He was a good ole home town boy from a small community, just like many other soldiers sent over seas at that time. So many sent with a lack of what they were walking into.
ReplyDeleteWow, your grandfather must have had some nightmares. I can see why he did not talk about the battle. The Army itself did not want to talk about this fiasco.
DeleteHi warmoviebuff. Nice to find/read your review of this excellent film. I posted my own review of it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://aquestionofscale.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/film-review-when-trumpets-fade-1998.html
... lots of other war films reviewed on my blog, as well. Though prob not as many as you've done!
Regards, Seb
I went to your blog and found it interesting. Good effort, keep it up.
DeleteAnother film I have been telling people about for 20 years. You are wrong, its also superior to the vastly overrated SPR. Trumpets is a terrific film.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this film before reading your review and the comments on here but then knew i had to see it when you gave it such high praise. Its fantastic , its a very non cliche view of war, manning is unlike any soldier ive seen. The film captures really well the despair and hopelessness of the hurtgen forest. They did well to explain the small objectives the US army were trying to accomplish and why they were so futile. The action was very realistic. It is so much more believable than SPR
ReplyDeleteGreat review of this great movie. I have been fascinated by the film and the Hurtgen Forest ever since.
ReplyDeleteJust watched this film and damn was it bleak. Can’t imagine what those men went through.
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