Band of Brothers (Rpkg / Blu-ray)

Great extras with the classic WWII series.

Cannot watch this series enough times. One of the greats about WWII.

I am writing this review in memory of my Grandfather, 1st. Sergeant Oda (pronounced Odie) Patton. He was in the heavy artillery division. At first, he wanted to join the navy because he heard that they had better food, but he was colored blind and didn't pass the physical requirements, so he volunteered for the Army instead. I asked him one time if we were kin to General Patton, and my Grandfather said, only distantly. He said he saw Patton during the war only once and it was from far off, the General being driven away in a jeep. I think my Papaw had a rough time with the name Patton on his uniform. People either expected something out of him, or disliked him for that name. My Grandfather would not speak of the war to me in any detail until late in his life, and it was just bits and pieces of what sounded like regret not bravado, and his words were vague at best about that time in his life. He said that he was a different man over in Europe and spent his life after the service as a Baptist minister; I suspect in atonement for self perceived transgressions. He was a hard man, but fair. I told him one time that I don't believe I could have made it through what he did. He said that I would have been alright because of the soldiers I would have been surrounded by. Though he didn't talk about the more horrible things he'd seen or did, he did mention a few names and times. I know that he was part of Patton's third army, and was part of a hundred mile march that nearly killed him, and his toes had only stumps of nails on them because of it. He was at or around several of the locations in this film. I remember him speaking of a place called Bastong (not sure of the spelling) he spoke of being cold and hungry. He spoke of the sound of shrapnel thumping into the snow banks around him. He said being a country boy helped him survive, he kept his men alive by killing cows and tying them across his half track. It was so cold the carcasses froze and they would chop pieces off with a hatchet to cook when they could, and eat raw if they could not start a fire; thawing bites out in a rag in their pockets As he grew sicker with cancer, he revealed a few things. I will not speak of them because he would not want people to know the horrible things he had to do over there. It honestly sounded like Hell to me. I would not have recognized my "Papaw". Ironically, the one thing that seemed to bother him more than anything else was about a soldier that had been killed; an explosion had buried the body under a stack of wood by an old house. My Grandfather, could see the poor soldier from high atop his vehicle as they rode past...he said that he hoped that man got the burial he deserved and was not left behind. My Grandfather did not want a military funeral. But the family placed a plaque at the foot of his grave anyway: Oda Patton served in World War 2, and Korea. After the Victory, he trained artillery squads until his twenty years was up. He retired a twenty year veteran just months before deployment to Viet Nam. He died three days after the attack on our country on Sept 11. He would not watch movies like Band of Brothers. I saw him get nearly sick when he watched the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. He was at my house watching the movie. As those troops were cut to pieces trying to deploy from the amphibious assault vehicles, he got up to leave and said that he "didn't want to see that"...that's all he would say, and he left. Three days before his death, and we were watching the twin towers in New York burn on the endless broadcasts, he asked me to turn off the t.v. I have a folder. A THICK folder of situations for exemplary performance where he trained men at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. I remember seeing his ribbons and decorations in a drawer. They were not on display. They were in there with old broken wrist watches, fingernail clippers, and lose change. Years later, after his burial, and I was a grown man and had a family of my own, I went to that drawer and looked for those ribbons that were meant to be worn on a uniform. The family wanted those ribbons and pins. They were not there. I looked everywhere. They were never found. Now that I look back, I think my Grandfather threw them away; not out of disrespect or contempt, but because they were so painful to look at. He never kept in contact with any "Army buddies," he had no mementos or spoils of war. He didn't want to see people that had known him when he was a vicious soldier whom was doing what it took to try and keep himself and his fellow soldiers alive. I think he just wanted to forget. But as I turned the t.v. off that day, and the folks at the hospital was lowering the flag to half mast for the poor people in New York, I realized that though he spent over forty plus years (after his retirement) trying to forget anything that had to do with the Army, he never could.

Simply put, this is one of my all-time favorite TV mini-series.Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg, as executive producers, and the cast and crew did a tremendous job of recreating the American paratrooper experience in World War II.There are so many things I enjoy about this mini-series, it's hard to write them in narrative fashion, so I'll use bullet points:* The use of interviews of actual Easy Company members to open the episodes, telling their memories of the actual battles and their thoughts and emotions. Some of them are identified in the final episode.* The dessicated color, which is similar to that of the US Army Signal Corps color footage of the time, along with hand-held camera work, which puts the viewer directly "in" the battle scenes. Unlike "The Longest Day," these battles are neither "clean" nor distant. You're right there in the gore, and there's a lot of it.* The use of Ron Livingston's character as an intelligence officer (and therefore, a "know-it-all") to provide the linking information about strategy and the progress of the war.* Each episode focusing on a different theme or subject: training, assault, overcoming fear, settling in as a replacement, leadership, medical care, reaching personal breaking points, endurance, resilience, dealing with horror, and picking up life after it's all over.* Outstanding performances by ensemble actors who were trained in a "boot camp" atmosphere for their role.* Attention to period detail...the equipment and dialogue matches the war and the 1940s.* The use of subtlety...for example, when we first meet Sgt. Carwood Lipton, he has just sewn on his sergeant's stripes, indicating that he has been freshly recognized for his leadership skills, which will expand through the series. In that same episode, Colonel Sink describes an exercise plan to his officers -- that's the one they actually carry out.* Michael Kamen's superb musical score.My three most favorite moments in the series are these:1. The aerial and seaborne armada heading for Normandy under the Kamen music...I remember the great CBS reporter and commentator Andy Rooney, in his essay on D-Day, writing about how that invasion was not about achieving glory or conquest, but simply an effort to free a continent from it enslavers and return it to its rightful owners, and thus, one of the most unselfish acts in history. When I think of that phrase, the immense effort behind it, and the immense sacrifice to achieve it, and see that scene, I'm moved to tears.2. The "Why We Fight" episode, in which the Easy Company guys come face-to-face with the true horror of Hitler's regime and the task of defeating him hits home -- to most GIs, even paratroopers, it was a dirty and tough job to be done, not a moral crusade. Entering those camps changed all that, and the Americans understood what the war was about -- it was more than the phrase that is taken from the Frank Capra films. "Why We Fight" is for a strong moral reason.3. A scene near the very end -- and I apologize for the spoiler -- in which a surrendering German general asks permission to say farewell to his troops. We see exhausted and surrendering German soldiers, battered by war, listening to their general. He gives a speech, which Gottlieb translates into English, and you suddenly realize that the German general's speech could apply to the guys in Easy Company, or any other American combat unit -- or a British unit...or a Canadian unit...or a New Zealand unit...an Australian unit...a Soviet unit...just about any military unit in World War II (or many other wars), with the certain exception of such sadists as an SS Einsatzkommando, Japan's Unit 731, or the Dirlewanger Brigade...he is giving a benediction to all the kids who get conscripted into and caught up in their country's wars, and suffer and endure.It is a brilliant scene because you know that the American generals (and British and Canadian and New Zealand) and their colonels and captains gave similar speeches to their own armies, and Easy Company's men heard it from their bosses. But that would be cliched. All you would need to complete the cliche would be a band. For the audience to hear it from a German general raises that moment from the cliched to the specific (of the place and time) and the universal (of the statement being offered). It's a powerful scene, in a powerful mini-series, and the timing of its appearance on HBO -- during and after 9/11, was a source of strength and inspiration to Americans during an agonizing moment in their history.As for these aging men of the real company -- I will never forget how they were specially honored and recognized at the 2002 Emmy ceremony, and am grateful to have had the privilege to meet and dine with the family of one of them -- Wild Bill Guarnere.It should go on to inspire future generations to match and excel Easy Company's deeds, and every American should watch it.

Great series about the greatest generation.

Its a true story based on fact,and personal experience.

This is absolute the best movie/series about World War 2. From the cinema photograpy to the dialogue is absolutely perfect. The series was cast to perfection. Damian Lewis play Major Dick Winters. Silencing the guns at Brecort Mansions is still taught at West Point. I recommend this to everyone.

Great movie