Battleground
Director: William A. Wellman
Genre: Black-and-white, War film, Action, Action/Adventure, Combat Films, Drama
Year: 1949
Country: United States of America
Starring: George Murphy, Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalbán, James Arness, Bruce Cowling, James Whitmore, Jerome Courtland, Marshall Thompson, Don Taylor, Leon Ames, Douglas Fowley
Battleground is a 1949 American war film that tells the story of the 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon of Item Company, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, trying to cope with the Siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. It stars Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy, and features James Whitmore. It was directed by William Wellman from a script by Robert Pirosh.
The film is notable for portraying American soldiers as vulnerable and human, as opposed to just inspirational and gung-ho. While there is no question about their courage and steadfastness, each soldier has at least one moment in the film when he seriously considers running away, schemes to get sent away from the front line, slacks off, or complains about the situation he is in. Battleground is considered to be the first significant film about World War II to be made and released after the end of the war.
In mid-December 1944, Jim Layton (Marshall Thompson) and his buddy, William J. Hooper, replacement soldiers fresh from the United States, are assigned to separate companies in a battalion of glider infantry in the 101st Airborne Division. Holley (Van Johnson)
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