Product Review

December 1944. A civilian victim of the Battle of Bastogne scrounges through garbage to find a scrap of food. “I don’t even see those things,” a war-numbed GI says. “I want to remember them!” his buddy snaps. Bastogne veteran Robert Pirosh remembers with his Oscar-winning* screenplay for Battleground, a gripping tale of 101st Airborne troops resisting Hitler’s fierce, final counteroffensive. Directed by William A. Wellman (The Story of GI Joe), the superb cast includes James Whitmore as a bantam rooster of a sarge and Van Johnson as a wisecracking PFC (as in “Praying for Civilian”). Rugged and unsparing, Battleground — nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture — makes sure we all remember.