Anachronistic but enjoyable.

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2010)

An anachronism is something that does not belong in a given time period, as it really belongs sometime in the future. For example, if you see a viking film where the vikings all ride about on Skeedoos--that would be an anachronism. Or, if at the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederates used nuclear weapons--again a major anachronism. Now this movie does not any mistakes THAT obvious, but it is filled with anachronisms--the sort that make history teachers like myself a bit crazy. While the film was very, very enjoyable, I just couldn't get past the character played by Donald Sutherland. I am sure many thought he was the best part of the film, but he also played a beatnik circa 1958 (or later) even though the film was set around 1944. When he and his men played loud music to announce their attack, it looked great in the film--but made absolutely no sense! And, for that matter, the American soldiers' general lack of patriotism is anachronistic--though the story IS based on a real robbery perpetrated by a few American and Germans. The problem is SO MANY soldiers in this film couldn't give a darn about the war or their country--and soldiers at that time were NOT like that--they would have been the rare exception. The attitudes towards war ARE typical, though, of many soldiers in Vietnam in 1970. So, the film takes contemporary sensibilities (and songs, for that matter) and pumps them into a WWII film. In many ways, this infusion of modern sensibilities into a war film is highly reminiscent of the film M*A*S*H--another film that people enjoyed, but really was filled with mistakes and Vietnam-era attitudes.
Now if you can ignore all that (and I could, but with great difficulty), the rest of the film is quite enjoyable though a bit too long. I like long movies, but this one seemed about 15 minutes longer than it should have been--reducing its impact. Still, on a mindless level, it's quite enjoyable and the film is packed full of familiar faces.