Anzio

Customer Reviews:

i loved this movie as a kid , but it really doesn't hold up well.......2006-05-19

when i was young i loved this movie and can remember watching it. sadly it has not stood the test of time very well. the history of the movie is very far from fact and the whole cast looks like they want to get as far away from the screen as they can. to make it worse the battle scenes are just ok not great like a movie like this needs,and that just makes this all the more a reason to avoid this one.

A War Drama Based on Two Themes.......2004-09-03

Anzio explores two themes.

First, the movie explores WHY men go to war, concluding that the main reason men and societies go to war is because they LIKE killing. Robert Mitchum's character poses this question to a general early in the film, and the events in the film lead Mitchum to draw this conclusion at the end.

Second, the movie explores the idea that a general can be too timid. The movie treats us to the timid general's battle plan, which is organized for the reason of having as little loss of human life as possible. Mitchum's character poses a question to the general using a quote from Napolean, and they discuss the idea. Events in the film lead us to accept Mitchum's conclusion at the end that generals need to balance the need for saving human lives, with that of being more agressive.

This film has plenty of action, but it is primarily a drama based upon these two themes.

Small Gems Within A Stillborn Film.......2004-07-30

How easy to imagine a reader's confusion from the preceding reviews for "Anzio". Apparently a movie loved or hated with little middle ground, the reviews reflect in sum mixed sentiments I can well understand -- "Anzio" remains close to the top of my list of bad movies I nonetheless enjoy.

Previous reviewers felt very abused by its misleading title. Unlike it's contemporaries "Tora Tora Tora", "Battle of Britain", "Longest Day", or "Midway", this "Anzio" claims only cursory nods to history. You will not find here little yellow captions introducing each newly-met character, listing name, rank, and historybook significance: "Major General John Doe, Deputy Commander XIV Corp".

The bulk of this movie is clearly *not* about "Anzio the Historical Campaign" --
The DVD menu shows 4 scenes of generic soldier-awaiting-battle events, 15 scenes of fictional characters journeying home behind enemy lines, and only 8 scenes purporting relationship to history.
With so much focus on historically fictional characters, this film could be about *any* group of men, in *any* battle, during *any* war in history, and should be accepted by us on those terms. The time and location are only marginally relevant backdrops for a theme. It's a disconcerting shame that so many become distracted from the story by five letters in stencil-font on a DVD cover. This is not history -- Get over it.

It is however an understandable distraction. The screenwriter and director profoundly fail to articulate their theme with either clarity or focused skill.
Beginning with a silly theme-song, appropriate more to cheap Las Vegas nightclubs than to a war movie, we're subsequently walked through an idiotic procession of testosterone-laden scenes of sweating troops doing the Guy Thing --
Swinging on chandeliers, punching each other out, shouting "All right you mothers!", or lecherously eyeing large-breasted women during a joyride behind enemy lines, this cliche-ridden buffoonery could well be accepted as calculated instruction for alienating audiences aged 14 or above. The battle scenes are dusty non-believable hokum which became boring in movies before the VE-Day celebrations.

Despite that, this is no easy movie to completely dismiss with venomous contempt. For those inclined to look beneath the muck, there is also much which is distinctive and compelling.
The theme is a simple but interesting one, expressed by Mitchum early in the script:
" Why do we do it, why do we kill each other? How can a perfectly ordinary good-natured guy sit in an airplane and bomb a thousand sleeping strangers below? I haven't found an answer."
In contrast to this well worn question, a disturbing, and -- for a movie of this ilk -- highly unusual answer comes from Falk, and summmarizes the movie's message:
" ...and it's got nothing to do with democracy. Because I like it. I want this. A guy sells shoes for 40 years, and I live more in one day.
"I see more, I feel more, I taste more, I think more. I'm more. Do you understand? I'm more."

Experience teaches us about ourselves. It demonstrates and corrects misconceptions about ourselves. Of all possible experiences, how many are more emphatic than protracted world war?

Falk's answer haunts the movie in crisp moments of self-revelation for characters who are other than what they believe themselves to be:
Mitchum the journalist, outwardly a jaded pacifist, he discovers truth in Falk's telling him, "You're just like me."
Arthur Kennedy as General Lesley, who, by virtue of rank and position should be a master warrior, is in his actions, and despite protestations to the contrary, the film's actual pacifist-at-heart
These are fine performances rising above a poorly crafted script. But this movie truly belongs to Falk, sympathetically portraying one who has reached self-fulfillment as a man of violence thriving in violent circumstance.

The oft derided scene of Falk teaching "Bye Bye Blackbird" to three prostitutes is one of the reasons I purchased the DVD. In a movie where all the primary characters demonstrate some measure of depth and variety in their personalities, this scene balances Falk's killer corporal who loves war. Without it, Falk would simply be a cocky brute; with it he becomes among the men Mitchum describes in the quote above. I admit predjudice here however -- of all versions I've ever heard of this song, this remains my favorite.

We may easily denigrate this movie for it's obvious bad history, sour direction, and muddled script. But it's equally easy to remain alert to small gems here, shining from the acting of the lead characters deftly pointing to a thought-provoking if stillborn theme, of self revelation during war.

Anzio - Two Stars.......2004-04-05

You're in trouble when you begin loathing a movie during the opening credits. A jeep drops off the a dusty uniformed Robert Mitchum and the camera follows him up a flight of stairs and past a couple of security check points, through some large palace rooms. There are gigantic paintings on the wall, the wealth of ancient Italy. We follow him into the first scene of the movie, the opening oh-oh.
A sizable crowd of American GIs, with a few stray prostitutes here and there, are in a huge hall of the palace. One soldier hangs from a monster chandelier, while the other soldiers taunt, hoot and throw oranges and such at him. Apparently he's trying to break a "How long can you stay on the chandelier" record. A herd of "elite Canadian Rangers" enter, shepherded by Corporal Peter Falk, and naturally the veggie throwing thugs attack them. Well, boys will be boys, and I suppose trashing an ancient palace can and should be written off to youthful exuberance.
Meanwhile, disillusioned journalist Robert Mitchum, kind of the anti-Ernie Pyle in this one, drags a long necked bottle of wine and the cynical sergeant Earl Holliman and makes for the balcony for a moment of intense character exposition. It looks like they're in a room with a blue mountain scene painted on the tapestry. I swear I saw Mitchum's shadow on the mountain behind him. Then battered Corporal Peter Falk enters the balcony, and you see by a reverse shot that they're supposed to be outdoors. Maybe it worked better on the big screen.
The movie is about American's invasion of Anzio as seen through the eyes of a pacifist journalist. The landing is unopposed, and Mitchum requisitions a jeep and, along with Falk, discover that the road to Rome, the ultimate destination, is open. Rome can be in Allied hands in a few days, if they move fast enough.
Allied high command decides to dig in instead, which allows the German's the time to create a Caesar Line to oppose advance. Some time later Holliman's battalion, with the un-armed Mitchum along for the story, advances cautiously towards Rome, led by ranger Falk.
It's too late, of course, (damn timid high command), and most of the battalion is killed or captured. A handful of them make it and they escape their valley of death by the clever clearing of a mine field.
Frankly, the script is a mess. There are references made to Salerno, where the invasion was hampered by precipitate action - the fools rushed in when they should have dug in. At Anzio the fools SHOULD have rushed in, but they dug in instead. The fog of war being what it is, my sympathy is with the high command in this movie, but I guess that's beside the point. ANZIO was made we questioned authority as a matter of course, especially military authority.
The best war movies rush forward. ANZIO meanders and makes some odd stops on its way to the battlefield. Take, for instance, the strange scene of Peter Falk teaching the prostitutes to sing "Bye, Bye, Blackbird." It takes way too long, it has nothing to do with the story proper, and it ambiguously establishes his character. It looks like an ad-lib job and should never have been shot in the first place.
A couple of the action scenes that take place behind the enemy line work pretty well, especially when the survivors come across the white dog and later when they encounter a snipers' nest.
I'm a big fan of Robert Mitchum, and I think he's effective as the weary iconoclast. Holliman and the other soldiers are okay in roles that don't demand a whole lot from them. Falk's improvisational style is way out of place here. The movie grinds to a halt every the camera centers on him.
The ending, the liberation of Rome, is tacked on at the end. The real end of the movie is the moment Mitchum discovers the answer to his question, "Why do we fight and kill each other?" The answer is pretty thin and unsatisfying, perfectly in keeping with the rest of the movie.

A decent movie.........2003-07-01

Anzio is a decent war movie, filled with exciting battles and a platoon's cat-n-mouse struggle to avoid the enemy long enough to find their way back to their own lines. Robert Mitchum plays a news correspondent who's assigned to cover the invasion of Anzio by a company of U.S. Rangers. When their company is ambushed by the Germans, him and a small handfull of soldiers (Peter Falk and Earl Holliman co-star) escape the trap, but then face having to find their way back to safety through miles of enemy territory. A fairly standard World War II movie based on the actual Anzio battle itself, but more or less using it as a back drop for the fictionalized battle hilighted in the film. There's a totally silly scene with Robert Falk and three local lovelies in the back of an ambulance that should have hit the editing room floor. And Mitchum himself hams it up a bit while denouncing the war in a flag waving manner. But overall Anzio is a fun movie, especially for war movie lovers. Popcorn anyone?

WW II 60th Anniversary Collection (Das Boot/Anzio/Caine Mutiny/Dead Men's Secrets) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook)

Average customer rating:

Another Collectable

WW II 60th Anniversary Collection (Das Boot/Anzio/Caine Mutiny/Dead Men's Secrets) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook)
Starring: Jürgen Prochnow , Herbert Grönemeyer , Klaus Wennemann , Hubertus Bengsch , and Martin Semmelrogge
Director: Wolfgang Petersen , Edward Dmytryk , and Duilio Coletti
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Military & War | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000ASDFH2
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Description

DAS BOOT: This gripping tale from Academy Award® nominated director Wolfgang Peterson follows the daring patrol of U96, one of the famed German U boats known as the "gray wolves." The crew aboard the U96 is graphically portrayed in a desperate life and death struggle, coping with endless hours of claustrophobic boredom at sea, which quickly gives way to terror when confronting the enemy. DAS BOOT delivers an amazingly accurate account of Germany's elite U boat crewmen, as it deliberately hammers away at the tragic waste of war. ANZIO: Screen greats Robert Mitchum, Peter Falk, and Arthur Kennedy star in the riveting war drama ANZIO, a vivid portrait of one of the bloodiest WWII battles ever fought. After landing with allied troops at Anzio, Italy in 1944, war correspondent Dick Ennis (Mitchum) and buddy Corporal Rabinoff (Falk) tell Anzio commander General Lesley (Kennedy) that the road to Rome is wide open. But instead of heading to Rome, Lesley attempts to build a coastal stronghold, only to discover that the Germans have outflanked them by enclosing the Anzio beachhead. Four months and over 30,000 casualities later, the Allied forces smash through the German lines and victoriously march to Rome. Directed by highly-acclaimed action director Edward Dmytrk (The Caine Mutiny, Back to Bataan), ANZIO is a powerful film and a symbol of heroic tenacity. THE CAINE MUTINY: This is a classic film of modern day mutiny aboard a Naval vessel based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. The nervous and inept behavior of Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) during maneuvers aboard the U.S.S. Caine a destroyer/mine sweeper attracts the attention of the ship's crew members and it's executive officer, Maryk (Van Johnson). When Queeg's neurotic behavior reaches a breaking point during a fierce typhoon, Maryk takes command of the ship. Queeg then retaliates by having Maryk court-martialed. In a tense courtroom sequence, Lt. Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), assigned to Maryk's defense, systematically breaks Queeg down on the stand. Maryk wins the case but the victory is short-lived as Lt. Greenwald reveals that the men have all been the unwitting victims of a deceptive shipmate named Lt. Keefer (Fred MacMurray), who actually instigated the mutiny for his own purposes. An all-star cast makes this film one to remember. SECRETS OF THE SEA WOLVES: Learn what life was like aboard a Nazi sub in the North Atlantic during World War II. WWII's longest, most crucial battle was waged at sea where German U-boat packs roamed the Atlantic hunting their prey. In a campaign to cut off vital supplies from the U.S. to Great Britain, they came close to starving England into surrender. If they succeeded, the Allies would almost certainly lose the war. Using archival footage of U-boats at work, we see that the Germans were at the forefront of technology, and how the Allies fought back to force the U-boat menace into submission.

Customer Reviews:

Another Collectable.......2007-01-09

I have every DVD version of Das Boot. I have even watched it with the Audio in German and English subtitles, it never fails to shock me. Together with Anzio & the Caine Mutiny, these movies really start to bring home what our Fathers and Grandfathers went through during WWII, lest we forget!
When you can buy great, multiple movies together like this, it's a no-brainer.

Average customer rating:

i loved this movie as a kid , but it really doesn't hold up well
A War Drama Based on Two Themes
Small Gems Within A Stillborn Film
Anzio - Two Stars
A decent movie..

Anzio [Region 2]
Starring: Robert Mitchum , Peter Falk , Robert Ryan , Earl Holliman , and Mark Damon
Director: Edward Dmytryk
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD