Rick Schroder, Phil McKee, Jamie Harris, Jay Rodan, Adam James (II) ...
Runtime:
-
MPAA Rating:
-
In Theaters:
2 December 2001 (USA)
Distribution:
Production Companies
A&E Television Networks
Carousel Picture Company, The
David Gerber Productions
Fox Television Network
Luxembourg Film Fund
Distributors
A&E Home Video (USA) (VHS)
A&E Television Networks
America Video Film (2007) (Argentina) (all media)
America Video (2007) (Argentina) (all media)
Argentina Video Home (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
Argentina Video Home (2007) (Argentina) (VHS)
Finnkino Oy (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (2007) (Finland) (TV)
e-m-s the DVD-Company (Germany) (DVD)
The true World War I story of an American unit that was surrounded by German troops and pounded mercilessly for days (at times even by its own artillery) is vividly portrayed in this made-for-television film starring Rick Schroder. Playing a patrician New York City lawyer commissioned a major and sent into combat, Schroder commands a battalion composed of New York wiseacres as well as so-called "apple knockers" from the West. The plot is straightforward (and will be familiar to those who know World War I history), but the film rises above what could have been a clichéd telling of the story of Major Whittlesey and his heroic men. The action sequences, shot tightly with hand-held cameras, owe a debt to Saving Private Ryan, and the surreal horror of World War I, in which armies killed with machine guns yet communicated by carrier pigeon, is conveyed very well. --Robert J. McNamara
Caught between two lines of fire, the Germans gave them two options: surrender or die. They chose a third.