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Band of Brothers
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Frank John Hughes, Neal McDonough, Ron Livingston Brand: HBO HOME VIDEO DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 705 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-06-06 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Model: 99205 Studio: HBO Home Video Product features: - Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Anamorphic; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Band of BrothersMovie Review: This deserves so many more stars.... Summary: 5 Stars
Band of Brothers follows the men of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne during World War Two. The series has ten episodes about 50 minutes to an hour long, and shows just how courageous people can be when they fight for what they believe in. This 7 disk set comes with a lot of graphic violence but is very accurate in portraying the lifestyles these men had to endure for many months, as well as the friendships they made in dangerous times.
Episodes Include:
1] Currahee - This takes place a year before D-Day and the men of Easy Company have arrived at boot camp. They must learn how to shoot a rifle, throw a grenade, learn sign language for stealth, and get into amazing physical shape from training as well as by running up a steep hill called Currahee. Led by their drill instructor Lt. Sobel [played by David Schwimmer] Easy Company starts to become the best at everything. The show ends after training as the men are called up to parachute into German occupied territory one day before D-Day to secure the area for the massive invasion.
2] Day of Days- It's D-Day and Easy Company has parachuted into Normandy. Lt. Winters drops and finds he's lost his men, doesn't have a rifle, and after meeting with other men from different companies, realizes everyone has missed their dropzones. After meeting up at the area everyone is supposed to go to, Winters is given the mission to take out a German artillery position. A fierce firefight that is still studied today by soldiers in training happens as Winters and his men attack the German position. The first death of a man has Winters wondering if he will make it as well in the war.
3] Carentan - The next job for Easy Company is to take control of a German occupied French town named Carentan. Although the mission goes surprisingly well, Winters is unsure it's over just yet. He's right, as a massive German counterattack force arrives to retake Carentan. What happens next is a stalemate between the two sides and another fierce firefight in the morning. However Easy Company prevails again with the help of a couple of tanks. The men take some well deserved R&R but are then told they are going back to Normandy
4] Replacements - A new group of trainees, fresh out of bootcamp and never fired a rifle at a real person, arrive to replace those lost in the war so far. The next mission for Easy Company is called Operation Market Garden. Easy Company is ordered to take Eindhoven, a town in Holland. However the mission turns into a total failure as a massive German force turns the Allied forces back. Easy suffers many casualties and one man, Sgt. "Bull" Randleman, is stuck behind enemy lines.
5] Crossroads - Winters is now a Captain after a fantastic victory against a German SS position which leaves two whole companies of SS dead. Winters prepares a report on the attack he led and the battle is shown through his eyes as he writes his report. Near the end of the episode Easy Company is told they need to go to the front line in the forested area near Bastogne.
6] Bastogne - The 101st Airborne is surrounded by German forces and are holding the line during the Battle of the Bulge. 2 medics are the only source of relief for injured men and the story follows one of them, Eugene, as he struggles to deal with many men injured and sick. The famous response to a German demand for surrender is shown here, as the Comanding General of the Airborne responds, "Nuts." This is one of my favorite epsiodes just for the relationship between the medic, Eugene, and a nurse in the small town that holds the injured soldiers.
7] The Breaking Point - In this episode Easy Company must take the town of Foy, in Belgium. However the incompetence of the company's leader, Lt. Dike, has many of the men wondering if the company is going to suffer a lot of unnecessary casualties following him. Easy Company also suffers a month of constant shelling while sleeping in foxholes in the woods before the attack, and this epsiode shows just how demoralizing war could be. Easy Company takes the town, but not without heavy casualties. An emotional episode.
8] The Last Patrol - Easy Company is on the front line in the town of Haguenau. A new mission is sent to Easy Company to cross the river that separates a German observation position from the Allied forces to capture German soldiers. Joining the patrol is Lt. Jones, a replacement fresh out of West Point who is eager to see some real action. This is another episode that shows the toll the war is taking on the men as the platoon the men are chosen from for this mission have already dwindled down in numbers from losses in Bastogne. Although the mission is a success, the death of a soldier has Winters wondering if orders for another patrol to be sent out the next day is a good idea.
9] Why We Fight - More than 300,000 German troops have surrendered, and Easy Company finally drops into Germany. Rumors that the Germans are finished have reached the ears of the soldiers and they begin to predict when the war will end. However all that talk is pushed aside as a patrol discovers the Nazis' most disturbing secret, a concentration camp. This is another greatly emotional episode as the men are shocked at what brutality the camps show. Also, word of Hitler's suicide comes to Easy, and they are now sure victory in Europe is coming. The beginning and end for this episode are fantastic.
10] Points - Germany has surrendered, and the men are wondering if they are going home. However in order to go home they need to have a certain number of, "Points" to show they've served their part in the war. They are also well aware that the war with Japan in the Pacific is still going on, and are wondering if they will be sent there next. This is the final episode of Band of Brothers, and it shows what the men are doing now that they are at peace with the Germans. At the end of the episode they show every single man who served in Easy Company and what they did after the war. A fantastic ending to a fantastic mini-series.
Extras on Disk Seven:
We Stand Alone, Together - A great documentary that shows the real men of Easy Company and what their lives were like during the war. A really great and emotional set of interviews.
Ron Livingston's Video Diaries - Ron Livingston, the man who played Lt. Nixon, shows a set of clips he himself filmed during the, "Actor Boot Camp," as the actors prepared to play the real men of Easy Company.
The Making of Band of Brothers - A great look at the making of the mini-series. Showing the costumes, sets, and special effects.
This is a great World War 2 experience. If you like watching World War 2 movies, this is one set that you should definately look at. Highly recommended.
Summary of Band of BrothersBased on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elete rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered 150 percent casualties, and whose lives became legend. An impressively rigorous, unsentimental, and harrowing look at combat during World War II, Band of Brothers follows a company of airborne infantry--Easy Company--from boot camp through the end of the war. The brutality of training takes the audience by increments to the even greater brutality of the war; Easy Company took part in some of the most difficult battles, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the liberation of a concentration camp and the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But what makes these episodes work is not their historical sweep but their emphasis on riveting details (such as the rattle of a plane as the paratroopers wait to leap, or a flower in the buttonhole of a German soldier) and procedures (from military tactics to the workings of bureaucratic hierarchies). The scope of this miniseries (10 episodes, plus an actual documentary filled with interviews with surviving veterans) allows not only a thoroughness impossible in a two-hour movie, but also captures the wide range of responses to the stress and trauma of war--fear, cynicism, cruelty, compassion, and all-encompassing confusion. The result is a realism that makes both simplistic judgments and jingoistic enthusiasm impossible; the things these soldiers had to do are both terrible and understandable, and the psychological price they paid is made clear. The writing, directing, and acting are superb throughout. The cast is largely unknown, emphasizing the team of actors as a whole unit, much like the regiment; Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston play the central roles of two officers with grit and intelligence. Band of Brothers turns a vast historical event into a series of potent personal experiences; it's a deeply engrossing and affecting accomplishment. --Bret Fetzer
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