When Trumpets Fade (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

John Irvin

Writer (WGA):

W.W. Vought (written by)

Release Date:

27 June 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

In the heat of battle not all soldiers can be heroes

Plot:

A private in the latter days of WWII on the German front struggles between his will to survive and what his superiors perceive as a battlefield instinct.

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Sequel | Prequel

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Ron Eldard	...	Pvt. David Manning
Zak Orth	...	Warren Sanderson
Frank Whaley	...	Medic Chamberlain
Dylan Bruno	...	Sgt. Talbot
Devon Gummersall	...	Lonnie
Dan Futterman	...	Despin
Steven Petrarca	...	Baxter
Dwight Yoakam	...	Lieutenant Colonel
Martin Donovan	...	Capt. Roy Pritchett
Timothy Olyphant	...	Lt. Lukas
Jeffrey Donovan	...	Bobby
Bobby Cannavale	...	Capt. Zernek
Frank-Michael Köbe	...	German sergeant (as Frank Köbe)
András Stohl	...	Wounded soldier
Matthew Rutson Cooney	...	Driver corporal

Also Known As:

Hamburger Hill 2 (Australia)
Hurtgen (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic war carnage and strong language.

Runtime:

95 min | UK:88 min (video) | UK:92 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Citadel Entertainment

Trivia:

The phrase "Nobody Dies" is a reference to the book and film "A Walk in the Sun (1945)", where "Nobody Dies" is the platoon motto. Both book and film deal with similar effects of war as "When Trumpets Fade".

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Dragons teeth of the Siegfried line are not shown as they really were (and in numerous places still are today). 1) In the movie the line is build with four rows of teeth. In reality the line is build with five rows. 2) The teeth are in reality not made in one size as shown in the movie, but in 3 different sizes, where the first and last rows contain the biggest pillars, the middle three are middle sized, and woven in the last row you can find the smallest. 3) The rows are not placed exactly behind each other. If you would see them from above, you would see an angle in the middle. 4) The rows of pillars are also not build in one line. If you would look over a row from the side, you would see a zigzag of pillars. 5) The pillars in the movie are too close too each other. In reality, the area between two pillars is so big, you can park a car between them (as is done by the author of this comment on numerous occasions).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator, news footage: August 1944. The outcome of the Second World War appeared to be no longer in doubt. Paris was liberated. After four years of fighting, victory against the Germans seemed assured. Since the Normandy landings, American and Allied forces had battled their way across northern Europe, and pushed the German enemy to within its own homeland.

Movie Connections:

Follows Hamburger Hill (1987)

Soundtrack:

Over There

Realistic & metaphorical at once

While people keep calling this film realistic (and it probably is), I saw this film at a time when I couldn't deny its relevance to events in my own work life. More than the futility of _just_ war, it speaks to a mentality that allows a system to dictate what must be accomplished by the people under its thumb, without regard to whether it's possible or how many people it will destroy to accomplish that thing. Almost more than other war movies, it reminds me of Rod Serling's _Patterns_ (another fine movie that never made it off the small screen).

And it's also a great exploration of that dark, strange area where what's selfish in the moment can turn heroic in hindsight. I think the writer may have actually _read_ Audie Murphy's _To Hell and Back_, which dwells in some of the same strange and gritty territory.

As someone else said, it's not perfect -- but up-&-comers Orth & Eldard turn in great performances, and there's none of the usual Spielbergian sentimentality in evidence. See it, but don't expect to be uplifted.