--- title: "This 1965 war movie was so bad Eisenhower came out of retirement to condemn it" description: "The 1965 movie \"The Battle of the Bulge\" was so bad and so inaccurate, it upset the guy who planned the D-Day invasion." date: "2022-06-23" modified: "2023-06-22" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/this-65-war-movie-was-so-bad-that-eisenhower-came-out-of-retirement-to-publically-slam-it/" categories: - "Entertainment" - "Movies and TV" tags: - "Entertainment" - "Famous Veterans" - "Movies" - "World War II" --- # This 1965 war movie was so bad Eisenhower came out of retirement to condemn it ![battle of the bulge]() *Ike disapproves.* The 1965 movie "[The Battle of the Bulge]()" is generally regarded by war movie buffs as the most inaccurate war film ever made. It stars the otherwise excellent Henry Fonda leading a large cast of fictional characters (though Fonda's Lt. Col. Kiley was based on a real U.S. soldier). The film was designed to be viewed on a curved Cinerama screen, utilizing three projectors. Therefore, watching it on DVD doesn't provide the intended visual experience, which is particularly noticeable in the tank battle scenes, according to the film rating website [Rotten Tomatoes](). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdjau_yi5AY There are so many inaccuracies in the film, it comes across as an interpretive movie rather than a dramatic one. In the film's opening, a precursor to the errors to come, the narrator describes how Montgomery's 8th Army was in northern Europe; they were actually in Italy. The inaccuracies don't stop there. The weather was so bad at the launch of the German offensive that it completely negated Allied air superiority and allowed the Nazi armies to move much further, much faster than they would have had the weather been clear. In the 1965 film, the weather is always clear. When the film does feature aircraft, the first one shown is a Cessna L-19 Bird Dog, a 1950s-era plane. ![ike battle of the bulge]() *Str-ike One.* Despite the timeframe of the actual Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 to January 1945, and the well-documented struggles with ice and snow in the Ardennes at the time, the movie's tank battle scenes are set in a snow-free environment. Also, there are few trees in the movie's [Ardennes Forest](). ![battle of the bulge]() *Str-ike Two.* In an affront to the men who fought and won the battle, the film substitutes the M47 Patton tank for the Germans' King Tiger tanks. The filmmakers show U.S. tanks being sacrificed to make the Tiger tank use their fuel so the Germans will run out. The U.S. didn't need to use this tactic in the actual battle, as the Germans didn't have the fuel to reach their objectives anyway. ![eisenhower war movie]() *Str-ike Three* Speaking of tactics, a German general in the film orders infantry to protect tanks by walking ahead of them after a Tiger hits a mine, which ignores the fact that a man's weight is not enough to trigger an anti-tank mine, and therefore none of them would have exploded until the tanks hit them anyway. Other inaccuracies include: - The uniforms are all wrong. - Jeeps in the film are models that were not yet developed during World War II. - Salutes are fast, terrible, and often indoors. - The bazookas used in the films are 1950s Spanish rocket launchers (the film was shot in Spain) - American engineers use C-4, which wasn't invented until 11 years after the war's end. - Soldiers read *Playboy Magazine* from 1964. ![battle of the bulge]() *You're out.* The technical advisor on the film was Col. Meinrad von Lauchert, who commanded tanks at the Bulge... for the Nazis. He commanded the 2nd Panzer Division, penetrating deeper into the American lines than any other German commander. Like the rest of the Nazis, he too ran out of fuel and drove his unit back to the Rhine. He swam over the river and then went home, giving up on a hopeless situation. The reaction to the movie was swift: That same year, President Eisenhower came out of retirement to hold a press conference, denouncing the film for its historical inaccuracies. ![battle of the bulge]() *Do you realize how bad you have to be to shake Dwight Eisenhower?* ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()