'Band of Brothers' is just astonishing

[varkanoid]

Just look at the cast list on Band of Brothers and you will be amazed who is in it and that for some of them kicked off their careers. Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, David Schwimmer (evil character!), James McAvoy, Damien Lewis, Michael Cudlitz (Walking Dead), Donnie Whalberg, Dexter Fletcher etc.

Pacific was okay but I think it had not enough action to be honest. Like the episode where James Badge Dale spent recuperating. I know it shows more drama but I would have liked to seen more what happened on Iwo Jima for instance.

Would have been nice for them to do a British Army/RAF/Navy series too.

 

[Tombstone]

Just look at the cast list on Band of Brothers and you will be amazed who is in it and that for some of them kicked off their careers. Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, David Schwimmer (evil character!), James McAvoy, Damien Lewis, Michael Cudlitz (Walking Dead), Donnie Whalberg, Dexter Fletcher etc.

Pacific was okay but I think it had not enough action to be honest. Like the episode where James Badge Dale spent recuperating. I know it shows more drama but I would have liked to seen more what happened on Iwo Jima for instance.

Would have been nice for them to do a British Army/RAF/Navy series too.

And lets not forget, the oft forgotten appearance in Band of Brothers by Simon Pegg

 

[varkanoid]

And lets not forget, the oft forgotten appearance in Band of Brothers by Simon Pegg

Of course forgot about that. Just been reading the trivia again on the IMDB page.
Didnt know that Tom Hanks has two cameo's. One as a British Para after they have been rescued across the river and a French Soldier who shoots two German POW's.
Bluray version of this is probably one of the best picture qualities I've ever seen.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Pacific was okay but I think it had not enough action to be honest. Like the episode where James Badge Dale spent recuperating. I know it shows more drama but I would have liked to seen more what happened on Iwo Jima for instance.

I think Pacific suffers as it's adapted from 3 books IIRC whereas BOB is a single book

 

[Josh]

Of course forgot about that. Just been reading the trivia again on the IMDB page.
Didnt know that Tom Hanks has two cameo's. One as a British Para after they have been rescued across the river and a French Soldier who shoots two German POW's.
Bluray version of this is probably one of the best picture qualities I've ever seen.

Damn it I never knew that!

Right I'm going to have to watch it all over again - hohum it's a hard life!

 

[marc2003]

I've never watched this. I guess I'll have to grab the blu-ray and see what all the fuss is about.

 

[ttaskmaster]

Pacific was okay but I think it had not enough action to be honest. Like the episode where James Badge Dale spent recuperating. I know it shows more drama but I would have liked to seen more what happened on Iwo Jima for instance.

That's the nature of the different kind of story, though and the overriding experiences of those whose stories are being told and they'd already done the 'action' slant on things with BoB anyway.

Something that isn't fully covered on screen, for example, is the Marines having to stay in their foxholes and shell scrapes for weeks, because merely putting your head up too high meant death, while having to stare out across the battlefield - It was blasted to oblivion, looking more like No Mans' Land from WW1 and was littered with the bodies of the enemy and fallen Marines - To the Marines in particular, leaving men behind is utterly abhorrent, so being unable to recover their fallen and having to watch (and smell) them rot away was sickening beyond most peoples' understanding.

So for much of it, the Marines' enemy was their mental integrity as well as the Japanese. That's what Snafu going all nutty was about and watching Sledge fight to keep from the same.

Bob Leckie's tale is again more about the horrors of the war and the experiences, while John Basilone's battle was more about his troubles integrating back into society and his desires to return to action.

 

[gord]

The appearance that always sticks out for me now is Jimmy Fallon.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Amazing series, it really is. The interviews with the guys that took part gets me every time.. To think what our grandfathers and their fathers had to go through.. it just goes beyond belief what they went through and sacrificed.. That in most cases, volunteered to protect their country instead of running away.

 

[DrToffnar]

Amazing series, it really is. The interviews with the guys that took part gets me every time.. To think what our grandfathers and their fathers had to go through.. it just goes beyond belief what they went through and sacrificed.. That in most cases, volunteered to protect their country instead of running away.

Yep. Goes absolutely beyond comprehension for me. That type of bravery is just totally unfathomable.

 

[G-MAN2004]

Just look at the cast list on Band of Brothers and you will be amazed who is in it and that for some of them kicked off their careers. Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, David Schwimmer (evil character!), James McAvoy, Damien Lewis, Michael Cudlitz (Walking Dead), Donnie Whalberg, Dexter Fletcher etc.

I think David Schwimmer was the show's one flaw for me. Every time I saw him it just broke the immersion because all I could think about was Ross from Friends.

 

[Greebo]

I've never watched this. I guess I'll have to grab the blu-ray and see what all the fuss is about.

Same here

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

It's at least as good as anything I have watched although I do find myself feeling that it suffers the usual America won the war all on their own nonsense. Aside from that from the acting to the filming it is an amazing experience

Generation Kill is worth a look. Not the same but good in its own right Leaves you genuinely concerned about how poorly wars are fought and the very questionable people that fight them

 

[easyrider]

Same here

Shame on you .

 

[pepp77]

Spoooky, just started watching this again the other night when I noticed it was on sky box office.

It truly is a fantastic show.

 

[Moothead2]

I've watched up to the 3rd episode twice now and keep getting distracted. I've got The Pacific waiting to be watched as well.

 

[Puppetmaster]

Watching it again at the moment. Next episode is Bastogne. This is probably my 5th or 6th time watching it through.

 

[MookJong]

I've watched up to the 3rd episode twice now and keep getting distracted. I've got The Pacific waiting to be watched as well.

The Pacific is not in the same league as BOB. I rewatch BOB most years and watched the Pacific when it came out but have no intention of watching it ever again.

 

[something daft already!!]

BoB was the first programme I watched from HBO. From then on, with the odd exception, it's been mostly a marker for great programming.

 

[izzop]

Echo the end speech by Winters, makes me cry like a newborn.

Glad it's not just me!

'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said 'No...but I served in a company of heroes'.

Gives me goose bumps and brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it.

The last episode, where they talk about what they wasn't home to, is amazing. Battle across France, Belgium, Germany for years then go home to be a postman. How do you do that.

Certainly makes you think and very much puts modern day life in to perspective.

Amazing series, it really is. The interviews with the guys that took part gets me every time.. To think what our grandfathers and their fathers had to go through.. it just goes beyond belief what they went through and sacrificed.. That in most cases, volunteered to protect their country instead of running away.

I'm always astonished about how they're all just so humble and matter of fact about it all. We certainly owe that generation so, so much. Only heaven knows what they make of how things have turned out in the world since then!

Only have the series on DVD, which I've watched numerous times, would certainly like to see the Blu-ray version. Lost count of the number of times I've seen it, but it's always fresh and ageless when I watch it again.

Read Beyond Band of Brothers by Dick Winters only a couple of years ago, certainly worth a read.

I think it's certainly true to say that they broke the molds with those guys.