Battle of the Bulge might not portray war in a particularly realistic light, but it’s sufficiently exciting, a hair gritty, extraordinarily big in scope, very well put together, and fast on its feet, even clocking in at just a little under three hours. The movie’s battle scenes are exciting, but the picture works best behind-the-scenes as the men in charge on both sides of the battlefield choose their tactics and change them on the fly to suit the ever-changing dynamics on the battlefield. For a rah-rah World War II movie from the pre-Vietnam era, Battle of the Bulge proves hard to beat. — Martin Liebman