Band of Brothers.

[4jimi1]

Band of Brothers is the best show of all time, almost every episode is brilliant.

Plus, Winters is a fucking badass. Every time I wake up with a hangover, I ask myself, "what would Major Dick Winters do?" and I man up.

[boonie]

I've been re watching this series again and just got finished with Ep. 9 "Why we Fight", which may well be the most powerful hour long piece of television i've ever seen

[--Soma--]

If you think any show on network TV is better than Band of Brothers you're nuts. GREAT series. Perfectly done.

[Lcsulla]

Originally Posted by boonie

cool. Is this WWII stuff just a hobby of yours or a you a history studen/teacher/proferssor?

I am a nerd. Graduate History major. Half a dozen grandparents and uncles in WW2 who I grew up hearing stories from.

Originally Posted by FACHEBLOOTZ

I'm fucking insanely jealous of those autographs.

If you dig a bit you can find them, I just collect wierd shit though.

Originally Posted by SatelliteEyes

Hey Jamie, I mentioned to you earilier in a book thread that I had ordered Beyond Band of Brothers. I didnt know how long it would take me to read, as I have little free time to do so, but it was so good I finished it in less than a week.

Love the book, love the series.

Glad you enjoyed it. Which reminds me I loaned my copy to my boss about 3 months ago, I should probably see how he's coming along with it.

If anyone is interested in a copy of Band of brother for almost investment sake I'd check for one of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/Easton-Press-Sig...QQcmdZViewItem

There's two of them - a blue and a green, the green is a bit more expensive because it is a true first but you can still find them on eBay at a reasonable price but now that Ambrose is dead the prices are going up at many booksellers and military stores. Very cool copy of a great book.

[Ascf33]

haha i knew this would be on page 1 today. History Channel marathon! woo!

[Xmasjjm]

I'm student teaching right now and in my American History course, I'm going to show "Why We Fight" this week. Hopefully the children appreciate it.

[crashintome202]

Originally Posted by boonie

I've been re watching this series again and just got finished with Ep. 9 "Why we Fight", which may well be the most powerful hour long piece of television i've ever seen

i agree. i rewatched this a few months ago and i remember how much i loved that eposoide

[~Crashintome89~]

Fucking great series. Fucking great.

[tankdan]

Originally Posted by Lcsulla

Yeah, I may watch an episode or two tonight myself, Gotta love those DVD's.

Have you read any books by or about the series characters? There's actually a few and they are great IMO!

*Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (which the series was based on) - absolutely fantastic narrative though inaccurate at times.
*Beyond Band of Brothers by Major Winters (autobiography) - it is a bit self-glorifying at times but a great read nonetheless .

...

You also might check out Biggest Brother : The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers by Larry Alexander. It is just an autobiography of Major Winters. Winters helped out quite a bit with this one too. Great book, earlier than his autobiography but it talks about stuff not mentioned by Ambrose or Winters in THEIR books.

...

Cheers ~ Jamie

YES - I am a complete nerd and read too much!

Wow, how come I've never seen this thread before? Crikey!

Since December, I read "Band of Brothers," "Biggest Brother," and "Beyond Band of Brothers," independent of your suggestions. I just kept coming across other Easy Company books and kept on reading.

After the third one, though, I got a little bored with reading the same stories, so now I'm on John Keegan's "Six Armies in Normandy," which I hope to follow up with Ambrose's "D-Day."

So cool that there are other Ambrose fans out there!

Dan

[ProudestAnt]

Originally Posted by Xmasjjm

I'm student teaching right now and in my American History course, I'm going to show "Why We Fight" this week. Hopefully the children appreciate it.

Check the language dude. I got reamed pretty good for showing Breaking Point when I student taught...

[windspinner]

Being a chick I normally am not into war movies. The first time I saw Band of Brothers, I dropped everything I was doing for the duration of the series. I have seen it a few times since then, but still love it.

Wild Bill Guarnere's website

[Xmasjjm]

Originally Posted by ProudestAnt

Check the language dude. I got reamed pretty good for showing Breaking Point when I student taught...

I already have the ok . I do have to skip the first 8 minutes for the quick sex scene.

As far as language goes these days, kids say worse things in the hall.

[--Soma--]

Originally Posted by 4jimi1

Plus, Winters is a fucking badass. Every time I wake up with a hangover, I ask myself, "what would Major Dick Winters do?" and I man up.

Except of course Winters wouldn't be hung over because he doesn't drink. Nixon on the other hand would feel your pain, he was always hammered.

[mthawk07]

So I finally, FINALLY got to watch Band of Brothers for the first time this weekend. For so many different stupid reasons I'd never seen it before, but I took care of that little problem. I was completely and utterly blown away, though. So damn good. All I have to say is, war is hell.

On a funny side note, during the first episode when David Schwimmer shows up, I was like, "How the fuck am I supposed to take Ross seriously as an Army officer??" Then he turned out to be a big pussy, and it all made sense.

[jaking1185]

Originally Posted by JonTheRvelator

Its not as good as 24

This quote is gold.

[Lcsulla]

Originally Posted by mthawk07

So I finally, FINALLY got to watch Band of Brothers for the first time this weekend. For so many different stupid reasons I'd never seen it before, but I took care of that little problem. I was completely and utterly blown away, though. So damn good. All I have to say is, war is hell.

Yeah, one of the best war drama's ever. Light years better than say the Pacific. Guess we will have to wait to pass judgement on the upcoming Spielberg/Hanks series about the air war over Europe. I await that very much but cannot see how it could top BoB.

[DrewD55]

Interesting thread to see topped. Even more interesting that I've never posted in it. Still my favourite miniseries, which will be watched, yet again, some more, come Memorial Day Weekend. The last few months have not been kind to those of the unit were "still alive and remained" (I'm paraphrasing the title of a book some of the lesser-known guys put out a few years ago, which I still haven't read): Babe Heffron and Bill Guarnere, the two from South Philly (whose book, "Brothers In Battle, Best Of Friends", was really wonderful), both passed away over the winter (they made a pact that whichever died first, the other would go out and get stinking drunk, and I've no doubt that Guarnere held up his end when Babe died), and Perconte passed last fall, leaving just 18 of the Company veterans alive (Malarkey is probably the best known of those still among us; his book was great, too).

[AlpineValley804]

I really need to read Band of Brothers. For as much as I love the series, I started the book when I was 15 or 16, but never finished it through.

[DrewD55]

Originally Posted by AlpineValley804

I really need to read Band of Brothers. For as much as I love the series, I started the book when I was 15 or 16, but never finished it through.

I'd also recommend "Beyond Band of Brothers", which is Winters' own book, "Brothers In Battle, Best Of Friends", by Guarnere and Heffron, and Malarkey's "Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant of World War II". All of them are great, and serve as really good companion pieces to the original book and the miniseries. Malarkey's might be my favourite (he's got the book that shares the most emotionally with the series, and how could he not--he was close friends with almost everyone who died in the Battle of the Bulge), but it's a toss-up between that one and the one by Guarnere and Heffron, which is, by turns, incredibly funny, very frank (long stretches of it are verbatim printings of the co-author's interviews with them), and inspirational on a number of levels.

Buck Compton's book, "Call of Duty", was really not very good, although he led a particularly interesting life (cop, prosecutor who convicted Sirhan Sirhan of killing RFK, California Court of Appeals judge), but it offers very little perspective on his time in the service in favor of him using his new-found celebrity to rant on for several hundred pages about his personal politics, which is kind of distasteful. Haven't read "We Who Are Alive and Remain" or "Shifty's War", which the subject played no part in (he died a year or so before it came out), but the same co-author assisted on both (then again, he also assisted on Buck's book, so who knows if they're any good). Still, I'd like to round out the collection.

[thebridge15]

Started the series, got through I think 7 episodes, never finished. Definitely need to.

[ExistenceNow]

I never finished The Pacific, but I couldn't stop Band of Brothers. Seen it a few times through now. It's pretty much the best thing ever.

[whygohome?]

I watched it last year and was blown away. Reading this thread and remembering it makes me want to watch it again right now. Bastogne is the best episode IMO

[thebridge15]

Maybe I'll watch an episode tonight. It's something I know I should like, but I never really got engrossed in it like I thought I would.

[aparker507]

I'm interested in the new hanks/Spielberg series mentioned above. Any other details?

[AlpineValley804]

Originally Posted by DrewD55

I'd also recommend "Beyond Band of Brothers", which is Winters' own book, "Brothers In Battle, Best Of Friends", by Guarnere and Heffron, and Malarkey's "Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant of World War II". All of them are great, and serve as really good companion pieces to the original book and the miniseries. Malarkey's might be my favourite (he's got the book that shares the most emotionally with the series, and how could he not--he was close friends with almost everyone who died in the Battle of the Bulge), but it's a toss-up between that one and the one by Guarnere and Heffron, which is, by turns, incredibly funny, very frank (long stretches of it are verbatim printings of the co-author's interviews with them), and inspirational on a number of levels.

Buck Compton's book, "Call of Duty", was really not very good, although he led a particularly interesting life (cop, prosecutor who convicted Sirhan Sirhan of killing RFK, California Court of Appeals judge), but it offers very little perspective on his time in the service in favor of him using his new-found celebrity to rant on for several hundred pages about his personal politics, which is kind of distasteful. Haven't read "We Who Are Alive and Remain" or "Shifty's War", which the subject played no part in (he died a year or so before it came out), but the same co-author assisted on both (then again, he also assisted on Buck's book, so who knows if they're any good). Still, I'd like to round out the collection.

I have actually read Winters' book, and enjoyed it.

[AlpineValley804]

I've watched Band of Brothers at least 20 times through. The Pacific was okay, but really disjointed, and it didn't help that I watched each episode really spread out from one another. I've never really had an itching to revisit it, where with Band of Brothers, that itch comes often. I watch it once a year at least.

[mthawk07]

I've always considered D-Day to be probably the most terrifying thing I could ever think of going through as a soldier, but after seeing Battle of the Bulge portrayed, I think that would have been much, much worse. Sitting around freezing your ass off and not knowing when the next barrage of artillery or gunfire was going to mow you down along with half your brothers in arms. Fuck that shit!

Joe and Wild Bill getting their legs blown off was probably the hardest scene for me to make it through other than the concentration camp scenes.

[DaveHead36]

The scenes from Bastogne really changed my outlook on life. Anytime I complain about how cold I am I always stop and think, I have warm clothes, easy access to food, a soft bed, I really have nothing to complain about.

[Lcsulla]

Originally Posted by DrewD55

I'd also recommend "Beyond Band of Brothers", which is Winters' own book, "Brothers In Battle, Best Of Friends", by Guarnere and Heffron, and Malarkey's "Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant of World War II". All of them are great, and serve as really good companion pieces to the original book and the miniseries. Malarkey's might be my favourite (he's got the book that shares the most emotionally with the series, and how could he not--he was close friends with almost everyone who died in the Battle of the Bulge), but it's a toss-up between that one and the one by Guarnere and Heffron, which is, by turns, incredibly funny, very frank (long stretches of it are verbatim printings of the co-author's interviews with them), and inspirational on a number of levels.

Buck Compton's book, "Call of Duty", was really not very good, although he led a particularly interesting life (cop, prosecutor who convicted Sirhan Sirhan of killing RFK, California Court of Appeals judge), but it offers very little perspective on his time in the service in favor of him using his new-found celebrity to rant on for several hundred pages about his personal politics, which is kind of distasteful. Haven't read "We Who Are Alive and Remain" or "Shifty's War", which the subject played no part in (he died a year or so before it came out), but the same co-author assisted on both (then again, he also assisted on Buck's book, so who knows if they're any good). Still, I'd like to round out the collection.

I realize he is one of the lesser known characters but David Webster's book "Parachute Infantry" is the best written of all the memoirs IMO. You should check it out if you have a chance.

[DrewD55]

Originally Posted by Lcsulla

I realize he is one of the lesser known characters but David Webster's book "Parachute Infantry" is the best written of all the memoirs IMO. You should check it out if you have a chance.

I've been meaning to read this one, too. He tried unsuccessfully for decades to get it published, and it wasn't until Ambrose wrote BoB, relying heavily on Webster's journal entries for his own text, that it got published, after Ambrose took the source material to his own publisher.

Webster's one of my least favorite characters from the miniseries, partly because Eion Bailey's not a terribly good actor, but also because for as often as his own work is the source of both the book and the miniseries, the writers somehow didn't get a very good grasp of him as a character, yet they almost overused him, inserting him into a lot of scenes in which he played no part whatsoever (like the shooting of the concentration camp commandant in Part 10--Webster wasn't there--Liebgott, Sisk, and Don Moone were).

Still, and all, his miniseries portrayal doesn't have a lot to do with how the book is, and it would be good to read a story from the perspective of someone who was not only there but also a professional writer in his own right.