Hart's War (2002)

Director:

Gregory Hoblit

Writers (WGA):

John Katzenbach (novel)
Billy Ray (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 February 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Heroes Are Measured By What They Do.

Plot:

A law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.

Plot Keywords:

Honor | Racism | Murder | Prisoners Of War | Escape

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Col. William A. McNamara
Colin Farrell	...	Lt. Thomas W. Hart
Terrence Howard	...	Lt. Lincoln A. Scott
Cole Hauser	...	Staff Sgt. Vic W. Bedford
Marcel Iures	...	Col. Werner Visser
Linus Roache	...	Capt. Peter A. Ross
Vicellous Reon Shannon	...	Lt. Lamar T. Archer (as Vicellous Shannon)
Maury Sterling	...	Pfc. Dennis A. Gerber
Sam Jaeger	...	Capt. R.G. Sisk
Scott Michael Campbell	...	Cpl. Joe S. Cromin
Rory Cochrane	...	Sgt. Carl S. Webb
Sebastian Tillinger	...	Pvt. Bert D. 'Moose' Codman
Rick Ravanello	...	Maj. Joe Clary
Adrian Grenier	...	Pvt. Daniel E. Abrams
Michael Weston	...	Pfc. W. Roy Potts

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong war violence and language.

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Brazil:14 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | USA:R (certificate #38093) | Canada:A (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 | Hungary:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Krizeneckeho namesti, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Cheyenne Enterprises

Trivia:

The whole Super 35 film was scanned by a Spirit Datacine at "2K" resolution (1920*1459 actual pixels, over sampled by 1/15 to true 2K) and digitally color-graded at Cinesite LA. The film was then digitally squeezed and output by Cineon Lightning laser recorders to anamorphic inter-negatives for release printing.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the start of the movie the date is given as 16 December 1944, the day that the German Ardennes Counter-Offensive (aka The Battle of the Bulge) began. When Hart crashes his jeep as he speeds away from the MPs, he ends up in a gully with a large number of dead American soldiers. A road sign seen earlier in the scene indicates that this is supposed to be the men from the infamous Malmedy Massacre. Those murders of POW's didn't happen until 17 December 1944, the day after the battle began.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Billy Ray (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Marie

If you're looking for a different kind of POW story . . .

If you're looking for action in your war film skip this one. But if you don't mind an interesting drama about prejudice among Americans in a German POW camp, which although slow at times, leads to an interesting pay-off with a twist that (kinda) makes the whole thing worth it, then check it out. I especially enjoyed the subdued though "grizzled" looking Bruce Willis as Colonel McNamara and Marcel Iures as the camps' German commander.