Battleground
(MGM, 1949)
On the anniversary of the Battle of The Bulge, one of the best versions of it this side of Band Of Brothers, with a cast of mostly baby-faced future stars such as James Arness, Richard Jaeckel, Ricardo Montalban, and an ancient-looking 27-year-old little force of nature playing the platoon sergeant, for which he received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, a fellow named James Whitmore - in precisely his third film ever. Being all of 3 years out of a hitch in the Marines as both an NCO and officer during WWII, it wasn't much of a stretch.
Sometime when you think you have it rough, some December put on an old set of cammies, go out in the woods, heat up a can of pork and beans, dig a hole, and sleep in the snow under one thin wool blanket, and remember the Battered Bastards of Bastogne.
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