Independent Films, Film Profiles

Battleground (film)

Battleground is a 1949 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 concerning 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, goofs off, or vocally complains about being in the situation he is in. In spite of all their fears and misery, though, they stay at their posts when the battle is at its worst, and exhibit great pride in their unit and in themselves. 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, at a rear area camp in France, Jim Layton (Marshall Thompson) and his buddy Hooper (Scotty Beckett), replacement soldiers fresh from the United States, are assigned to separate companies in a battalion of glider infantry in the 101st Airborne Infantry Division. Watching his new platoon drill, and star-struck to be a part of the famous elite outfit, he brushes off his friend's suggestion to see a movie together. Layton joins his squad just as they are anticipating going on a 3-day pass to Paris after a long campaign in Holland. Holley (Van Johnson) returns from recuperation after being wounded and Layton discovers that as the new man, he is ignored and unwanted.Instead of going on leave, the squad is rudely awakened early the next morning and trucked back to the front, where the German army has made a surprise break-through by assaulting through the Ardennes. They stop that night in the town of Bastogne, unsure of where they are or what the situation consists of, but happy to be out of the cold. The platoon is put up for the night in the apartment of a local young woman, Denise (Denise Darcel), with whom Holley hopes to fraternize. Their comfort is brief. The next morning, led by Platoon Sgt. Kinnie (James Whitmore), they march to the outskirts and are ordered to dig in. Just as their positions are nearly prepared, they are moved abruptly to a new location and begin digging again.Holley, Layton, and Kippton (Douglas Fowley) stand guard duty that night at a roadblock. A patrol of German soldiers, disguised as American G.I.s, infiltrates their position and later blow up a nearby bridge. In the morning the squad awakes to find themselves in a heavy winter storm. Roderigues (Ricardo Montalban), a latino from Los Angeles, is delighted by the novelty of snow, but his foxhole mate Pop Stazak (George Murphy), awaiting expected orders for a "dependency discharge" from the army that will return him to America, rolls over and goes back to sleep. Layton discovers that Hooper's company is nearby, and anxious to find some companionship, seeks him out, only to find that he has been killed just hours before by a hit from a mortar shell. Hooper was so new, and the destruction of his hole so complete, that his company did not know his identity until Layton provided his name.Kinnie informs the squad about the infiltration and sends out a patrol — Holley, Roderigues, and Jarvess (John Hodiak)— to search the woods. Just before they start out, the platoon is shelled by German artillery, during which Bettis (Richard Jaeckel) panics and runs away. During the barrage, Layton dejectedly informs his squad leader, Sgt. Wolowicz (Bruce Cowling), of his name and finds for the first time that he has been accepted as a part of the squad. Holley's patrol encounters the same group of infiltrators, and in a brief skirmish, Roderigues is wounded by machine gun fire from an enemy tank. Roderigues is unable to walk, so Holley hastily conceals him under a disabled jeep half-buried in snow. Returning to 3rd Platoon, Holley and Jarvess are delayed in organizing a rescue party for Roderigues while their own artillery shells the tanks, and Roderigues freezes to death.Walowicz, wounded by shellfire, and Standiferd (Don Taylor), sick with possible pneumonia, are sent back to a field hospital, further depleting the squad. Holley becomes the new squad leader, partnered with Layton, while Pop Stazak is paired with Hansan (Herbert Anderson). The squad, starved for news, finds out through a passed around copy of the Stars and Stripes that they are making a "heroic stand" in Bastogne (but unsure where that is, think they are in Luxembourg), from their medic that the field hospital has been captured by the Germans, and from Kippton that the 101st is surrounded. Layton, despite the ugly realities of combat, still retains some of his optimism, to the scorn of Kippton.Moved again and again, 3rd Platoon digs in one night beside a railroad embankment. At dawn they are attacked by German infantry hidden in the fog. Just when it appears the platoon will be overrun, Hansan exposes himself to resist the attack and is wounded, while Holley loses his nerve and runs away. Layton, not wanting to be left alone, follows Holley, who regains his courage and leads a flanking counterattack that defeats the attack. Jarvess's partner, Abner Spudler (Jerome Courtland), is killed during the attack trying to put on his wet boots. Afterwards, taking their wounded and prisoners into Bastogne, Layton reflects aloud on his doubts about Holley's running away, only to be assured by Jarvess that "Things just happen, then afterward you try to figure out why you acted the way you did."The squad encounters Bettis doing K.P. duty in the rear and gets a hot meal. In the brief respite, Holley shows his indifference to the plight of civilian victims of the war, angering the conscience of Jarvess, who was a newspaper columnist in Sedalia, Missouri, before the war. Holley discovers that Layton is a quick learner, finding him being entertained by Denise. Later while on guard duty, they encounter a party of Germans entering the lines under a flag of truce, and Jarvess is delighted to discover that his unit is the first to know that Brig. Gen. McAuliffe has rejected their demands to surrender with his famous quote of "Nuts!"Back on the lines in the bitter and foggy weather, 2nd Squad is short on food, cigarettes, fuel, and ammunition – bad weather has grounded the transport planes which could airlift them supplies. Several men of the platoon attend impromptu outdoor Christmas services held by a chaplain (Leon Ames) whose brief, grim, and unsentimental sermon reassures them that their suffering is not in vain. Layton shows that he has become cynical, echoing the sentiments expressed by Kippton and the others, mocking his own earlier optimism. 3rd Platoon finds itself in a position where it cannot retreat, beset by rumors that the Germans are shooting prisoners. That night the German Luftwaffe bombs Bastogne. The next morning the "walking wounded", including Hansan, are called back to infantry duty for a last ditch defense. Bettis, slow because of his fear of going back into the front lines, is killed in the collapse of a house shaken by an explosion.As the squad, down to its last rounds of ammunition, prepares to resist a final German assault, the weather clears, allowing Allied fighters to counterattack the Germans from the air and C-47 transports to drop supplies to the division by parachute. With the support, the 101st successfully holds its ground. Afterwards, the survivors of the platoon relax by a road leading out of Bastogne after the siege has been broken, awaiting orders. They finally learn they have been fighting in Belgium, not Luxembourg. Kinnie falls them in on the road facing the front, leading them to believe they are going back into combat, but grinning at a relieved Pop Stazak, gives them the command "about face" and trudges them toward the rear. A relief column approaches from the opposite direction, and Kinnie calls upon their pride in themselves to smarten their step to drill standards, and the movie closes as the group marches away from the camera to the cadence used at the opening of the film.The closing theme music matches the tempo and tune of the cadence.