tv series Band of Brothers (2001)

Harsh World · Aug 29, 2024

I've seen Band of Brothers twice. It's definitely a top-notch series with a perfect 5-star rating in my book. While I might not recall every detail due to how long it's been since my last watch, I'm looking forward to indulging in another binge-watching session soon.

If you enjoy war films like Saving Private Ryan, I highly recommend giving this series a chance as it's still good despite being from 2001.

The series provides a portrayal of the experiences of the Army soldiers from Easy Company from starting their initial military training to the battles they faced during World War II.

I plan on revisiting this thread and sharing my thoughts on each episode as I go through the series. I'll post the standout moments of each episode, trying not to add spoilers, and give an individual rating for each one.

Even if some episodes may have slower storytelling moments, the overall series still earns a solid 5-star rating from me.

Harsh World · Aug 31, 2024

If you enjoyed this, you should give The Pacific a watch next.

It covers the Pacific theater of World War II.

Aufscherin · Aug 31, 2024

This series was very enjoyable and realistic. It portrayed the G.I's as very human, as opposed to Rambo style or John Wayne superheroes. I would give it an 8.5 out of 10.

Harsh World · Aug 31, 2024

Aufscherin said:
This series was very enjoyable and realistic. It portrayed the G.I's as very human, as opposed to Rambo style or John Wayne superheroes.

Very much so.

It also depicts war as horrendous and not something you would ever wish for, even for your worst enemy, as there is a huge cascade effect for everyone involved and not involved.

Aufscherin said:
I would give it an 8.5 out of 10.

But what would you give it out of 5? You can rate the series in the first post.

Aufscherin · Aug 31, 2024

Harsh World said:
But what would you give it out of 5? You can rate the series in the first post.
View attachment 24

My bad, have since voted, gave it 4 stars only as some episodes were a tad propaganistic and 'America the Brave' oriented.

Harsh World · Aug 31, 2024

Aufscherin said:
My bad, have since voted, gave it 4 stars only as some episodes were a tad propaganistic and 'America the Brave' oriented.

That's probably a fairer assessment of it as a whole.

I plan on binge-watching this again soon, so I might have to lower my rating to match.

Or, I'll just keep the series at a 5, but discuss specific episodes and how they drain from it as a whole.

Harsh World · Nov 4, 2024

I like how Episode 1 starts the intro of Band of Brothers by having WWII veterans recall what happened during that time. One thing that stuck out to me was a story of a Vet from a small town where there were 4 men that couldn't go to fight for whatever reason, and because of that, they committed suicide—as he stated, "It was a different era," which it sure is because I believe more would try to get out of going to war than dying to want to go to war today.

Episode 1 starts on June 4, 1944, with a flashback to Easy Company already in England, preparing for their jump into enemy lines. However, they are delayed due to weather.

Then, it travels back 2 years for training with 1st Lieutenant Sobel as the Commanding Officer (CO) of E. Co., quickly promoted to Captain, where he begrudgingly promoted 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant Winters to serve as the Executive Officer (XO).

Everybody in the Company hates Sobel, even his XO, Winters. They do not want to go to war with him in charge. The whole episode is focused on how big of a dick Sobel is, but doesn't really explain why — for he is a dick or for the love of his men.

The episode's name is Currahee because that's the punishment you would receive: A run up Mount Currahee, which was 3 miles up, and a run back down, which was also 3 miles down. This would be the punishment 1 person would get, but typically the entire Company, for minor infractions such as rust on a rife or having personal items. Sobel made the men run this often throughout the movie.

Nevertheless, with all the personnel problems he has had in E. Co, he is relieved of his position as CO and sent to train others elsewhere for the war effort. So, the men are a bit relieved about going to war with the new CO (which spoiler, doesn't matter who because they are KIA during the dump, so senior Winters takes charge of E. Co.).

The episode ends with the beginning of linking up with Naval forces for the D-Day invasion.

Gripping through and through. Love this series.

Harsh World · Nov 4, 2024

Episode 2 starts off the same with Vets recalling their stories. I'm starting to think that this is going to be the theme for the next 8 episodes, and something that I forgot happened throughout the series. It's always interesting to hear what WWII Vets faced and to watch them tell their stories as they are almost unbelievable today.

It then jumps straight into the D-Day pre-invasion jump during the night under heavy antiaircraft fire. It's a surprise that anyone made it at all. But, that's the war of attrition at work.

The mission quickly turns into disabling 3 artillery guns under intense fire. Though, it's seemingly done with ease between Easy Company and Dog Company.

It's said at the end that assault on the artillery guns earned Lieutenant Winters the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest US military decoration.

Ashake · Nov 4, 2024

Harsh World said:
Day of Days

Season: 1
Episode: 2
Air date: 2001-09-09

Cast: Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, David Schwimmer, Eion Bailey, Ron Livingston, Matthew Settle, Michael Cudlitz, Neal McDonough, Scott Grimes, Shane Taylor, Ross McCall, Frank John Hughes, Nolan Hemmings,Michael Fassbender, Dexter Fletcher, James Madio, Richard Speight Jr., Rick Warden, Kirk Acevedo, Rick Gomez, Peter Youngblood Hills, Nicholas Aaron, Douglas Spain, Dale Dye, Matthew Leitch, Peter McCabe,Craig Heaney,Peter O'Meara

Guest stars: Marc Warren,Simon Fenton,Paul Williams,Jason O'Mara,Jonathan Young,Adam James,Andrew Howard,Stephen Graham,Alexis Conran,Iain Robertson,Ben Peyton,Nick Lopez,Philip Barantini,Simon Pegg,Andrew Scott

Easy Company lands in Normandy, scattered all across and away from their drop zone. 1st Lt. Meehan, commander of Easy, is killed when his plane suffers a direct hit and 1st Lt. Winters must take command and 1st Lt. Speirs is introduced.

Episode 2 starts off the same with Vets recalling their stories. I'm starting to think that this is going to be the theme for the next 8 episodes, and something that I forgot happened throughout the series. It's always interesting to hear what WWII Vets faced and to watch them tell their stories as they are almost unbelievable today.

It then jumps straight into the D-Day pre-invasion jump during the night under heavy antiaircraft fire. It's a surprise that anyone made it at all. But, that's the war of attrition at work.

The mission quickly turns into disabling 3 artillery guns under intense fire. Though, it's seemingly done with ease between Easy Company and Dog Company.

It's said at the end that assault on the artillery guns earned Lieutenant Winters the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest US military decoration.

I have watched it, I think, two or three times. The program remains so interesting. I like how Episode 2 was created with real life testimonies of real-life soldiers. Night jump scene before D Day was also very chilling too.

You’ll agree with me that the shift from the death of Lt. Meehan to the leadership of Lt. Winters, just shows the reality of war. I also fell in love with how the capturing of artillery guns was done. It was so fantastic! And It shows how the members in Easy and Dog Companies get along in their planning on attack. It's a good show to binge watch.

Harsh World · Nov 4, 2024

Ashake said:
You’ll agree with me that the shift from the death of Lt. Meehan to the leadership of Lt. Winters, just shows the reality of war.

Right. You're just a cog in the wheel of war. Everyone is trained to do the next higher job so that one can take over immediately after someone leaves, or in this case, gets killed in action. Winters was able to step up to the plate, as he was the most senior, and take command.

Another thing I found interesting in Episode 2 was Winter's "prayer" to God. You will hear him say that if he makes it out of there, he will settle down someplace far away and find peace.

Later in the series, you'll see that Winters is promoted to Major before Captain Sobel, making Sobel salute the rank, which had to have been humiliating for Sobel to do knowing that he "trained" Winters and Winters was promoted before him. Looking into Winters, he turned down a non-reserve commission and left the Armed Forces as a Major, seemingly having kept that promise of peace. However, just from an outsider's perspective, it seemed like Sobel had something to prove, that he was better than Winters. Sobel ended up staying in and leaving the Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel (one rank above Major). I think that promotion may have hurt his ego a bit, if being relieved of Easy Company command didn't do enough to do that already.

Winters was the type that would have made a great General, just from observation in this series. From his dates of service, it looks like he may have contributed to the Korean War, but the level at which is murky. However, if he stayed in through the Korean War, he very well could have been made Colonel by the start of the Vietnam War and selected as a flag officer (General) by the middle/end of the war. He had a lot to give back to the Army, but left it behind for reasons unknown. Though, he did continue to serve as presumably a citizen by giving lectures at West Point.

I'm not too big into books, but there are a couple that cover Winters and Sobel, and getting the true history of the two would be quite the read.

Harsh World · Nov 7, 2024

Episode 3 starts on D+6 with the primary objective of capturing Carentan so that the soldiers that landed on Omaha Beach could push through the enemy lines. However, the mission essentially walked them into an ambush, with almost every building occupied and fortified, forcing them to pull back and regroup. After regrouping, they continued to push through under intense fire, taking losses left and right.

In doing so, this gave away their position to the Germans who were able to zero in on them and send in heavy artillery fire, on top of the heavy fire they were already taking.

The most insane scene is of a chaplain — a non-combatant wearing the uniform that can't fight back — giving the dead their last rights as rifle and small arms fire whizzes all around him, seemingly aware of what's going, but doing his job without fear as he knows he'll meet his maker if that's his fate.

Another interesting sub-story in Episode 3 is about an American soldier named Blithe. It appeared to other soldiers and medical personnel that he was malingering — or faking an injury — with complete blindness. In the Episode, which might exaggerated to make us believe he wasn't malingering, his eyes had no responsiveness to light or motion as typical eyes will lock on and twitch if you try to fake blindness. They ended up calling it hysterical blindness at the time, which is also known as conversion disorder now, which can be caused by extreme stress. Nonetheless, he was able to snap out of it almost immediately after Winters had an encounter with him and treated him humanely in the most inhumane situation one could be in.

Blithe later goes on and gets his first taste of war with a confirmed kill. This might've made him feel comfortable enough to take point on a scouting mission of a farmhouse, but on approaching it, he gets nicked in the neck by sniper fire. He was able to make it back to get medical treatment, but he still wasn't able to recover from his wounds. So, we'll never get to know the true story of Blithe and whether he was malingering or did come down with hysterical blindness.

By the end of the operation, Easy Company sustained 56 losses.

Bawse · Nov 7, 2024

I watched it a long time ago. I remember it was really good, but I probably wouldn't remember most parts if I were to rewatch Band of Brothers.

Immortal · Nov 8, 2024

I have read good reviews of this show but never got an opportunity to watch it. I like watching war movies and shows, especially the ones that are truly based on real events or even loosely based on real events.

Harsh World · Nov 9, 2024

Immortal said:
I have read good reviews of this show but never got an opportunity to watch it. I like watching war movies and shows, especially the ones that are truly based on real events or even loosely based on real events.

If you end up watching this, you won't be able to pass over The Pacific which is similar but based on the Asian-Pacific theater of WWII, which I'll be binging next.

Harsh World · Nov 9, 2024

This episode began when Easy Company was supposed to be relieved for time off to England, but they had another drop operation during daylight with no antiaircraft fire — a smooth insertion — for Operation Garden, in which the plan was to take Germany by Christmas 1944.

One soldier, Bull, gets trapped behind enemy lines. When daylight comes and the Germans pass, he relinks with the unit. But, in doing so, he passes a downed soldier. This is the first time in the series that I saw the collection of dog tags for identification purposes as Bull pulls it from the dead soldier, adding to the reality of the series as I believe this is common practice to do, and wasn't seen before this scene when there were plenty of times in Episode 1, 2, and 3 to quickly rip a tag off and move on without detracting from the plot.

In the end, Operation Garden was a failure that resulted in a full retreat.

Not important to the story, but Sobel makes an appearance as the S-4 Supply Officer, and everyone talks smack about him behind his back.

I want to say that Winters was made Captain by this time because I seem to recall someone calling him by that rank, but I'm not certain. After watching Episode 5, I should be certain of that, but it's not necessary to the story. It only goes to show that a great leader was recognized and given more authority to play a greater role in the war.

Easy Company's regiment, the 506th, lost 180 while 560 were wounded, and of the entire 101st Airborne, 750 were killed and 2,100 were injured. The Allies, specifically the British 1st Airborne, sustained an even greater loss of nearly 8000.

Snippet · Nov 25, 2024

Band Of brothers is generally regarded as one of the best world war II combat show. Band of brothers follows the men in the army which always seems to be on the front lines of war. It was produced by Steven Spielberg and based on the book by stephen ambrose. Some people who have read the book said that it's much better but I don't know because I haven't read it just yet.

This show is a wake-up call for action shows because it's intense, complicated, long and horrific. It's got a lot of battle and spares no punches. Band of Brothers is big on realism.
The makeup and the sound effects were nastier than the visuals. Sergeant Lipton did a wonderful job. I was really surprised by how much I liked his performance. It's a good show to watch.

Harsh World · Dec 13, 2024

This series ceases to amaze me at how well filmed it is.

From Episode 4, I'm now positive that Winters was promoted to Captain. The episode shows him taking on more responsibility by writing a battle report, from which the early scenes flash to and from. It's not something that Winters likes doing as he was never the one to do it as a junior officer but does as he's ordered. Writing up the reports makes him recall events, which I'm sure he would've wanted to forget.

The report that Winters is writing is of a battle that seemed to be one-to-one with the Germans. The Americans were able to take them by surprise, but they fell back as they quickly became outnumbered. Easy had to fall back into a position that had them pinned down until the morning came. Come to find out, it wasn't a one-to-one battle, and they were easily outnumbered by a German company or more. So, they call in the heavy alterity, which the Germans did too. In the mess of heavy fire, both Germans and Americans took losses.

At the end of the fight, the Americans took 11 prisoners of war, lost 1, and had 22 injured. But, they were able to take out up to almost 2 entire German companies.

Later in the episode, it becomes apparent why Winters is doing the paperwork. This is because a Major of another battalion was killed at the Command Post while trying to defend it. The Colonel chose Winters to be the new XO of the battalion and relieved him of Easy. However, he's still attached to Easy and wants to ensure that Moose, who took over Easy, can do the job by micromanaging a bit too much.

Easy goes on Operation Pegasus which is to rescue trapped British soldiers, which they extract without issue.

After this, Moose has doubts about taking command of Easy, so Winters and he walk alongside some tracks for Moose to get advice on how to run the show. All of a sudden, they were ordered to halt out of nowhere when rifle fire broke out and Moose was hit by friendly fire. Moose made it, but he couldn't lead Easy any longer.

One part of the transition from war to civilian life is on display when Winters gets a 48-hour pass to Paris. This part of the episode shows how combat took a toll on him as he couldn't relax and was always on edge.

Towards the end of the episode, another American division was overrun by a German Panzer group. All liberty for American soldiers had to be canceled so that Easy could reinforce them. Though, it's cold, they're low on supplies including food, ammunition, and cold-weather clothing and gear. But it was critical that they defend the 7 roads in and out of Bastogne with what little they had and without air and artillery support.

Harsh World · Feb 22, 2025

Episode 6 starts with the men of Easy facing some harsh winter conditions with limited supplies and gaps in the line. However, the General orders the men to reinforce their position and prepare for an attack. Soon after, they come under artillery fire.

The city of Bastogne is isolated, leaving them without reinforcements, supplies, or adequate medical aid. As such, the wounded receive minimal care in makeshift aid stations. Fortunately, a supply drop from C-47s provides some relief, but the situation still remains difficult.

German tanks advance towards their position, putting pressure on their defenses. With no option to retreat, they continue holding the line. On Christmas, the Germans request the surrender of the Allies. The response: "Nuts!"

Bastogne is bombed, causing further losses among soldiers, medical personnel, and civilians. Eventually, General Patton's forces broke through the German line, lifting the siege.

However, the 101st does not consider it a rescue. Historical records it as a rescue mission, but the men of the 101st never saw it that way. They held their ground, endured the worst of it, and never believed they needed saving.

Harsh World · Feb 22, 2025

Still low on supplies, Easy was tasked to push the Germans back to Foy, for an eventual assault on the town. During their 1000 yard advance through the woods on Foy, they encounter little resistance, but still take some casualties.

Hoobler, a soldier of Easy, got a kill of a German officer on horseback. The officer had a Luger pistol on him, a war trophy that Hoobler was wanting since the fight in Normandy. However, he ended up accidentally shooting himself in the leg with the very war trophy he sought and ended up passing away from the incident due to blood loss from severing a main artery in the leg.

Easy Company is led by Lt. Dike, who is never around, and never makes decisions. Senior enlisted, or the First Sergeant, is able to put lower enlisted at ease over the lack of command and leadership. Winters wants to get rid of Dike, but can't for the moment. While Lt. Buck is on the top of the list to replace Dike, he's not the same after getting shot, and everyone is aware of his impaired mental state to not necessarily want him in charge either.

The men of Easy Company can finally observe Foy. They eventually get into position and hold the line just outside of the city. Though, the Germans are aware of their position and shell them again. Before the wounded can be properly tended to, a second barrage of shelling continues.

Lt. Dike puts 1st Sgt in charge and disappears to Regiment to get help. Some might consider this going "AWOL" (or Absent Without Leave). But, he is an officer, and could play it off as needing to gather intelligence or something to that effect.

Finally, Buck was taken off the line due to a bad case of trench foot, however, he was suffering some sort of apparent mental anguish from the memories of the men he lost.

Easy took on more shelling, but returned to their position overlooking Foy. Then, they cleared the woods east and west of the city to lead the inevitable attack.

The 1st Sgt had doubts in Dike and reported it to Winters, but there could be nothing done — Dike would lead Easy into Foy.

In the attack on Foy, Easy took over 100 German POWs. While everyone thought it was secure at this point, there was a German sniper that wasn't discovered until too late, after 3 soldiers were already sniped.

Easy looked down on Foy for over a month before they took it over. But, that wasn't the end of Easy's mission: They went on to take 2 more cities.

At the end of it all, the First Sergeant got a battlefield commission to Lieutenant due to his excellent leadership and keeping up morale through the worst of it all.

tv series Band of Brothers (2001)

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Damian Lewis

Donnie Wahlberg

David Schwimmer

Eion Bailey

Ron Livingston

Matthew Settle

Michael Cudlitz

Neal McDonough

Scott Grimes

Shane Taylor

Ross McCall

Frank John Hughes

Nolan Hemmings

Michael Fassbender

Dexter Fletcher

James Madio

Richard Speight Jr.

Rick Warden

Kirk Acevedo

Rick Gomez

Peter Youngblood Hills

Nicholas Aaron

Douglas Spain

Dale Dye

Matthew Leitch

Peter McCabe

Craig Heaney

Peter O'Meara

Tom Hanks (Production)

Erik Jendresen (Production)

Erik Bork (Production)

Billy Fox (Production)

Tony To (Production)

Stephen Ambrose (Production)

Joel Ransom (Crew)

Gary Goetzman (Production)

Greg Powell (Crew)

Remi Adefarasin (Crew)

Steven Spielberg (Production)

Eugene Kelly (Production)

Official HBO UK Trailer

‘It’s Been a Long War, It’s Been a Tough War’ Trailer

Band of Brothers | Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment

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