Some days When Trumpets Fade is my favorite World War II movie–not every day–but some days. I’m on sort of a personal crusade to popularize this movie but only sort of because crusades seem like things that take a lot of effort.
It’s very easy to say: “watch Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line,” and it’s not really helpful. If you’re interested in World War II movies or war movies, or maybe just movies, you’re likely to watch them no matter what I say. But you may not have even heard of this movie, so maybe this review is actually useful.
Watch this movie.
It is a 1998 HBO movie directed by John Irvin and starring Ron Eldard (Justified, Blackhawk Down), Frank Whaley (Burn Notice, A Midnight Clear) and Zak Orth (Zooey’s Extraordinary Playlist). It is interesting, dramatic and has some pretty good action sequences. It may not be the best World War II movie of 1998, but it is my favorite one–every day.
It is always one of my favorite war movies ever almost entirely because of the character of David Manning, played by Eldard. He goes from private to lieutenant during a few days of the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. But he is no hero–or maybe he is. He is a soldier whose clear, stated objective is to survive. Trying to rationally meet this objective may require him to risk his life, so sometimes he does. And the character is essentially just like that—but he might not have been like that two days ago, and he might not be like that when he says it; it may be how he rationalizes his behavior, which is not necessarily always rational.
He’s a complex character who may not entirely understand his own motivations—or he may. When he is given a command of a squad he doesn’t want the responsibility; he’s scared. When he leads the squad he does so effectively; when a green lieutenant upbraids him for risking his men’s life to save his own, Manning’s explanation is believable, but it may not be true. When I reviewed The Big Red One, I wondered if Lee Marvin’s nuanced performance was wasted by a weak script. I’m not sure of the strength of this script, but I’m sure Eldard’s passionate reserve and quiet delivery fit the role. He’s tired and resigned, but always in the moment—always processing information.
The first time we see Manning is in an excellent scene where he is carrying a wounded comrade, Bobby, (Jeffery Donovan, Burn Notice) on his back, encouraging him to hang on as they head towards an aid station, but he finally has to put him down to rest. When Manning says it is time to pick him back up, Bobby refuses to be carried further. Manning is trapped—the dying man will not let him escape the imminent danger but pleads with him to stay, saying “don’t leave me here like this.”
We don’t know the story; we don’t know if they’re friends; we don’t know if this is part of a trauma that makes Manning cynical, or if he entered the war jaded. We’re not sure if Manning’s actions here are selfish or compassionate. What we know is the movie starts with an emotional scene where Donovan earns his paycheck.
Donovan and Eldard with less than two miles to go.
Donovan is part of the supporting cast that is also really strong. I started watching the show Burn Notice because I recognized him from this movie. Rewatching this film a few years ago I noticed Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Justified). Eldard has guest starred on Burn Notice and Justified, so I like to think they’re all pals. That’s a little childish, I know.
Olyphant does fine as a self-aware Green Lieutenant, but he probably should have had a talk with the make up department–in later scenes he looks more than a little bit ghoulish. Martin Donovan (Trust, Ant-Man) does well as the company commander in charge of sending men into a hopeless meat grinder, who sees Manning as an asset and gives him his own squad.
The company commander watches another futile charge. This also gives a glimpse of the movie’s excellent set design. It looks like a battlefield.
Orth plays a naïve replacement (see Fury and Saving Private Ryan) who may be like Manning was a few days earlier. He is placed into the front line—spending a terrifying night alone in a foxhole and being separated from his squad during a patrol. His terror seems genuine, and this may be because the situation is terrifying, but he is convincing as a frightened yet well-meaning replacement.
Orth and Eldard on the front line, less than fifty yards from the enemy.
This is a dramatic movie where there aren’t any bad performances, though Dwight Yoakum, as Lieutenant Colonel George Rickman is not great (though he has some good lines–“this conversation was over the first time we had it, and it is just as over now”).
As much as I like the story and Eldard’s performance, and I haven’t stressed enough how strong it is, it is also a reasonably effective action movie.There are strong combat sequences that focus on American soldiers under fire from a largely unseen enemy. But there are also some small combat sequences that are clearly and effectively staged. People do authentic things, like actually reloading weapons—though there is a flamethrower that runs a bit long, if by “a bit long,” you mean five to seven times longer than most man-carried models could run.
This picture is only here because Thompsons look cool.
This movie isn’t as big or impressive as The Thin Red Line or Saving Private Ryan, but it has the clearest and most interesting story of the three–and Eldard’s performance ranks with any actor’s in those films–not above and certainly behind Sean Penn and Nick Nolte in The Thin Red Line, but I always enjoy hearing him say, “The question is: ‘how do we stay alive?’ What you think of me doesn’t really matter.” I think quite a lot of this film.
Recommendation
Buy it on DVD enough times that someone releases it on Blu ray; it’s also available on Max.