Rating: 
Summary: completely accurate
Review: ...The movie portrayed field manuvers very accurately. One of the first scenes in the movie showed a group patrolling in the woods, and it was almost exactly how the Army does it. The combat was also portrayed very well. Combat can be very confusing especially when the enemy opens fire on you unexpectedly. If one has not been trained as Ranger... he may not react so perfectly as the actors in the movies. These actors seem to know exactly where to turn and fire and they never seem to fear being shot....
Rating: 
Summary: Epic
Review: While Saving Private Ryan amazed me with it's combat sequences, it tended to get a little to idealistic and picturesque in between. Moving you away from the realism of the battle sequences, and transporting you to a typical cimematic Spielberg flick. With characters that were a little to perfect. When Trumpets Fade pulls no punches in it's horrific depiction of war, and gives us a tragic main character that is anything but perfect. A truly grim tale that ranks up there with Patton, Full Metal Jacket, and the rest of the truly great war films. Highly reccomended.
Rating: 
Summary: junk- the vets deserve better
Review: There are only one or two moments in the film worth watching.Like walking through the woods . They they get to the front line and stand upright outside a foxhole and talk. (...) Accuracy is at a minimum, historically its baffleing how they got this story from what really happened, and all in all it is very clear producers and directors had no clue what combat in WW2 was like. Don't rate it high in honor of the vets that fought there. They would be discusted that it was done so poorly. While lip servce wa spaid to the vets, and they did talk to a few of them I am told, obviously they did not listen. I assume it was to keep the cost down. Which is a shame as most fo the problems could have been avoided if they had competant advisors on set that the director listened to. Go watch " a walk in the sun' instead.
Rating:
Summary: The movie that Saving Private Ryan should have been.
Review: Sparse. Subtle. Under-appreciated, this is a great American
war movie. Watch it next to Apolocalypse Now. It holds
its own quite nicely. It's almost as if David Mamet
wrote a WW II story. Ron Eldard will never find a greater role.
Absolutely great.
Rating:
Summary: A classic.
Review: In all the war films that I've seen in my life only one other, Saving Private Ryan, was as well done and powerful as When Trumpets Fade. It brought home the reality of war while maintaining a solid story line. This film was worthy of a major motion picture spot and could easily make its way to theaters and to the Oscar stage as did Private Ryan. However the fact that this film is almost unknown makes it a true War film enthusist dream. No commercialism, no overly hyped patriotic trailers. Just a true to life war story.
Rating: 
Summary: "Platoon" set during WW2. Worth watching.
Review: This is a pretty decent look at the "forgotten front", otherwise known as the battle for the Huertgen Forest. This is one of those episodes that doesn't find frequent mention in the history books, but strangely it wound up with its own movie. When I watched this, I couldn't help being reminded of the Vietnam flick "Platoon." The emphasis here is on showing the gritty, unglamorous side of infantry combat, and it's well done. Heroism, cowardice, mud, blood and fratricide are all featured in this story of a scared G.I. who's determined to survive the war at any cost, even if it means the loss of his honor. The story opens with a young private, brand new to the war, who is the sole survivor after his platoon attacks a German position and is wiped out. His survival is qualification enough to earn him a promotion to sergeant, and not long after, to lieutenant. He wants neither. All he wants to do is survive at any cost, and he doesn't care what his superiors or subordinates think about it. The action scenes are generally believable and well done, even if some of the mock-ups of the German tanks aren't. Several of the scenes are particularly intense and bloody, a little reminiscent of Private Ryan, but not to the same degree of utter carnage. In general I thought the acting was okay, but seeing Dwight Yoakam as a light colonel was a little surreal for me. The ending, in my humble opinion, was a little corny, and didn't do justice to the rest of the movie, which otherwise might have rated four stars instead of just three. Still, it's definitely worth watching for anyone who likes war flicks.
Rating:
Summary: SOMEONE GOT PAID TO MAKE THIS?
Review: This is truly the worst film i've ever seen. Arnold Schwarsonager does more realistic filming. The characters are 'flat': they tell no backround to their lives in the film apart from their names. I think its dumb where Manning (ron eldard) is promoted to sergeant directly from private. Even Audie Murphy's heroism wasn't enough to be promoted to srgnt that quickly. And since when has someone been able to fit a Thompson clip into his m1 jacket pocket? At the end comes the bit that makes me laugh. The classic NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!as mannings buddy comes to check up on him and innevitably gets killed.Someone got paid to write the script? jeeeeezus! another sad bit is where Sanderson, the private gets separated from his platoon and has to hide under the stick pile, which is there 'coinsidentilty'. Anyone could have seen his fat arse poking out of that pile. The German officer type person and his Action Man style Scar on his face is quite a gas too. Reading another review earlier, i too agree that Sandersons psycho scream with the flamethrower will leave anyone wetting themselves with laughter.
Rating:
Summary: Staggeringly Superb
Review: Perhaps the finest film ever done about men in combat. Exquisitely acted, sensitively directed, and stunningly photographed. The writing is of the highest quality. Truly a motion picture that will continue to speak eloquently about the experience of war for generations to come. Rivals Eastwood's "Kelly's Heroes" in dramatic, emotional impact.
Rating:
Summary: When the Movie Faded....
Review: I'm a WWII war movie, game, novel buff. I bought this sight-unseen because of my interest in such subject matter and because I was told it was a good film. I've never seen such egregious over acting in my life. At one point, a green soldier (forgot his name) used a flamethrower (a weapon normally used by elites) to burn some German 88LL crews.. he kept on screaming through out the entire melee in such an over dramatic manner that I literally was laughing... and I don't think I was supposed to. The characters were shallow. DO NOT buy this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: This film has an all-too-common flaw in war movies: it tries to make infantry combat exciting and spectacular, full of daring behind-the-lines raids and exploding fireballs. Nowhere do you find scenes of soldiers sitting for hours on end in cold, wet foxholes under shell and mortar fire, feeling helpless before an enemy they cannot see and cannot strike back at. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest was a dreadful attritional struggle that pushed the soldiers who fought there to their utmost limits of physical and mental endurance. Any film seeking to do their story justice would have to break way from the cliches of war movie melodrama. Sadly, "When Trumpets Fade" fails to do so, despite some good performances and a few well-directed sequences. And much of it lacks military credibility: the American infantry advances bunched up in long lines instead of being spread out in small groups, and no one ever thinks to send an artillery observer forward so key German positions can be brought under aimed shellfire.
| 
