Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

jordans-48671 I regard WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE, the sequel, as the two greatest series ever produced for television. I lived through those times, and the producer managed to recreate the spirit and feel of the age. There have been many who have criticized the acting, but I thought it more than adequate. Contrary to some, I thought that the actor playing Hitler in WINDS did a superlative job. I also thought Mitchum carried his part very well, though I saw him as 20 years too old for the role. Regardless of any casting or acting deficiencies, however, the sheer sweep and drama of the story carried all along. It's a magnificently told history lesson.There is one factual error that has always puzzled me. In the conversation between Pug Henry and Bryon Henry just before dinner with the Roosevelts, Pug refers to the German battleship BISMARCK as if it were a pocket battleship. The BISMARCK was NOT a pocket battleship. In point of fact, it was the biggest battleship afloat at that time. Herman Wouk was an American naval officer in World War II. How did that error slip past him?

Ric-7 I truly enjoyed this miniseries, which I had never seen until this week. I'd seen War and Remembrance and liked it, so I figured that I'd now be able to enjoy a "pre-quel." So, uh. . . , where was Jane Seymour? The other characters were familiar, but I was trying to place Ali MacGraw in the later series. I had to check out the cast lists on IMDb. I couldn't place Ali, because evidently she had been re-placed. And I soon saw why.There were some films in which Ali was very good. But those were her first films: Goodbye, Columbus and Love Story, for example. Did you know she won a Golden Globe award in the year of Love Story, as the "Most Promising Newcomer"? I just saw that on IMDb. A broken promise, IMHO.I think the reason she is so bad in this series is that the script had major problems and the director was not resourceful enough to talk Ali through it. Major story developments of the first half of the film depend mainly on arbitrary, unmotivated and totally absurd choices made by Natalie Jastrow. For a single example: she would leave her dear uncle alone in Italy and go off to a Jewish wedding in Poland knowing that Hitler was about to attack? Perhaps a more skilled actress could have made us accept Natalie being just a flighty impulsive creature--a tragic flaw. Perhaps she inherited it from her uncle--but John Houseman at least made me believe that a scholar of history could be so dismissive of current events. But as enacted by Ali, all I saw was a willful haughty imbecile, making me wonder what Briney ever saw in her.I also thought the "romance" in this series was disposable, or worse. The various triangles were boring, and unnecessarily time-consuming. The series was at its best when it kept close to actual historic events. It is, of course, completely improbable and nearly impossible that approximately six to eight of the characters should be on-hand for most of the noteworthy events in the pre-WW2 years, rubbing elbows with all of the major players.If you think that Ali MacGraw is a terrific actress, then add two stars to my rating. If she makes you cringe (as I did), I still think the miniseries is worth watching. It is true that many cast members were playing characters at least fifteen years younger. I was willing to suspend my disbelief. Except about Ali. And there, it was not her age that troubled me.

WWIIFan I recently watched Winds of War for the second time. I agree that some of the actors were miscast (definitely Ali McGraw) but for all that it is a great mini-series. If you haven't read the book, McGraw may not annoy you that much. I agree with the reviewer who said to look for acting gems in the supporting cast. I especially liked Jeremy Kemp as General Armin von Roon. Robert Mitchum did do a great job despite his being over the age of the character Victor Henry. Historically, the major events were accurate and besides a good story it is also a good history lesson.Highly recommend.

Andre Raymond Fans of War and Peace will see the obvious parallels between Wouk's two novels and Tolstoy's epic Napoleonic saga.Both tell the story of two families (in Winds of War we have the Jastrows and the Henrys, in War and Peace we have the Bolkonskis and the Rostovs) and their friends swept up in the events just prior and during epic wars. The destinies and stories of the fictional members of those families are intertwined with those of historical figures. In each of the novels there is one character who gives a historical overview in long dissertive essays. In War and Peace there is the unflappable general Kutuzov. In War and Remembrance there is the stolid German soldier, Von Roon.The problem of adapting both authors to the screen is one of scope and length. Do you remember Snoopy's epic adaptation of War and Peace with sock puppets in Charlie Brown? Well, Dan Curtis did a credible job of bringing Wouk's vision to the screen. He replaces Von Roon's larger post-war essays from the novel by the third-person narrator. Had he still been alive at the time I could see Curtis choosing Lorne Greene (the so-called "voice of doom" from those old WWII propaganda documentaries).Aside from the endless redundancy of Nathalie and Aaron Jastrow's trying to get out of Europe and the equally repetitive and saccharine love story between Pug and Pamela, the story goes along pretty well.The portrayal of Hitler has been widely criticized, but needs to be placed in the proper perspective. Hitler is seen through the eyes of the very aristocratic Prussian Von Roon. He would be perceived as a buffoon.As far as historical narratives go, this production gives the next generation a good overall impression of why and how World War II came about. War and Remembrance was more problematic in that it relied a great deal on stock footage and footage purchased from other movies (in particular from Tora! Tora! Tora!) to show the big battles of World War II.