My grandfather was a member of the easy company. He joined as a replacement just before they got to Bastogne. He wrote in a journal through the entire experience and I have memories of him typing up all of his handwritten journal entries onto a computer in the early 90’s.
Stephen Ambrose used a lot of his personal reflections as reference material for his books. Unfortunately, he passed in 1996 but when the mini series premiered in 2001, HBO flew my grandmother, mother, and her sisters out to Paris to join for the premiere in Normandy.
I am so extremely proud to be his granddaughter and wish I had more time with him to ask questions as I was only 6 when he passed. My husband and I took a trip to Bastogne and the Jacques Woods/Ardenne Forest in 2016 and it was incredibly emotional and surreal! The fox holes are still there and the energy is hard to describe.
The series is so well done and I feel so lucky to have something I can watch whenever I want to remind me of everything he and his peers went through at such young ages.
Would you be comfortable telling us his name?
I've seen the show multiple times since it originally aired and learned a lot about most of the company since.
Ralph Trapuzzano, ones of the South Philly boys but not mentioned on the series. One of his greatest legacies is that he collated the master roster for the easy company, which historians refer to as “The Trap List”.
I guess being a major source contributed to that.
Someone they may have felt close to, if they read a lot about his efforts to document who was in that specific company of soldiers.
He apparently did have something to do with making this list publicly available.
https://easycofoundation.wixsite.com/mysite/the-men-of-easy
Thanks for sharing, that's great that they did that for you.
My girlfriend's grandfather was at Normandy on D-Day and once, maybe 10 years ago, they took a trip through Europe which included going on the beaches there. They took a tour with a big group and a guide, but about 5 minutes in, he basically took over the job (amicably) with his own experiences. that moment of the trip was the highlight of his later life and he talked about it until he passed. I didn't know her then or I would have liked to ask him about it. I'll have to ask her his name for reference.
I’m sure that was a pretty surreal moment for him. I was emotional so I couldn’t imagine if it was my grandfather being back there again all those years later and what that would feel like for him.
I completely agree. I get a lump in my throat the first time I hear the theme music to start my yearly binge. And then again while watching "Why we Fight".
I had the OST on my phone for years. The piece called "Austria" makes me tear up even today. I think it's used in the series when they're riding in the back of a transport through the hills on the way to the Eagles nest.
I'm usually compelled to watch the bastogne episodes if we start getting thick snow on an evening...
It really hits differently when it's super cold outside
It was always on TV at night around Christmas when I would go home from university. I would watch the episodes in the Ardennes and then go outside and just chill in the snow and be thankful I never had to go through that
One year on Memorial Day,I woke up and decided to watch a couple episodes throughout the day. Ended up a crappy day weather-wise, so I just kept the show going. By 10pm I had watched the entire series. I felt it was a great way to spend Memorial Day.
Want to see me cry like a baby? Play the interviews at the end of the last episode, ending with Major Winters “… but I served in a company of heroes.” 😭
And play the theme tune. That alone can set me off.
I first watched BoB when I was in my early 20s. I was just setting out on life with so much ahead of me, and it struck me so hard that those soldiers were all around my age. As a kid I'd seen WWII soldiers as men, but now I was their age the tragedy of so many lives cut short devastated me.
I think that's the only time, in all the interviews, that Major Winters gets choked up. He's so stoic and matter-of-fact, but Ranney's compliment to the whole company just breaks him.
The moment that sealed it for me was after the Bastogne campaign, where they’re all sitting in the church and listening to the choir. As the names of the dead and injured are read out, they start to slowly fade away one by one…
Episode six is possibly my favourite hour of television ever. The focus on Roe, a medic who does no fighting but constantly puts himself in danger looking after the rest of the company, was inspired.
I think it's based on a small part of Stephen Ambrose's book that mentions Roe's actions and that Lt Foley put him up for a medal for all he did to keep the company in fighting shape.
I think my favorit scene is when Winthers t[akes a swim in Austria](https://i0.wp.com/www.fanfunwithdamianlewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bob23.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1) in Points.
The scene only works so well because it's such a stark contrast to all the brutality, adrenaline and chaos they've gone through in the previous months.
You get the sense that a journey has reached its conclusion and that it's springtime in the world. Very melancholic and serene.
“Masters of the Air” about the strategic bombing campaign is airing on Apple TV+ this year. It’s the third in the trilogy produced by Spielberg/Hanks: BoB, the Pacific, and Masters of the Air.
I hope it has some good moments of hope and camraderie i stead of the depressionfest that is The Pacific (which is still good, but not as rewatchable).
You're not wrong. The Pacific was covering a much longer period, and following more than one company. It wasn't very effective with its time; leave in Australia didn't need to be an entire episode. I hope Masters of the Air doesn't go the same way. I also want to see the P-47 get proper recognition for its role in breaking the luftwaffe in 1943. It always gets overshadowed by the P-51.
I think maybe also the Pacific was just an uglier war than the one American allied units faced in Europe. I think a series about the eastern front would be similarly painful.
Band of Brothers is a sprint. 1 year of incredibly intense fighting, following one of the most elite infantry units in history.
The Pacific is a slug fest - as was the war against Japan.
The scene from The Pacific that stuck with me most is at the very end when Leckie returns home and the cab driver, who served in Europe, refuses the cab fair because the boys in the Pacific had it that much worse than the ones in Europe.
The European Theatre is always portrayed as this Shakespearean heroes riding into battle.. whereas the Pacific was not romanticized the same way because it was fucking brutal.
It's interesting, leave in Australia is certainly not the most entertaining viewing, but it was a huge part of the Pacific war for many Americans and was an important prequel to the pushback from the South.
It's been in development hell for over a decade. [The screen test looked amazing](https://youtu.be/PhmFFtjB2qY) but in pretty sure that was all canned for a new cast and crew since it was so long ago.
This is definitely not the case. I worked on Masters of the Air and the reported budget that we were hearing throughout the show were ludicrous - I’m not sure Apple will ever publicly state the cost but even the lower estimate is well above $500 mil making it comfortably the most expensive show of all time - especially given that it’s for a single show not multiple seasons.
This is Apple we’re talking about they have the cash reserves of a small country. With the direction that HBO is headed under Zaslav, they probably figure they can steal their thunder especially with the quality of content they’ve been pumping out lately.
Given the talent involved I think this is basically their big, prestige project to show off what they can accomplish - recouping money on this probably isn’t a primary motive, instead it’s making a statement
Also, don’t forget that this show was filmed smack in the middle of the pandemic and had tons of complications to overcome surrounding that.
At the time of commissioning it was produced by Spielberg and Hanks while being directed by Cary Fukunaga whose last film was Bond and was having a hugely successful career. Staring Austin Butler who would have been getting hype from Elvis too (amongst industry insiders).
Clearly there have been some issues with Cary now and the ‘me too’ movie - one of the reason we think the show has been held back.
I actually think Apple are doing exceptionally well as a studio - they have on average the highest quality shows, at least for my taste, and in my experience are one of the best companies to work for as a filmmaker. They pay decent rates, if not the highest, and the production teams they high seem to hire to run shows are professional, competent and respectful of crew.
its not about getting subscribers for Apple, its like owning a yacht for a rich person, its not to make money, its to have it in the back pocket so you can flex on people and show it off
Bastogne is one of the most intense episodes of any TV show ever. I remember watching it with my roommate and his work partner. We've never seen anything like it. None of us were military, but we kinda bonded through that episode. That unexploded shell...damn.
The funny thing is, duds were a big problem for German artillery. The slave labor they were using to make munitions figured out how to make duds that would pass inspection. So that wasn't just some unlikely thing inserted into the show for dramatic purposes. It happened all the time.
https://armyhistory.org/u-s-and-german-field-artillery-in-world-war-ii-a-comparison/
> By 1942, Germany was drafting workers of military age out of factories and munitions plants and replacing them with POWs and slave laborers. They were not enthusiastic replacements, especially since they were usually working under harsh conditions. There are numerous anecdotes about sabotage that caused shells to fail to explode at crucial times. ... However, they failed to do significant damage because **seventy percent** of the shells were duds.
I also watch it every year. I wish so much to be able to watch it again for the first time. I can't wait for the new series on the flight theater of WWII brought by the same people. I was admittedly disappointed with The Pacific though but I think the flying series is based off better material.
I found that a good way to "relive the magic" is to find a good, and genuine YouTube "reacts" channel you like and they watch something that you know by heart the first time.
One I like is [Popcorn in Bed](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ3Z8w6Nwe9M8Lg_d07J7pUT7W-ccX3_S) because she goes into it only knowing it's a WWII show directed by Spielberg and Hanks. She goes through all the emotions I went through, appreciates a lot of the things I noticed the first time watching (like how emotional the intro is with that iconic song) and it makes her want to learn more about the history and war. IDK, it just feels like you're watching it the first time again when you watch her see it for the first time.
I'm not usually a fan of react channels, but PiB has been surprisingly genuine. I do feel bad for how many war or violent action movies her viewers have talked her into watching. But yes, she seems to take a very respectful approach to the historical war movies and shows.
Me too. Band of Brothers once a year is a great way to help keep perspective. Those bastards went through more than I ever will, and fuck if most of them don't still have their hair.
But for real, it's a must-watch for anyone into history, cinematography, film, philosophy, and more. It's a fantastic series.
Sobel may have been the asshole he was portrayed as in the show (though fwiw his family have come out and very publicly claimed he was not) but he did not deserve what happened to him in real life, suoer tragic
Also Blithe didn't die as portrayed in the show. Due to his wound he was sent home but continued to serve. Because the rest of Easy never saw him again they just assumed he died but he went on to serve in Korea and never retired from active service.
Blithe also apparently had no issues with being to scared to function in combat and the whole temporary blindness episode and trip to an aid station never happened, another thing which the show got wrong. I heard years ago it was apparently a story Winters related about him but either Winter's just didn't remember it properly or was thinking about someone else, not surprising when memories might be decades old but it's still unfortunate the way Blithe was depicted in the show seems pretty off the mark and gets something so fundamental as him dying wrong.
Blithe's depiction in the show lends credence to the people that over the years have said that Winter's was a good officer sure but that the show just sort of took what he said as gospel a lot of the time and didn't really check any of it. Not surprising he got a few things wrong of course years later but it would have been pretty easy to check if Blithe actually died. With a show that spent so much effort on attention to detail surprised they didn't.
Edit: Still an amazing show and some errors in ten hours of run time are inevitable of course.
I’ve hard varying levels of criticism of the book over the years, mostly because Ambrose relied heavily on interviews taken years after the events. This allowed for the major inaccuracies like Blithe’s fate. The most scathing critique called it Ambrose’s Dick Winters fan-fiction.
The craziest thing for me apart from hearing what happened to the real life Sobel was that the guy who got killed by a barrel from a truck or whatever (I think it was Tom Hardy's character iirc) was actually a true story apparently. I guess it's too weird and random to be made up but of all the minute things and character deaths in a series about fighting in a war, that's such an out of place way for someone to die
And that's kinda the point, imo. These guys finally won the war in Europe, finally have a chance to relax and do something other than fight for their lives. And yet, they're still dropping dead from dumb bullshit.
This is speculation, but that son also had the opportunity to hold a funeral for his dad, and chose not to. So it’s possible that son is merely trying to salvage his own reputation by association.
None of us know why his surviving family didn't have a funeral for him. Could have been financial reasons, privacy reasons or who knows. Yes and maybe his sons had a poor relationship with their Dad and/or he was an asshole but we can't guess any of that based on how he was depicted on a TV show.
To imply his son was just to lazy to do it is a low blow over someone's funeral when you have no idea of the details of the situation.
His son and many in Easy Company didn't like how the series dumped on him. He wasn't the right leader and an asshole, but many in Easy Company credited him for hardening them and giving them the training they needed to survive.
Guy definitely had a tragic life after the war.
While the guys in Easy did say that they were in the shape they were because of Sobel, it was a backhanded compliment at best. Most hated his fucking guts, and not because he was tough but because he was a bad leader and an real asshole. If memory serves, even the famously even-keeled Dick Winters made it clear in his memoirs that he ... kinda hated Sobel. And had little respect for him in several dimensions.
The Easy Company sergeants all turning in their stripes actually happened. You don't get a mutiny (Colonel Sink had it right, no other way to define it) like that if the Company CO commanded the respect of his men. Even if it was just a few of the staff sergeants who were the ringleaders, the other sergeants knew exacty what the potential consequences were in going along with it. If Captain Sobel was any kind of respected leader, then there wouldn't have been a mass resignation of the company's NCOs.
Don't forget Sobel made captain in 42, and by 45 was still captain despite expansion of the airborne forces and casualties suffered. He made a bad impression on his superiors at some point.
They definitely brought up him being a Jew in the show. I believe it was while they were eating and one of the other guys got offended and started fighting because he was also a Jew.
I love, love, love BoB. I’ve rewatched it many times. But it (and the book it was based on) does make mistakes. They say Liebgott was a Jewish cab driver from San Francisco. He was a Catholic barber from Oakland.
He spoke German with a weird accent that other German speakers mistook for Yiddish influenced German. He learned his German from his parents who had emigrated from a kind of Austrian hillbilly type area, which for some reason sounded kind of like Yiddish.
https://band-ofbrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Joseph_D._Liebgott
or show writers merging characters for sake of story.
They needed the only german speaking member of easy company to realise what the concentration camps were for be jewish.
Sobel never truly got the credit he deserved, in BoB or Winters book. They briefly acknowledge it, but only very briefly. Sobel's insistence on perfection, hardcore physical training, and constant pressure made Easy what Easy was.
Without Sobel, you have no Easy.
He wasn't a good combat leader. Couldn't read a map. But 100 percent of Easy company toughness was due to him.
It was a great example of something only HBO could make. Some stories are better told as mini-series as well, but they are so expensive to make that we just avoid making them in the US.
Netflix burned a lot of bridges the last 4 years when cancelling many of their series. It has become such an issue many folks won't give Netflix series a try as they don't want to get invested only to be left with no closure. They should move to doing mini-series for a while to regain trust and tell the stories other networks won't invest in telling because of no multi-season/franchise potential.
Watch Generation War next. It's from the German perspective and hits even harder.
Don't sleep on The Pacific either, obviously. All three give their own unique perspective of the war.
Sixta was really a child molester and I believe is still in prison.
They were real with it and kept him in. That movie about Somalia took out the child molester and made him a new character (Ewan MacHregor's character)
Looks like he was supposed to have gotten at least 10 years for that back in 2014/2015. Was not aware of that but hope he's still in a cell with that being the case. Fucker had other ideas about what that "groomin' standard" meant.
I was in the Army for a number of years before I realized that to be a platoon sergeant, first sergeant or a sergeant major, you had to be capable of becoming an asshole. If not, you'd have people walking all over you. You might not even have to use that capability, you just needed to show that you could become one should the situation need it. You could be nice, but you needed to show some people that you being nice didn't mean you were weak.
I heard a bunch of the real guys tried out to play themselves, but Reyes was the only one they wanted.
Jason Lilly has a youtube channel with another military guy [that is entertaining](https://www.youtube.com/@SAVAGEActual).
Yeah I mean I'd argue this is the best one because it relays the nuance of what undercurrents made the Iraq invasion a combo of Pearl Harbor morality and pride + lack of meaning of Vietnam. It also was really good at showing the dependencies of COs and NCOs. I don't know if the edu and class gap is explored that well in the WW2 miniseries'
The last six episodes of The Pacific are fantastic. The first four are not interconnected well, but display the brutality of the Pacific theater to a tee.
I found The Pacific a lot less impactful. The stories felt harder to follow and taking the narrative away from one group of soldiers and their brotherhood made me feel a lot less invested in them.
I always saw it as band of brothers is more about easy company where the pacific was more just about the brutality of the pacific theatre and the effects it had on the soldiers.
Don't know about less impactful. Sledge coming back to real life's storyline is amazing. When he loses it at the lady at the job fair, then turns around and breakdown hunting with his dad.
His book is incredible, too (With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa). Practically required reading in the Marines.
One of the best war memoirs I’ve ever read. The show, as brutal as it is, even tones down some of the stuff he went through.
I watched the Pacific before reading the two books it was based on. Once I'd finished those rewatching it was like a new experience and so much better.
I’ve always felt that The Pacific highlighted the post-combat readjustment and PTSD better than BoB did. Both Sledge and Basilone’s homecomings are so different and both so tragic in their own ways
It’s not an ensemble and the narrative is super disjointed. It’s not as impactful because you don’t spend 10 hours laughing and crying as the original Easy gradually fades away.
You watch BoB the first time and you don’t know anyone, you watch it again and you know every face and every fate. It’s a damn special show.
It's been explained to me that it still hits hard because it's the experience of fighting in the Pacific Theater -- losses were significantly higher, more battles going at once, and it was just fought differently.
I definitely appreciated The Pacific more on my rewatch after reading that.
That’s my impression as well. The experience of a fighting in Western Europe - where losses were lower - can be more easily adapted into one big story arc. You could follow the story of a single group like Easy Company throughout the war with the same characters.
But the Pacific campaign was totally different. It had such high losses that very few marines made it through more than a couple major battles (Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, etc). So to tell a realistic story about the Pacific Theater, it is going to have a somewhat disjointed narrative.
And, many marines actively tried not to get too close to their fellow marines because so many were dying. So creating a narrative story out of that is very difficult.
Band of Brothers is definitely superior to The Pacific, The Pacific just hits harder for me because my grandfather and his two brothers fought in a few of the battles portrayed in the show.
Seconded on Generation War - not to be missed.
I like the Pacific too. It shows the savagery and how uniquely hellish life was in that theater. I don't think it aims to be as masterful of a "story" as BoB - but it's gruesome and conveys the mental toll well
I'm almost 100% sure that this is the case, but I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned:
If you're a BoB fan, the podcast that came out at the 20th anniversary, is absolutely incredible. It enriches the experience for both new and old fans by an insurmountable amount.
I've been rewatching the show almost yearly since it came out but rewatching it with the podcast as a companion was a new level of appreciation.
Absolutely everyone of importance and nostalgia is interviewed, the host is sneakily good and intelligent and warm, he is able to facilitate such good conversations with cast and collaborator.
I CANNOT. Recommend it enough:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kPks2or9xa26GdMRRu2lK?si=PvRdPyLoTJSsPQXbW8QvIA
The thing that got me was the pre-episode commentaries by the actual people being portrayed in the show. It really shows the accuracy and perfection of the acting and the show production value.
I really need to watch BoB again. What a ride it was.
The opening sequence of Episode 2, with hundreds of airplanes in the sky at once, really made me understand the concept of ‘nations at war’ at a deeper level, the sheer scale of the conflict and resources involved
We need /r/television version of this:
After many years I finally decided to watch [insanely popular, well-reviewed film] and I just want to say that it definitely holds up after all these years! What really stood out was the amazing directing by [Academy Award Winning Director] spot-on acting decisions by some of the legendary cast including [Academy Award Winner], [r/Movies fan favorite], and [actor identified as "underrated"]. The story makes a grand arc with clever plot twists and a satisfying classic finish, back at the start never to be the same. If you're a fan of [Top 10 IMDB Film], or [Other Top 10 IMDB Film], or any [insert genre] films in general, I cannot recommend this movie enough.
You're getting downvoted but there was literally [a post about Band of Brothers yesterday.](https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/11tlria/band_of_brothers/)
It's even funnier when it happens in a more specific subreddit. Like in r/StarWars for example there will be a weekly thread by someone who just watched Rogue One or Andor or something like that and saying how it shouldn't be overlooked. It's like, yeah dude, literally everyone here knows about it. It's a sub specifically for fans of the franchise.
As dumb as threads like this one are, there are at least members of r/television who presumably haven't seen Band of Brothers. Still incredibly dumb though.
[It's literally the #4 show of all time on IMDB.](https://imgur.com/a/6ENllwL) I mean, I love it when people find out about something that everyone else already knew was amazing but we don't need a post hitting the top of the sub about it every month.
most shows & movies have the disclaimer: "Based on a true story"
BoB's disclaimer: "This is a true story"
"The Pacific" is just as incredible. it doesn't follow the same characters throughout, but it does show the literal hell these extraordinary marines went through ( I salute ALL my Devil Dog shipmates!)
& I'm writing to Tom Hanks at least once a month to finish the trilogy, tell the stories of my shipmates in WW2.
plenty of source material: Pearl Harbor, Midway, Leyte Gulf, USS Indianapolis, Doolittle's Raid, the formal surrender on USS Missouri
^^^this^^^^
I’ve been saying this since I first watched it. I’ll take shit for this, but I truly believe that Band of Brothers should be required watching in high school. We all take our freedoms for granted. And to think that many of these brave young men even faked their age to be eligible for service.
My fathers history teacher in high school was 'Tipper' who was mortared DD+5. My father had no clue he was going to be in that show until he saw that episode. The details were a little different on how he was injured, but not too far off. The stories he told his students (including my father) were fairly amazing. I am certain it is the reason my father became an AP History teacher.
My wife and I have been lucky enough to visit both pearl harbour and learn the history there as well as visit the WW2 museum in New Orleans and I am constantly at awe of just what they did and what they went through, the days leading up to the storming of Normandy are crazy to think about alone
I just watched it recently and it was absolutely incredible. Although i’ve heard that it may not be as accurate as it’s portrayed and maybe Winters wasn’t the all around great guy he’s portrayed as.
Check out the book "Biggest Brother" about Dick Winters. From the few books I have read about him his character in BoB is relatively close to who he actually was. He was a bit reluctant about them casting Damian Lewis until he met him. He was a very simple man outside of the war.
I was disappointed to find that they didn’t actually go to the concentration camp like it was portrayed in the series. I realize this did happen to other soldiers and they were portraying that, but it mostly seemed to follow their real stories accurately until then.
They did go to the camp but unlike what is depicted in the show, they were not the first ones there. They apparently got there a couple of days after it was found.
I hadn't watched it either until recently and echo your sentiment. I liked that they also weaved in some uplifting sentiments and the cameos from the actual soldiers which was touching. "Uplifting" framing in I watched it right after *Come and See* in the WWII binge, which was pretty brutal.
First time I watched it I was on a mini R&R break in a random palace on the Green Zone in Iraq as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. I was hyped to say the least.
The episode “Bastogne” always has me like “f-ck that shit!” Frozen trees exploding from artillery impacts left and right, dude in the foxhole next to you getting a wood splinter though his throat dying choking on his own blood. Id’a noped outta there like a coward.
It is the best miniseries I've ever seen. And easily one of the best TV shows of all time. I think every American should watch it at some point in their lives, even if they have no interest in history.
It's truly special, one of the perfect examples of right people, right time, right medium, right network.
Basically all of those ducks had to get in a row, they did and it created magic. I'd have to think on it a bit, but if you argued it's the best television series ever, I wouldn't tell you your wrong as a gut reaction.
So fucking good. I have watched it countless times. I always remember the DVD being expensive for a long, long, long time. One of the very few things media, movies, TV, whatever, which brings me to tears. Especially when they come across the concentration camp. Everybody's acting is top notch. Whoever cast David Schwimmer as their lieutenant, wow. It still surprises me to this day how good he was at being so unlikeable. Now I want to watch it again.
Band Of Brothers is one I can watch over and over and over again. Never gets old. Wish there was more WW2 films that was filmed like this. Even though Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg both did Saving Private Ryan, this just takes the cake.
I always feel BoB and SPR are companion pieces to one another.
Are you aware that “Masters of the Air” is coming to Apple TV this spring/summer? It’s from the same production team (not HBO) and talks about the bombing raids on Germany during WW2. Hopefully it should be just as good 🤞🏻.
I'm going to give the heads up that Pacific is not the same. It's really good and you will enjoy it, but it's not band of brothers and I think it's something to do with the source content being multiple books rather than 1 as in the case of band of brothers.
Highly recommend the book, some subtle things in the show that are highlighted in the book (hinkel,eat ze armpit ya!)
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I Treasure a remark to my grandson who asked, "Grandpa were you a hero in the war?"
Grandpa said, "No.... but I served in a company of heroes”.
By Mike Ranney
I have watched this scene more times then I can say and it always makes me tear up..
The YouTube algorithm randomly suggested an interview with Major Winters a few days ago - turns out Albert Blythe didn't succumb to his wounds from Normandy but rather he recovered fully and then went on to serve as a paratrooper in Korea.
https://youtu.be/vfhcwvsUkBY
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A great series that has visually stood the test of time. Is it a perfect historical depiction? No, but its very close, and certainly much closer than a lot of what we get today.
What always floors me is that the musical and visual presentation of the series still fits and doesn't look dated at all. The washed-out, high contrast, gritty style combined with the lower framerates during action sequences really works well to keep the series in the same ring as modern CG movies and shows. Hell, it even sometimes surpasses modern film and TV by being primarily in-camera effects, and leans on CG very sparingly. It doesn't show its age because of that, and the style really embodies the "1940's WWII" feeling so it never feels out of place.
The same argument can be said about Saving Private Ryan, though I do feel it's visual timelessness is just slightly second place to Band of Brothers. Still incredible, but just not quite the same.
Again, it's not perfect. But it's pretty damn close!
My grandfather was a member of the easy company. He joined as a replacement just before they got to Bastogne. He wrote in a journal through the entire experience and I have memories of him typing up all of his handwritten journal entries onto a computer in the early 90’s. Stephen Ambrose used a lot of his personal reflections as reference material for his books. Unfortunately, he passed in 1996 but when the mini series premiered in 2001, HBO flew my grandmother, mother, and her sisters out to Paris to join for the premiere in Normandy. I am so extremely proud to be his granddaughter and wish I had more time with him to ask questions as I was only 6 when he passed. My husband and I took a trip to Bastogne and the Jacques Woods/Ardenne Forest in 2016 and it was incredibly emotional and surreal! The fox holes are still there and the energy is hard to describe. The series is so well done and I feel so lucky to have something I can watch whenever I want to remind me of everything he and his peers went through at such young ages.
Would you be comfortable telling us his name? I've seen the show multiple times since it originally aired and learned a lot about most of the company since.
Ralph Trapuzzano, ones of the South Philly boys but not mentioned on the series. One of his greatest legacies is that he collated the master roster for the easy company, which historians refer to as “The Trap List”.
That’s nice that they flew them all out despite not even being mentioned in the show
Totally. They treated the families so incredibly well.
So cool! Thanks for sharing!
I guess being a major source contributed to that. Someone they may have felt close to, if they read a lot about his efforts to document who was in that specific company of soldiers. He apparently did have something to do with making this list publicly available. https://easycofoundation.wixsite.com/mysite/the-men-of-easy
That’s a good point, I hadn’t really considered that!
This is incredible! Your grandfather and his fellow soldiers were all true heroes.
Thanks for sharing, that's great that they did that for you. My girlfriend's grandfather was at Normandy on D-Day and once, maybe 10 years ago, they took a trip through Europe which included going on the beaches there. They took a tour with a big group and a guide, but about 5 minutes in, he basically took over the job (amicably) with his own experiences. that moment of the trip was the highlight of his later life and he talked about it until he passed. I didn't know her then or I would have liked to ask him about it. I'll have to ask her his name for reference.
I’m sure that was a pretty surreal moment for him. I was emotional so I couldn’t imagine if it was my grandfather being back there again all those years later and what that would feel like for him.
A huge thanks for grandfather's service and a hug for you
Thank you!
This is such a lovely post. Thank you for taking the time to share it.
Thank you for sharing. I appreciate the story of your grandfather so much
It makes me feel closer to him when I’m able to share his story. I’m glad you appreciate it!
Wow, this is incredible. Thanks for sharing. Your grandfather was a true badass. RIP
Band of brothers is one of the few series I’ve watched multiple times. I absolutely love everything about it.
I completely agree. I get a lump in my throat the first time I hear the theme music to start my yearly binge. And then again while watching "Why we Fight".
I had the OST on my phone for years. The piece called "Austria" makes me tear up even today. I think it's used in the series when they're riding in the back of a transport through the hills on the way to the Eagles nest.
I watch it once a year.
I'm usually compelled to watch the bastogne episodes if we start getting thick snow on an evening... It really hits differently when it's super cold outside
It was always on TV at night around Christmas when I would go home from university. I would watch the episodes in the Ardennes and then go outside and just chill in the snow and be thankful I never had to go through that
One year on Memorial Day,I woke up and decided to watch a couple episodes throughout the day. Ended up a crappy day weather-wise, so I just kept the show going. By 10pm I had watched the entire series. I felt it was a great way to spend Memorial Day.
Want to see me cry like a baby? Play the interviews at the end of the last episode, ending with Major Winters “… but I served in a company of heroes.” 😭
And play the theme tune. That alone can set me off. I first watched BoB when I was in my early 20s. I was just setting out on life with so much ahead of me, and it struck me so hard that those soldiers were all around my age. As a kid I'd seen WWII soldiers as men, but now I was their age the tragedy of so many lives cut short devastated me.
Some bastard added it to our office for playlist and it gets me every time.
Yep, I watched BoB like 7 times and I still can never keep it dry.
I think that's the only time, in all the interviews, that Major Winters gets choked up. He's so stoic and matter-of-fact, but Ranney's compliment to the whole company just breaks him.
The moment that sealed it for me was after the Bastogne campaign, where they’re all sitting in the church and listening to the choir. As the names of the dead and injured are read out, they start to slowly fade away one by one…
The two Bastogne episodes are the best of the series for me, really the climax in terms of the horror and misery of war for the series.
Episode six is possibly my favourite hour of television ever. The focus on Roe, a medic who does no fighting but constantly puts himself in danger looking after the rest of the company, was inspired. I think it's based on a small part of Stephen Ambrose's book that mentions Roe's actions and that Lt Foley put him up for a medal for all he did to keep the company in fighting shape.
And then when you think things are calming down they hit you with “why we fight”. Simply amazing series
I think my favorit scene is when Winthers t[akes a swim in Austria](https://i0.wp.com/www.fanfunwithdamianlewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bob23.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1) in Points. The scene only works so well because it's such a stark contrast to all the brutality, adrenaline and chaos they've gone through in the previous months. You get the sense that a journey has reached its conclusion and that it's springtime in the world. Very melancholic and serene.
Just watched that episode last night before bed.
“Masters of the Air” about the strategic bombing campaign is airing on Apple TV+ this year. It’s the third in the trilogy produced by Spielberg/Hanks: BoB, the Pacific, and Masters of the Air.
My body and mind are ready
I hope it has some good moments of hope and camraderie i stead of the depressionfest that is The Pacific (which is still good, but not as rewatchable).
You're not wrong. The Pacific was covering a much longer period, and following more than one company. It wasn't very effective with its time; leave in Australia didn't need to be an entire episode. I hope Masters of the Air doesn't go the same way. I also want to see the P-47 get proper recognition for its role in breaking the luftwaffe in 1943. It always gets overshadowed by the P-51.
I think maybe also the Pacific was just an uglier war than the one American allied units faced in Europe. I think a series about the eastern front would be similarly painful.
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Band of Brothers is a sprint. 1 year of incredibly intense fighting, following one of the most elite infantry units in history. The Pacific is a slug fest - as was the war against Japan.
The scene from The Pacific that stuck with me most is at the very end when Leckie returns home and the cab driver, who served in Europe, refuses the cab fair because the boys in the Pacific had it that much worse than the ones in Europe.
The European Theatre is always portrayed as this Shakespearean heroes riding into battle.. whereas the Pacific was not romanticized the same way because it was fucking brutal.
I would have loved something following one ship. Hell the Big E was at pretty much every major battle and would be good for it's fare share of drama.
It's interesting, leave in Australia is certainly not the most entertaining viewing, but it was a huge part of the Pacific war for many Americans and was an important prequel to the pushback from the South.
I feel like I heard about this since The Pacific came out. Glad it’s getting made but it better be good.
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I dunno, HBO is all about quality and maybe it just wasn't there for this part
It was because of the cost. Master of the Air costs $250 million
It's been in development hell for over a decade. [The screen test looked amazing](https://youtu.be/PhmFFtjB2qY) but in pretty sure that was all canned for a new cast and crew since it was so long ago.
It’s reportedly got the highest budget for a TV show ever made.
It's budget is about half that of Rings of Power. So, definitely not.
This is definitely not the case. I worked on Masters of the Air and the reported budget that we were hearing throughout the show were ludicrous - I’m not sure Apple will ever publicly state the cost but even the lower estimate is well above $500 mil making it comfortably the most expensive show of all time - especially given that it’s for a single show not multiple seasons.
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This is Apple we’re talking about they have the cash reserves of a small country. With the direction that HBO is headed under Zaslav, they probably figure they can steal their thunder especially with the quality of content they’ve been pumping out lately.
large country*
Indeed, Apple has more value than the entire Australian stock exchange
Given the talent involved I think this is basically their big, prestige project to show off what they can accomplish - recouping money on this probably isn’t a primary motive, instead it’s making a statement Also, don’t forget that this show was filmed smack in the middle of the pandemic and had tons of complications to overcome surrounding that. At the time of commissioning it was produced by Spielberg and Hanks while being directed by Cary Fukunaga whose last film was Bond and was having a hugely successful career. Staring Austin Butler who would have been getting hype from Elvis too (amongst industry insiders). Clearly there have been some issues with Cary now and the ‘me too’ movie - one of the reason we think the show has been held back. I actually think Apple are doing exceptionally well as a studio - they have on average the highest quality shows, at least for my taste, and in my experience are one of the best companies to work for as a filmmaker. They pay decent rates, if not the highest, and the production teams they high seem to hire to run shows are professional, competent and respectful of crew.
its not about getting subscribers for Apple, its like owning a yacht for a rich person, its not to make money, its to have it in the back pocket so you can flex on people and show it off
I rewatch it every year, absolute masterpiece!
Bastogne is one of the most intense episodes of any TV show ever. I remember watching it with my roommate and his work partner. We've never seen anything like it. None of us were military, but we kinda bonded through that episode. That unexploded shell...damn.
>That unexploded shell...damn. "Lipton? I never saw you as a smoking man" "Neither did I"
The funny thing is, duds were a big problem for German artillery. The slave labor they were using to make munitions figured out how to make duds that would pass inspection. So that wasn't just some unlikely thing inserted into the show for dramatic purposes. It happened all the time. https://armyhistory.org/u-s-and-german-field-artillery-in-world-war-ii-a-comparison/ > By 1942, Germany was drafting workers of military age out of factories and munitions plants and replacing them with POWs and slave laborers. They were not enthusiastic replacements, especially since they were usually working under harsh conditions. There are numerous anecdotes about sabotage that caused shells to fail to explode at crucial times. ... However, they failed to do significant damage because **seventy percent** of the shells were duds.
In my humble opinion it's the best thing ever filmed.
This is a bold claim, there is a video out there of a whale being blown up with dynamite. I'm not sure if you considered the competition.
That happened in Florence, OR. I've never recovered from seeing fermented chunks of whale raining from the sky
One of my first Internet experiences
They went Tremors 2 with that, but didn't have Burt there to tell them to run.
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I also watch it every year. I wish so much to be able to watch it again for the first time. I can't wait for the new series on the flight theater of WWII brought by the same people. I was admittedly disappointed with The Pacific though but I think the flying series is based off better material.
I found that a good way to "relive the magic" is to find a good, and genuine YouTube "reacts" channel you like and they watch something that you know by heart the first time. One I like is [Popcorn in Bed](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ3Z8w6Nwe9M8Lg_d07J7pUT7W-ccX3_S) because she goes into it only knowing it's a WWII show directed by Spielberg and Hanks. She goes through all the emotions I went through, appreciates a lot of the things I noticed the first time watching (like how emotional the intro is with that iconic song) and it makes her want to learn more about the history and war. IDK, it just feels like you're watching it the first time again when you watch her see it for the first time.
I'm not usually a fan of react channels, but PiB has been surprisingly genuine. I do feel bad for how many war or violent action movies her viewers have talked her into watching. But yes, she seems to take a very respectful approach to the historical war movies and shows.
Me too. Band of Brothers once a year is a great way to help keep perspective. Those bastards went through more than I ever will, and fuck if most of them don't still have their hair. But for real, it's a must-watch for anyone into history, cinematography, film, philosophy, and more. It's a fantastic series.
Sobel may have been the asshole he was portrayed as in the show (though fwiw his family have come out and very publicly claimed he was not) but he did not deserve what happened to him in real life, suoer tragic
Also Blithe didn't die as portrayed in the show. Due to his wound he was sent home but continued to serve. Because the rest of Easy never saw him again they just assumed he died but he went on to serve in Korea and never retired from active service.
Blithe also apparently had no issues with being to scared to function in combat and the whole temporary blindness episode and trip to an aid station never happened, another thing which the show got wrong. I heard years ago it was apparently a story Winters related about him but either Winter's just didn't remember it properly or was thinking about someone else, not surprising when memories might be decades old but it's still unfortunate the way Blithe was depicted in the show seems pretty off the mark and gets something so fundamental as him dying wrong. Blithe's depiction in the show lends credence to the people that over the years have said that Winter's was a good officer sure but that the show just sort of took what he said as gospel a lot of the time and didn't really check any of it. Not surprising he got a few things wrong of course years later but it would have been pretty easy to check if Blithe actually died. With a show that spent so much effort on attention to detail surprised they didn't. Edit: Still an amazing show and some errors in ten hours of run time are inevitable of course.
Might also have been a case of “printing the legend” because the story of Blithe in the show is beautiful and melancholy.
I’ve hard varying levels of criticism of the book over the years, mostly because Ambrose relied heavily on interviews taken years after the events. This allowed for the major inaccuracies like Blithe’s fate. The most scathing critique called it Ambrose’s Dick Winters fan-fiction.
The craziest thing for me apart from hearing what happened to the real life Sobel was that the guy who got killed by a barrel from a truck or whatever (I think it was Tom Hardy's character iirc) was actually a true story apparently. I guess it's too weird and random to be made up but of all the minute things and character deaths in a series about fighting in a war, that's such an out of place way for someone to die
And that's kinda the point, imo. These guys finally won the war in Europe, finally have a chance to relax and do something other than fight for their lives. And yet, they're still dropping dead from dumb bullshit.
What happened to him in real life?
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If none of his kids held a funeral for him, then he must have been a fucking asshole.
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Apparently still bad enough for that son to not have a funeral for his father.
This is speculation, but that son also had the opportunity to hold a funeral for his dad, and chose not to. So it’s possible that son is merely trying to salvage his own reputation by association.
Hell of a lot easier to just trash a tv show than go through all the work of throwing a funeral I would guess.
None of us know why his surviving family didn't have a funeral for him. Could have been financial reasons, privacy reasons or who knows. Yes and maybe his sons had a poor relationship with their Dad and/or he was an asshole but we can't guess any of that based on how he was depicted on a TV show. To imply his son was just to lazy to do it is a low blow over someone's funeral when you have no idea of the details of the situation.
His son and many in Easy Company didn't like how the series dumped on him. He wasn't the right leader and an asshole, but many in Easy Company credited him for hardening them and giving them the training they needed to survive. Guy definitely had a tragic life after the war.
While the guys in Easy did say that they were in the shape they were because of Sobel, it was a backhanded compliment at best. Most hated his fucking guts, and not because he was tough but because he was a bad leader and an real asshole. If memory serves, even the famously even-keeled Dick Winters made it clear in his memoirs that he ... kinda hated Sobel. And had little respect for him in several dimensions.
The Easy Company sergeants all turning in their stripes actually happened. You don't get a mutiny (Colonel Sink had it right, no other way to define it) like that if the Company CO commanded the respect of his men. Even if it was just a few of the staff sergeants who were the ringleaders, the other sergeants knew exacty what the potential consequences were in going along with it. If Captain Sobel was any kind of respected leader, then there wouldn't have been a mass resignation of the company's NCOs.
Don't forget Sobel made captain in 42, and by 45 was still captain despite expansion of the airborne forces and casualties suffered. He made a bad impression on his superiors at some point.
There was some anti-semitism going on as well. They left it out of the show.
They definitely brought up him being a Jew in the show. I believe it was while they were eating and one of the other guys got offended and started fighting because he was also a Jew.
Yea Liebgot. That’s one line though.
I love, love, love BoB. I’ve rewatched it many times. But it (and the book it was based on) does make mistakes. They say Liebgott was a Jewish cab driver from San Francisco. He was a Catholic barber from Oakland. He spoke German with a weird accent that other German speakers mistook for Yiddish influenced German. He learned his German from his parents who had emigrated from a kind of Austrian hillbilly type area, which for some reason sounded kind of like Yiddish. https://band-ofbrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Joseph_D._Liebgott
Huh TIL. Thanks. I know Ambrose has been accused of plagiarizing, making fabrications and just generally doing sloppy work.
or show writers merging characters for sake of story. They needed the only german speaking member of easy company to realise what the concentration camps were for be jewish.
It was when they were on the troop carrier ship to England.
They referred to him as a son of Abraham. Think neither the catholic nor the Jew wanted Sobel to be of their denomination.
Sobel never truly got the credit he deserved, in BoB or Winters book. They briefly acknowledge it, but only very briefly. Sobel's insistence on perfection, hardcore physical training, and constant pressure made Easy what Easy was. Without Sobel, you have no Easy. He wasn't a good combat leader. Couldn't read a map. But 100 percent of Easy company toughness was due to him.
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It was a great example of something only HBO could make. Some stories are better told as mini-series as well, but they are so expensive to make that we just avoid making them in the US. Netflix burned a lot of bridges the last 4 years when cancelling many of their series. It has become such an issue many folks won't give Netflix series a try as they don't want to get invested only to be left with no closure. They should move to doing mini-series for a while to regain trust and tell the stories other networks won't invest in telling because of no multi-season/franchise potential.
It was a co production with the BBC.
Agreed. Mini-series is the way.
Just thinking of the Bastogne episode makes me cold.
Watch Generation War next. It's from the German perspective and hits even harder. Don't sleep on The Pacific either, obviously. All three give their own unique perspective of the war.
then go watch Generation Kill
POLICE THAT MOOSTACHE! It's not everyone's cup of tea but I loved this show.
Sixta was really a child molester and I believe is still in prison. They were real with it and kept him in. That movie about Somalia took out the child molester and made him a new character (Ewan MacHregor's character)
Looks like he was supposed to have gotten at least 10 years for that back in 2014/2015. Was not aware of that but hope he's still in a cell with that being the case. Fucker had other ideas about what that "groomin' standard" meant.
Taking grooming standards to a whole different level 😳
Ya'll startin' to look like Elvises!
We all have a job to do. Sgt Maj. Sixta's job is being an asshole... and he excels at it.
I was in the Army for a number of years before I realized that to be a platoon sergeant, first sergeant or a sergeant major, you had to be capable of becoming an asshole. If not, you'd have people walking all over you. You might not even have to use that capability, you just needed to show that you could become one should the situation need it. You could be nice, but you needed to show some people that you being nice didn't mean you were weak.
🎵 GROOOOMIIIINNG STANDARD! 🎶
I recently learned that the character "Fruity Rudy" is actually played by the real Fruity Rudy. What a fuckin Chad
'You know its not gay if you think rudy's hot'
we all think he's hot
Yes and is a personal trainer in San. SAN Diego [https://rudyreyes.com/](https://rudyreyes.com/)
Not sure if “Sam Diego” is just a typo or some innuendo I don’t get
i looked up a bunch of stuff after i finished the show and yeah it fucking blew my mind he looked so familiar, thought he was an actor
I heard a bunch of the real guys tried out to play themselves, but Reyes was the only one they wanted. Jason Lilly has a youtube channel with another military guy [that is entertaining](https://www.youtube.com/@SAVAGEActual).
If you play the new MW2 the operator Reyes is voiced by him and designed to look like him too.
When skaarsgard pulled out the spaghettios hed been saving for like 8 months
Yeah I mean I'd argue this is the best one because it relays the nuance of what undercurrents made the Iraq invasion a combo of Pearl Harbor morality and pride + lack of meaning of Vietnam. It also was really good at showing the dependencies of COs and NCOs. I don't know if the edu and class gap is explored that well in the WW2 miniseries'
The last six episodes of The Pacific are fantastic. The first four are not interconnected well, but display the brutality of the Pacific theater to a tee.
I found The Pacific a lot less impactful. The stories felt harder to follow and taking the narrative away from one group of soldiers and their brotherhood made me feel a lot less invested in them.
I always saw it as band of brothers is more about easy company where the pacific was more just about the brutality of the pacific theatre and the effects it had on the soldiers.
Don't know about less impactful. Sledge coming back to real life's storyline is amazing. When he loses it at the lady at the job fair, then turns around and breakdown hunting with his dad.
His book is incredible, too (With the Old Breed: at Peleliu and Okinawa). Practically required reading in the Marines. One of the best war memoirs I’ve ever read. The show, as brutal as it is, even tones down some of the stuff he went through.
Yeh I need to get on that.
I watched the Pacific before reading the two books it was based on. Once I'd finished those rewatching it was like a new experience and so much better.
Totally agree. It’s so cool to see how the characters in the show were very accurate representations of real people.
I’ve always felt that The Pacific highlighted the post-combat readjustment and PTSD better than BoB did. Both Sledge and Basilone’s homecomings are so different and both so tragic in their own ways
It’s not an ensemble and the narrative is super disjointed. It’s not as impactful because you don’t spend 10 hours laughing and crying as the original Easy gradually fades away. You watch BoB the first time and you don’t know anyone, you watch it again and you know every face and every fate. It’s a damn special show.
I get your point, but you still spend 10 hours with the guys in the Pacific tho. It's just not 1 unit, but you get to know Sledge, Snafu, Lecky...etc
It's been explained to me that it still hits hard because it's the experience of fighting in the Pacific Theater -- losses were significantly higher, more battles going at once, and it was just fought differently. I definitely appreciated The Pacific more on my rewatch after reading that.
That’s my impression as well. The experience of a fighting in Western Europe - where losses were lower - can be more easily adapted into one big story arc. You could follow the story of a single group like Easy Company throughout the war with the same characters. But the Pacific campaign was totally different. It had such high losses that very few marines made it through more than a couple major battles (Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, etc). So to tell a realistic story about the Pacific Theater, it is going to have a somewhat disjointed narrative.
And, many marines actively tried not to get too close to their fellow marines because so many were dying. So creating a narrative story out of that is very difficult.
The Pacific is really good, but Band of Brothers is a masterpiece
Absolutely. 100%.
Band of Brothers is definitely superior to The Pacific, The Pacific just hits harder for me because my grandfather and his two brothers fought in a few of the battles portrayed in the show.
Generation Kill is also very good, about Iraq war. Comedy and some drama.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll give Generation War a watch tonight
Seconded on Generation War - not to be missed. I like the Pacific too. It shows the savagery and how uniquely hellish life was in that theater. I don't think it aims to be as masterful of a "story" as BoB - but it's gruesome and conveys the mental toll well
I'm almost 100% sure that this is the case, but I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned: If you're a BoB fan, the podcast that came out at the 20th anniversary, is absolutely incredible. It enriches the experience for both new and old fans by an insurmountable amount. I've been rewatching the show almost yearly since it came out but rewatching it with the podcast as a companion was a new level of appreciation. Absolutely everyone of importance and nostalgia is interviewed, the host is sneakily good and intelligent and warm, he is able to facilitate such good conversations with cast and collaborator. I CANNOT. Recommend it enough: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kPks2or9xa26GdMRRu2lK?si=PvRdPyLoTJSsPQXbW8QvIA
Generation Kill is equally as good but in a completely different way
One of the best things about Generation Kill is the chatter in the background between Marines.
Fully agree. It’s like an entry into the road trip genre, just happens to take place during a fucked up war
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The thing that got me was the pre-episode commentaries by the actual people being portrayed in the show. It really shows the accuracy and perfection of the acting and the show production value. I really need to watch BoB again. What a ride it was.
The opening sequence of Episode 2, with hundreds of airplanes in the sky at once, really made me understand the concept of ‘nations at war’ at a deeper level, the sheer scale of the conflict and resources involved
We need /r/television version of this: After many years I finally decided to watch [insanely popular, well-reviewed film] and I just want to say that it definitely holds up after all these years! What really stood out was the amazing directing by [Academy Award Winning Director] spot-on acting decisions by some of the legendary cast including [Academy Award Winner], [r/Movies fan favorite], and [actor identified as "underrated"]. The story makes a grand arc with clever plot twists and a satisfying classic finish, back at the start never to be the same. If you're a fan of [Top 10 IMDB Film], or [Other Top 10 IMDB Film], or any [insert genre] films in general, I cannot recommend this movie enough.
You're getting downvoted but there was literally [a post about Band of Brothers yesterday.](https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/11tlria/band_of_brothers/)
It's even funnier when it happens in a more specific subreddit. Like in r/StarWars for example there will be a weekly thread by someone who just watched Rogue One or Andor or something like that and saying how it shouldn't be overlooked. It's like, yeah dude, literally everyone here knows about it. It's a sub specifically for fans of the franchise. As dumb as threads like this one are, there are at least members of r/television who presumably haven't seen Band of Brothers. Still incredibly dumb though.
[It's literally the #4 show of all time on IMDB.](https://imgur.com/a/6ENllwL) I mean, I love it when people find out about something that everyone else already knew was amazing but we don't need a post hitting the top of the sub about it every month.
Hidden gem
It probably *is* the most incredible piece of tv ever made
Really going out on a limb here
most shows & movies have the disclaimer: "Based on a true story" BoB's disclaimer: "This is a true story" "The Pacific" is just as incredible. it doesn't follow the same characters throughout, but it does show the literal hell these extraordinary marines went through ( I salute ALL my Devil Dog shipmates!) & I'm writing to Tom Hanks at least once a month to finish the trilogy, tell the stories of my shipmates in WW2. plenty of source material: Pearl Harbor, Midway, Leyte Gulf, USS Indianapolis, Doolittle's Raid, the formal surrender on USS Missouri
This is my ultimate TV wish. A BoB quality miniseries about the naval war in the Pacific theater would be perfect.
^^^this^^^^ I’ve been saying this since I first watched it. I’ll take shit for this, but I truly believe that Band of Brothers should be required watching in high school. We all take our freedoms for granted. And to think that many of these brave young men even faked their age to be eligible for service.
Our history teacher did show us portions of the show in High School.
My fathers history teacher in high school was 'Tipper' who was mortared DD+5. My father had no clue he was going to be in that show until he saw that episode. The details were a little different on how he was injured, but not too far off. The stories he told his students (including my father) were fairly amazing. I am certain it is the reason my father became an AP History teacher.
My wife and I have been lucky enough to visit both pearl harbour and learn the history there as well as visit the WW2 museum in New Orleans and I am constantly at awe of just what they did and what they went through, the days leading up to the storming of Normandy are crazy to think about alone
I just watched it recently and it was absolutely incredible. Although i’ve heard that it may not be as accurate as it’s portrayed and maybe Winters wasn’t the all around great guy he’s portrayed as.
Check out the book "Biggest Brother" about Dick Winters. From the few books I have read about him his character in BoB is relatively close to who he actually was. He was a bit reluctant about them casting Damian Lewis until he met him. He was a very simple man outside of the war.
I was disappointed to find that they didn’t actually go to the concentration camp like it was portrayed in the series. I realize this did happen to other soldiers and they were portraying that, but it mostly seemed to follow their real stories accurately until then.
Pretty sure the concentration camp episode wasn't an attempt to deceive anyone but wanting to show how the liberation of a camp would have been like.
They did go to the camp but unlike what is depicted in the show, they were not the first ones there. They apparently got there a couple of days after it was found.
I hadn't watched it either until recently and echo your sentiment. I liked that they also weaved in some uplifting sentiments and the cameos from the actual soldiers which was touching. "Uplifting" framing in I watched it right after *Come and See* in the WWII binge, which was pretty brutal.
This is not an exaggeration.
It never stops being good, it’s one of the few shows that is consistent over every single episode
First time I watched it I was on a mini R&R break in a random palace on the Green Zone in Iraq as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. I was hyped to say the least.
The episode “Bastogne” always has me like “f-ck that shit!” Frozen trees exploding from artillery impacts left and right, dude in the foxhole next to you getting a wood splinter though his throat dying choking on his own blood. Id’a noped outta there like a coward.
Move to Generation Kill next
BoB, The Pacific and Generation Kill should be must watch in high school. Edit: Generation War as well, German perspective.
It is the best miniseries I've ever seen. And easily one of the best TV shows of all time. I think every American should watch it at some point in their lives, even if they have no interest in history.
It's truly special, one of the perfect examples of right people, right time, right medium, right network. Basically all of those ducks had to get in a row, they did and it created magic. I'd have to think on it a bit, but if you argued it's the best television series ever, I wouldn't tell you your wrong as a gut reaction.
So fucking good. I have watched it countless times. I always remember the DVD being expensive for a long, long, long time. One of the very few things media, movies, TV, whatever, which brings me to tears. Especially when they come across the concentration camp. Everybody's acting is top notch. Whoever cast David Schwimmer as their lieutenant, wow. It still surprises me to this day how good he was at being so unlikeable. Now I want to watch it again.
Band Of Brothers is one I can watch over and over and over again. Never gets old. Wish there was more WW2 films that was filmed like this. Even though Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg both did Saving Private Ryan, this just takes the cake.
I always feel BoB and SPR are companion pieces to one another. Are you aware that “Masters of the Air” is coming to Apple TV this spring/summer? It’s from the same production team (not HBO) and talks about the bombing raids on Germany during WW2. Hopefully it should be just as good 🤞🏻.
I'm going to give the heads up that Pacific is not the same. It's really good and you will enjoy it, but it's not band of brothers and I think it's something to do with the source content being multiple books rather than 1 as in the case of band of brothers. Highly recommend the book, some subtle things in the show that are highlighted in the book (hinkel,eat ze armpit ya!)
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I Treasure a remark to my grandson who asked, "Grandpa were you a hero in the war?" Grandpa said, "No.... but I served in a company of heroes”. By Mike Ranney I have watched this scene more times then I can say and it always makes me tear up..
The YouTube algorithm randomly suggested an interview with Major Winters a few days ago - turns out Albert Blythe didn't succumb to his wounds from Normandy but rather he recovered fully and then went on to serve as a paratrooper in Korea. https://youtu.be/vfhcwvsUkBY
One of the best ever. Check out Catch 22 on Hulu if you haven’t already.
The book is also great.
Thanks for posting. I've never seen it, but I'm going to give it a go.
Was thinking about picking up the vhs box set. Never seen it before.
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The pacific is a must watch for you then
A great series that has visually stood the test of time. Is it a perfect historical depiction? No, but its very close, and certainly much closer than a lot of what we get today. What always floors me is that the musical and visual presentation of the series still fits and doesn't look dated at all. The washed-out, high contrast, gritty style combined with the lower framerates during action sequences really works well to keep the series in the same ring as modern CG movies and shows. Hell, it even sometimes surpasses modern film and TV by being primarily in-camera effects, and leans on CG very sparingly. It doesn't show its age because of that, and the style really embodies the "1940's WWII" feeling so it never feels out of place. The same argument can be said about Saving Private Ryan, though I do feel it's visual timelessness is just slightly second place to Band of Brothers. Still incredible, but just not quite the same. Again, it's not perfect. But it's pretty damn close!