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 enlarge | Director: John Irvin
Actors: Ron Eldard, Zak Orth, Frank Whaley, Dylan Bruno, Devon Gummersall
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $4.00
You Save: $5.98 (60%)
New (24) Used (25) Collectible (1) from $3.28
Avg. Customer Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 6006
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 92
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Pan & Scan
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.6
MPN: D91480D
ISBN: 6305161941
UPC: 026359148026
EAN: 9786305161943
ASIN: 6305161941
Theatrical Release Date: June 27, 1998
Release Date: November 10, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Don't waste your time. January 13, 2006
2 out of 18 found this review helpful
I thought this was gonna be atleast half way entertaining but man was I wrong. Has no problem showing people lossing arms/legs and other body parts, but is not convecing when, it is infatry against infantry. On the whole it is not an entertaing movie much less one that gets your attention.
 Misses the mark in just about every respect December 20, 2005
8 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have a hard time imagining that the veterans of the bloody Huertgen Forest battles would relate to this historical fantasy. It was a truly horrific campaign that deserves as serious a treatment as the Normandy landings got in Saving Private Ryan. As an earlier reviewer said, the bridge battle scene is quite ludicrous, and the Huertgen campaign was certainly not decided by four fresh replacement soldiers knocking out a couple of unprotected Panzers in a banzai flamethrower attack. So as a historical record ... forget it. As a human story, I didn't find it any more convincing. It hinges on the conflict faced by the lead character, Private Manning, between wanting to stay alive on the one hand, and having to take on the responsibilities of leadership for his small band of green recruits, which of course puts him in harm's way. That requires a pretty sophisticated script and some good acting, neither of which is available in this case. Throw in a stereotypical and one-dimensional commanding officer who doesn't care about casualties, and you have all the ingredients of a major cinematic disappointment. The Huertgen Forest deserves much better.
When Reality Fades December 3, 2005
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
WHEN TRUMPETS FADE starts off great, but then devolves into something little better than paperback fiction.
This is really the first film to take on the often forgotten Battle of the Huertgen forest. In that, I applaud director John Irvin. The storyline is a grim. Private Manning discovers that he is the sole survivor of his squad. As other noncomms and officers become casualties, Manning finds himself rapidly promoted -- against his will. As a newly promoted sergeant, Manning is assigned a group of replacements and his own selfish survivalist attitude is sidelined in order for him to teach the new arrivals.
No doubt about it. In this movie does a good job introducing the death factory of the Huertgen and recreating the partially overrun fortifications of the German Westwall.
Unfortunately, the film derails from historic reality with the renewed attacks on the Kall Gorge. The entire Kall River Bridge fight is as phony as the bridge battle scenes in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. After a promising start, it appears that no one on the production staff bothered to read up on what actually happened on the narrow Kall trail and the struggles on either side of the gorge. The true story alone would have made for a good movie.
One of the best books written on the Huertgen Forest is FOLLOW ME AND DIE by Cecil B. Currey. Having previously read that book and several others, as well has having had the good fortune to tour the actual Huertgen battlefield, I am bound to be more critical than most of this film. At a time before I had cable HBO a co-worker told me that this film was very good. Unfortunately I had to wait a couple years before it was available on VHS (and now DVD). As I watched the film for the first time I kept hoping the movie would redeem itself before the end credits. Alas, it was not to be.
In the film, despite the fact that the US Army cannot come close to breaking though the German lines, Manning's green squad continuously does so and wreaks havoc with the Germans.
There are some good fight scenes, but please do not confuse this nighmarish fantasy with what really happened along the Westwall in late 1944. Come on, now. American officers would not blow whistles to signal an attack. Why not just invite a German artillery barrage?
The movie was filmed in Hungary, no doubt to acquire military hardware and extras at a bargain. This movie would have had potential had someone taken the opportunity to read a book on the subject. As such, the battle in the Huertgen is just as distorted as the many Battle of the Bulge movies gone awry. I came away from this film thinking that it was Irvin's remake of HAMBURGER HILL by inserting 1944 Europe.
Buy this movie as military fiction. Some fine moments. Try to ignore the horrible soundtrack.
An Absurdedly Inaccurate and Amateurish Production September 13, 2005
9 out of 20 found this review helpful
A movie about the battle of Hurtigen Forrest in the closing year of WWII. A battle left in obscurity because it represented America's highest attrition in any battle during WWII and clearly the poorest leadership. A lofty subject the execution of which was mutilated by inummerable basic errors in tactical details and equipment. The quality of the film is eroded further by a simplistic and inaccurate script, substandard directing, and mediocre acting.
The script is flawed in that the language and even the situations are purely modern anachronisms so that the characters end up talking and behaving as if they were in Vietnam at Hue 24 years later. The tactical decisions each enlisted and officer makes in the film are laughable. The characters portrayed are so inept that they must have been in a coma during basic training. For some absurd reason, it seems like every GI in that film feels compelled to come out of his fox hole and talk to his buddies without care while being shelled or in full battle; as if having a pleasant walk in the park. Ask any vet, unless ordered to do so or a fellow soldier is injured, no soldier in his right mind would do something like that when being bombarded by artillery. At one point some guys pick up a flame thrower that uses a fire hose (a fire hose????) to shoot the flame! The Germans in a tactical retreat withdraw the 88s back last after the infantry so that they remain exposed to the advancing enemy? And it just went on. I had to stop the film after a while because I was laughing too hard. The only thing those involved in producing and directing this film knew about their story is that it was during WWII in Europe and that the Japanese were not there.
Ultimate conclusion, this has to be one of the absolute worst war films I have ever seen and I have seen many. I've seen bad foreign war films that are better than this HBO film. Hands down, this has to be the worst HBO film I have seen in a long time. Don't be fooled by all the stars the film has. I frankly don't know why so many reviewers rate this film over two stars! Rent the movie first if you're thinking about buying it so that you will only have lost $5 instead of $20 in watching this ridiculous film. I originally received this movie as a promotional item; I watched it once and gave it away in disgust. One star is too kind a rating for such an amateurish film. Watch 'A Bridge Too Far', 'Cross of Iron', 'Stalingrad', 'Band of Brothers', or 'S.P.R.' for very good films covering WWII battles in Europe. Unlike these great and accurate productions(at least tactically if not as to exact events), this film is but a waste of time and money believe me.
Almost Real August 12, 2005
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Having researched and read the lead-up and outcome of this futile battle, the DVD presented this part of the European Theatre in all its "glory", showing the effects of battle on our young men. How could anyone not be affected by the realism of the shellshock suffered by these boys, the ridiculous orders isued by inexperienced and vain-glorious officers to take objectives at all costs (as long as they didn't have to do it) and the minds games of limbs hanging from trees, bodies half blown away and blood and gore every where. All in all, what a war movie should be when it is portraying the futility of war and is not setting out to be an entertaining yarn.
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