Band of Brothers (miniseries)

Band of Brothers is a 2001 American war drama miniseries based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name.[3] The executive producers were Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who also collaborated on the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan[4] and the 2010 World War II miniseries The Pacific.[5] The episodes first aired on HBO, starting on September 9, 2001. The series won Emmy and Golden Globe awards in 2001 for best miniseries.

Band of Brothers
GenreWar drama
Created by
Based onBand of Brothers
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Written by
Directed by
Starring
Theme music composerMichael Kamen
Country of origin
Original languages
  • English
No. of episodes10 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers
Cinematography
Editors
  • Billy Fox
  • Oral Norrie Ottey
  • Frances Parker
  • John Richards
Running time49–70 minutes
Production companiesPlaytone
DreamWorks Television
HBO Entertainment
DistributorHBO Enterprises
Warner Bros. Television Distribution (television)
Budget$125 million
Release
Original networkHBO
Original releaseSeptember 9 (2001-09-09) –
November 4, 2001 (2001-11-04)
Chronology
Followed byThe Pacific
Masters of the Air
External links
Website

The series dramatizes the history of "Easy" Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States through its participation in major actions in Europe, up until Japan's capitulation and the end of World War II. The events are based on Ambrose's research and recorded interviews with Easy Company veterans. The series took some literary license, adapting history for dramatic effect and series structure.[6][7] The characters portrayed are based on members of Easy Company. Some of the men were recorded in contemporary interviews, which viewers see as preludes to several episodes, with the men's real identities revealed in the finale.

The title of the book and series comes from the St Crispin's Day Speech in William Shakespeare's play Henry V, delivered by King Henry before the Battle of Agincourt. Ambrose quotes a passage from the speech on his book's first page; this passage is spoken by Carwood Lipton in the series finale.

Plot

Band of Brothers is a dramatized account of "Easy Company" (part of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment), assigned to the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Over ten episodes the series details the company's exploits during the war. Starting with jump training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Band of Brothers follows the unit through the American airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne, and on to the war's end. It includes the taking of the Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest) at Obersalzberg in Berchtesgaden and refers to the surrender of Japan. Major Richard Winters (1918–2011) is the central character, shown working to accomplish the company's missions and keep his men together and safe. While the series features a large ensemble cast, each episode generally focuses on a single character, following his action.[4]

As the series is based on historic events, the fates of the characters reflect those of the persons on which they are based. Many either die or sustain serious wounds which lead to their being sent home. Other soldiers recover after treatment in field hospitals and rejoin their units on the front line. Their experiences, and the moral, mental, and physical hurdles they must overcome, are central to the story's narrative.

Production

The series was developed chiefly by Tom Hanks and Erik Jendresen, who spent months detailing the plot outline and individual episodes.[8] Steven Spielberg served as "the final eye" and used Saving Private Ryan, the film on which he and Hanks had collaborated, to inform the series.[9] Accounts of Easy Company veterans, such as Donald Malarkey, were incorporated into production to add historic detail.[9]

Budget and promotion
Promotional poster for Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers was at the time the most expensive TV miniseries ever to have been made by any network,[10][11] until superseded by the series' sister show, The Pacific (2010).[12][13][14] Its budget was about $125 million, or an average of $12.5 million per episode.[9]

An additional $15 million was allocated for a promotional campaign, which included screenings for World War II veterans.[10] One was held at Utah Beach, Normandy, where U.S. troops had landed on June 6, 1944. On June 7, 2001, 47 Easy Company veterans were flown to Paris and then traveled by chartered train to the site, where the series premiered.[15][16] Also sponsoring was Chrysler, as its Jeeps were used in the series.[17] Chrysler spent $5 million to $15 million on its advertising campaign, using footage from Band of Brothers.[17] Each of the spots was reviewed and approved by the co-executive producers Hanks and Spielberg.[17]

The BBC paid £7 million ($10.1 million) as co-production partner, the most it had ever paid for a bought-in program, and screened it on BBC Two. Originally, it was to have aired on BBC One but was moved to allow an "uninterrupted ten-week run", with the BBC denying that this was because the series was not sufficiently mainstream.[18][19] Negotiations were monitored by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who spoke personally to Spielberg.[20]

Location

The series was shot over eight to ten months at Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, England. Various sets, including replicas of European towns, were built.[16] This location had also been used to shoot the film Saving Private Ryan.[9][11] Replicas were constructed on the large open field to represent twelve different towns, among them Bastogne, Belgium; Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Carentan, France.[21] North Weald Airfield in Essex was also used for location shots depicting the take-off sequences before the D-Day Normandy landings.

The village of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England, was used as a location extensively in the early episodes to depict the company's training in England, as well as in later scenes. The scenes set in Germany and Austria were shot in Switzerland, in and near the village of Brienz in the Bernese Oberland, and at the nearby Hotel Giessbach.

Historical accuracy

To preserve historical accuracy, the writers conducted additional research. One source was the memoir of Easy Company soldier David Kenyon Webster, Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich (1994). This was published by LSU Press, following renewed interest in World War II and more than 30 years after his death in a boating accident. In Band of Brothers Ambrose quoted liberally from Webster's unpublished diary entries, with permission from his estate.[3][note 1]

The production team consulted Dale Dye, a retired United States Marine Corps Captain and consultant on Saving Private Ryan, as well as with most of the surviving Company veterans, including Richard Winters, Bill Guarnere, Frank Perconte, Ed Heffron, and Amos Taylor.[9][22] Dye (who portrays Colonel Robert Sink) instructed the actors in a 10-day boot camp.[22]

The production aimed for accuracy in the detail of weapons and costumes. Simon Atherton, the weapons master, corresponded with veterans to match weapons to scenes, and assistant costume designer Joe Hobbs used photos and veteran accounts.[9]

Most actors had contact before filming with the individuals they were to portray, often by telephone. Several veterans came to the production site.[9] Hanks acknowledged that alterations were needed to create the series: "We've made history fit onto our screens. We had to condense down a vast number of characters, fold other people's experiences into 10 or 15 people, have people saying and doing things others said or did. We had people take off their helmets to identify them, when they would never have done so in combat. But I still think it is three or four times more accurate than most films like this."[16] As a final accuracy check, the veterans saw previews of the series and approved the episodes before they were aired.[23]

Shortly after the premiere of the series, Tom Hanks asked Major Winters what he thought of Band of Brothers. The major responded, "I wish that it would have been more authentic. I was hoping for an 80 percent solution." Hanks responded, "Look, Major, this is Hollywood. At the end of the day we will be hailed as geniuses if we get this 12 percent right. We are going to shoot for 17 percent."[24]

Liberation of one of the Kaufering subcamps of Dachau was depicted in episode 9 ("Why We Fight"); however, the 101st Airborne Division arrived at Kaufering Lager IV subcamp on the day after[25] it was discovered by the 134th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion of the 12th Armored Division, on 27 April 1945.[26][27] German historian and Holocaust researcher Anton Posset worked with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as a consultant, providing photographs of the liberators and documentation of the survivor's reports he had collected over the years. The camp was reconstructed in England for the miniseries.[28]

It is uncertain which Allied unit was first to reach the Kehlsteinhaus; several claim the honor, compounded by confusion with the town of Berchtesgaden, which was taken on May 4 by forward elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division.[29][30][note 2] Reputedly members of the 7th went as far as the elevator to the Kehlsteinhaus,[29] with at least one individual claiming he and a partner continued on to the top.[33] However, the 101st Airborne maintains it was first both to Berchtesgaden and the Kehlsteinhaus.[34] Also, elements of the French 2nd Armored Division, Laurent Touyeras, Georges Buis and Paul Répiton-Préneuf, were present on the night of May 4 to 5, and took several photographs before leaving on May 10 at the request of US command,[35][36] and this is supported by testimonies of the Spanish soldiers who went along with them. Major Dick Winters, who commanded the 2nd Battalion of the U.S. 506th PIR in May 1945, stated that they entered Berchtesgaden shortly after noon on May 5. He challenged competing claims stating, "If the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division was first in Berchtesgaden, just where did they go? Berchtesgaden is a relatively small community. I walked into the Berchtesgaden Hof with Lieutenant Welsh and saw nobody other than some servants. Goering's Officers' Club and wine cellar certainly would have caught the attention of a French soldier from LeClerc's 2nd Armored Division, or a rifleman from the U.S. 3rd Division. I find it hard to imagine, if the 3rd Division was there first, why they left those beautiful Mercedes staff cars untouched for our men."[37]

Cast and characters
From left: Damian Lewis as Major Richard Winters and Ron Livingston as Captain Lewis Nixon.

Since Band of Brothers focuses entirely on the exploits of "E" (Easy) Company during World War II, the series features a large ensemble cast.

Main cast
  • Damian Lewis as Major Richard "Dick" Winters, the show's main character. He leads the cast for most of the episodes and is the main subject of the second episode "Day of Days", the fifth episode "Crossroads", and the final episode, "Points". Hanks said the production needed a central character to tie the story together, and they believed that Damian Lewis was best for that role.[38]
  • Ron Livingston as Captain Lewis Nixon, Major Winters' best friend and frequent confidant during the series. The ninth episode "Why We Fight" largely centers on him, dealing with his problems with alcoholism.
  • Scott Grimes as Technical Sergeant Donald Malarkey
  • Donnie Wahlberg as Second Lieutenant Carwood Lipton. The seventh episode "The Breaking Point" features Lipton prominently and shows the importance he played in maintaining the company's morale.
  • Kirk Acevedo as Staff Sergeant Joe Toye
  • Michael Cudlitz as Staff Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman. Randleman was the subject of the fourth episode, "Replacements", which featured his escape from a German-occupied village in the Netherlands.
  • Dale Dye as Colonel Robert Sink
  • Rick Gomez as Technician Fourth Grade George Luz
  • Frank John Hughes as Staff Sergeant William "Wild Bill" Guarnere
  • James Madio as Technician Fourth Grade Frank Perconte
  • Neal McDonough as First Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton
  • Rene L. Moreno as Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Ramirez
  • Matthew Settle as Captain Ronald Speirs
  • Douglas Spain as Technician Fifth Grade Antonio C. Garcia
  • Richard Speight, Jr. as Sergeant Warren "Skip" Muck
  • Eion Bailey as Private First Class David Kenyon Webster. He is the main focus of the eighth episode "The Last Patrol" featuring his return to the company after being wounded.
  • Ross McCall as Technician Fifth Grade Joseph Liebgott
  • Rick Warden as First Lieutenant Harry Welsh
  • Marc Warren as Private Albert Blithe. The third episode "Carentan" focuses on him and his adjusting to the realities of war.
  • Dexter Fletcher as Staff Sergeant John "Johnny" Martin
  • Colin Hanks as First Lieutenant Henry S. Jones
  • David Schwimmer as Captain Herbert Sobel. He is the main subject of the first episode "Currahee," and also appears in the later episodes "Replacements" and "Points." At the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, Schwimmer was seated in front of the real Dick Winters. When told of this fact, he turned around and said, "Major Winters, I hope I wasn't too hard on you in the way I played Captain Sobel." Winters replied, "I assure you, he was much worse than you ever imagined."[39]
  • Shane Taylor as Technician Fourth Grade Eugene "Doc" Roe. The sixth episode "Bastogne" features Roe's experience as a medic during the siege of Bastogne.

Recurring

Minor

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byMain characterOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
1"Currahee"Phil Alden RobinsonTeleplay by : Erik Jendresen and Tom HanksRichard Winters & Herbert SobelSeptember 9, 2001 (2001-09-09)9.90[40]
Easy Company is introduced during its training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, under First Lieutenant/Captain Herbert Sobel, a very strict disciplinarian who seems to train his company harder and longer than the commanders of other companies. Sobel also goes out of his way to find fault with the men and the platoon leaders. The company is shipped to England to prepare for D-Day. As training progresses, Sobel's inadequacies as a leader in the field become more apparent and cause most of the non-commissioned officers in the company to attempt to resign en masse. He also causes a dispute with his executive officer, Richard Winters, that escalates higher than Sobel expected. These events lead to Sobel being reassigned to command a jump school for essential non-combat personnel.
2"Day of Days"Richard LoncraineJohn OrloffRichard WintersSeptember 9, 2001 (2001-09-09)9.90[40]
Easy Company lands in Normandy, but is scattered all across the region and away from their designated drop zone. The company commander of Easy is killed when his plane suffers a direct hit and 1st Lieutenant Winters must take command. With a small group of men, Winters takes out a set of German gun emplacements at Brécourt and thereby wins the respect of his fellow soldiers as a leader. Recently promoted 1st Lt. Speirs is introduced.
3"Carentan"Mikael SalomonE. Max FryeAlbert BlitheSeptember 16, 2001 (2001-09-16)7.27[41]

Easy Company fights in the Battle of Carentan, in which they lose several men. Rumors start to circulate that Lieutenant Speirs killed a group of German prisoners of war. The episode focuses on Private Albert Blithe, who struggles with shell-shock following the battle. After he is finally spurred into action by Winters during the Battle of Bloody Gulch, Blithe overcomes his fears. Several days later, he is shot through the neck by a sniper while on patrol.

Note: The episode ends with the display of an inaccurate statement that Blithe died from his wounds in 1948. In reality, he recovered and continued to serve in the Army until his death in Germany as an active-duty serviceman in 1967, holding the rank of Master Sergeant.[42]
4"Replacements"David NutterGraham Yost and Bruce C. McKennaDenver "Bull" RandlemanSeptember 23, 2001 (2001-09-23)6.29[43]
Replacements join Easy Company, struggling to be accepted by the veterans who fought at Normandy. The Company parachutes into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden, where they liberate Eindhoven. During combat in Nuenen, the replacements integrate themselves with the Company, but all are forced to retreat. The episode follows Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman, the replacements' immediate superior, as he evades German soldiers in Nuenen after being cut off from his unit and is forced to wait there until the enemy leaves in the morning.
5"Crossroads"Tom HanksErik JendresenRichard WintersSeptember 30, 2001 (2001-09-30)6.13[44]
Winters writes a report on the challenge of an unexpected resistance to a German attack, and is haunted by his conscience after shooting a teenage German SS soldier. This flashback occurs several times in later episodes. Operation Pegasus is depicted. Easy Company is called to Bastogne at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. At the end of the episode, Captain Winters now effectively commands the whole battalion.
6"Bastogne"David LelandBruce C. McKennaEugene RoeOctober 7, 2001 (2001-10-07)6.42[45]
Easy Company experiences the Battle of the Bulge and have to hold ground near Bastogne, while running low on ammunition and other supplies. The episode focuses on medic Eugene "Doc" Roe as he helps out his fellow soldiers where he can, while also scrounging for medical supplies, of which the Company is dangerously low. He also befriends a Belgian nurse in Bastogne, who is later killed during a German bombing raid.
7"The Breaking Point"David FrankelGraham YostCarwood LiptonOctober 14, 2001 (2001-10-14)6.43[46]
Easy Company battles near Foy, Belgium, losing numerous men. The episode examines and questions the actions of 1st Lieutenant Norman Dike, the Company's commander. He is eventually relieved by 1st Lieutenant Ronald Speirs, who becomes the Company's new leader. Serving as narrator is First Sergeant Carwood Lipton, who attempts to keep up the morale of the men as they endure their trials in the forest near Foy, earning him a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant for his leadership ability.
8"The Last Patrol"Tony ToErik Bork and Bruce C. McKennaDavid WebsterOctober 21, 2001 (2001-10-21)5.95[47]
Easy Company carries out a dangerous mission in Haguenau as David Webster (who narrates) returns from a hospital. Together with new replacement 2nd Lieutenant Jones, he eventually (re)integrates with the other soldiers, whose experiences at Bastogne have made them weary and closed-off from Webster due to the fact he didn't try to leave hospital early, unlike other soldiers in the company. At the end of the episode, Captain Winters is promoted to Major, Lipton receives his battlefield commission to 2nd Lieutenant, and Jones is promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
9"Why We Fight"David FrankelJohn OrloffLewis NixonOctober 28, 2001 (2001-10-28)6.08[48]
As Nixon scrounges for his favored whisky, Vat 69, Easy Company enters Germany. Some of the men on patrol stumble across a concentration camp near Landsberg and free the surviving prisoners after realizing that the guards had abandoned the camp. The sight of the victims leaves the soldiers horrified and disgusted. The local German citizens at first deny the existence of the camp until they are forced by the occupying Americans to begin cleaning up the camp, including removing the bodies. The episode closes with Nixon grimly announcing that Hitler committed suicide.
10"Points"Mikael SalomonErik Jendresen and Erik BorkRichard WintersNovember 4, 2001 (2001-11-04)5.05[49]
The company captures the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden, and also discover Hermann Göring's house. The battalion heads out to Austria where the end of the war in Europe is announced. While those with enough points go home, the remainder of Easy Company stays behind until the end of the Pacific War is declared.

Reception

Critical reception

Band of Brothers received universal critical acclaim, a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score,[50] and an 8.8 on TV.com.[51]

CNN's Paul Clinton said that the miniseries "is a remarkable testament to that generation of citizen soldiers, who responded when called upon to save the world for democracy and then quietly returned to build the nation that we now all enjoy, and all too often take for granted."[52] Caryn James of The New York Times called it "an extraordinary 10-part series that masters its greatest challenge: it balances the ideal of heroism with the violence and terror of battle, reflecting what is both civilized and savage about war." James also remarked on the generation gap between most viewers and characters, suggesting this was a significant hurdle.[53] Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that the series was "significantly flawed and yet absolutely extraordinary—just like the men it portrays," rating the series four out of four stars. He noted however that it was hard to identify with individual characters during crowded battle scenes.[54]

Philip French of The Guardian commented that he had "seen nothing in the cinema this past year that impressed me as much as BBC2's 10-part Band of Brothers, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and Ken Loach's The Navigators on Channel 4", and that it was "one of the best films ever made about men in war and superior in most ways to Saving Private Ryan."[55] Matt Seaton, also in The Guardian, wrote that the film's production was "on such a scale that in an ad hoc, inadvertent way it gives one a powerful sense of what really was accomplished during the D-Day invasion - the extraordinary logistical effort of moving men and matériel in vast quantities."[56]

Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote that though the series is "at times visually astonishing," it suffers from "disorganization, muddled thinking and a sense of redundancy." Shales observed that the characters are hard to identify: "Few of the characters stand out strikingly against the backdrop of the war. In fact, this show is all backdrop and no frontdrop. When you watch two hours and still aren't quite sure who the main characters are, something is wrong."[57]

Band of Brothers has become a benchmark for World War II series. The German series Generation War, for example, was characterized by critics as Band of Brüder (the German word for "Brothers").[58]

Ratings

Band of Brothers' September 9, 2001 premiere drew 10 million viewers.[59] Two days later, the September 11 attacks occurred, and HBO immediately ceased its marketing campaign.[59] Hence, while the second episode drew 7.2 million viewers,[59] the last episode received 5.1 million viewers, the smallest audience.[60]

Accolades

The series was nominated for twenty Primetime Emmy Awards, and won seven, including Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special.[61] It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television,[62] American Film Institute Award for TV Movie or Miniseries of the Year,[63] Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television,[64] and the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries, and Specials.[65] The show was also selected for a Peabody Award for ' ... relying on both history and memory to create a new tribute to those who fought to preserve liberty.'[66] In September 2019, The Guardian ranked the show 68th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stating that it "expanded the horizons – and budgets – of prestige TV".[67]

Primetime Emmy Awards
Category Nominee(s) Episode Result
Outstanding Miniseries Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Tony To, Stephen E. Ambrose, Eric Bork, Eric Jendresen, Mary Richards Won
Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television Programming Won
Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie Anthony Pratt, Dom Dossett, Alan Tomkins, Kevin Philpps, Desmond Crowe, Malcolm Stone "The Breaking Point" Nominated
Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Meg Liberman, Camille H. Patton, Angela Terry, Gary Davy, Suzanne M. Smith Won
Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie Remi Adefarasin "The Last Patrol" Nominated
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special David Frankel, Tom Hanks, David Nutter, David Leland, Richard Loncraine, Phil Alden Robinson, Mikael Salomon, Tony To Won
Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or Movie Helen Smith & Paula Price "Crossroads" Nominated
Outstanding Main Title Design Michael Riley, Michelle Dougherty, Jeff Miller, Jason Web Nominated
Outstanding Make-up for a Miniseries or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) Liz Tagg & Nikita Rae "Why We Fight" Nominated
Outstanding Prosthetic Make-up for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Daniel Parker, Matthew Smith, Duncan Jarman "Day of Days" Nominated
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or Movie Frances Parker "Day of Days" Won
Billy Fox "Replacements" Nominated
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Campbell Askew, Paul Conway, James Boyle, Ross Adams, Andy Kennedy, Howard Halsall, Robert Gavin, Grahame Peters, Michael Higham, Dashiell Rae, Andie Derrick, Peter Burgis "Day of Days" Won
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or Movie Colin Charles, Mike Dowson, Mark Taylor "Carentan" Won
David Stephenson, Mike Dowson, Mark Taylor "Day of Days" Nominated
Colin Charles, Keven Patrick Burns, Todd Orr "The Breaking Point" Nominated
Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Angus Bickerton, John Lockwood, Ken Dailey, Joe Pavlo, Mark Nettleton, Michael Mulholland, Joss Williams, Nigel Stone "Replacements" Nominated
Angus Bickerton, Mat Beck, Cindy Jones, Louis Mackall, Nigel Stone, Karl Mooney, Laurent Hugueniot, Chas Cash "Day of Days" Nominated
Outstanding Stunt Coordination Greg Powell "Carentan" Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special Erik Bork, E. Max Frye, Tom Hanks, Erik Jendresen, Bruce C. McKenna, John Orloff, Graham Yost Nominated

Golden Globe Awards
Category Nominee Outcome
Best Miniseries or Television Film Won
Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film Damian Lewis Nominated
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film Ron Livingston Nominated

Home media

All ten parts of the miniseries were released in VHS and DVD box sets on November 5, 2002. The DVD set includes five discs containing all the episodes, and a bonus disc with the behind-the-scenes documentary We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company and the video diary of actor Ron Livingston, who played Lewis Nixon. A collector's edition of the box set was also released, containing the same discs but held in a tin case. Band of Brothers is one of the best-selling TV DVD sets of all time,[68] having sold about $250 million worth as of 2010.[69]

The series was released as an exclusive HD DVD TV series in Japan in 2007. With the demise of the format, they are currently out of production. A Blu-ray Disc version of Band of Brothers was released on November 11, 2008 and has become a Blu-ray Disc top seller.[70]

See also

Notes
  1. Webster is referenced 18 times in the index, and appears on 69 pages.
  2. According to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, the 3rd Infantry Division was the first to take the town of Berchtesgaden; the "Eagle's Nest" is never mentioned.[31] General Maxwell D. Taylor, former Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, then attached to the XXI Corps, agreed.[32]

References
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  2. Winnerling, Tobias & Kerschbaumer, Florian (June 2014). Early Modernity and Video Games. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-4438-6234-9. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2016 – via Google Books.
  3. Ambrose, Stephen E. (1992). Band of Brothers. Touchstone (Simon & Schuster). ISBN 978-0-74321-645-6.
  4. "Band of Brothers". BBC. Archived from the original on May 4, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2008.
  5. "About The Series". HBO. Archived from the original on 2017-09-20.
  6. Alexander, Larry (2005). Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers. New York: NAL Caliber. ISBN 978-0-45121-510-9.
  7. Bando, Mark. "Band of Brothers - Company E/506th P.I.R. in WW2". Trigger Time. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  8. Mifflin, Lawrie (December 2, 1998). "TV Notes: World War II, The Mini-Series". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  9. Hohenadel, Kristin (December 17, 2000). "Television/Radio: Learning How the Private Ryans Felt and Fought". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  10. Carter, Bill (September 3, 2001). "On Television: HBO Bets Pentagon-Style Budget on a World War II Saga". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
  11. Levin, Gary (January 9, 2001). "'Brothers' invades fall lineup HBO's WWII miniseries battles network premieres". USA Today.
  12. Piazza, Jo (August 27, 2010). "How HBO Made the Most Expensive Mini-Series of All Time". Pop Eater.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  13. Martinez-Belen, Crispina (March 7, 2010). "'The Pacific,' a $200 million HBO mini-series". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on November 29, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  14. Bonander, Ross (March 14, 2010). "The Pacific: 5 Things You Didn't Know". AskMen. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  15. Levin, Gary (April 4, 2001). "HBO Cable network sets itself apart with daring fare". USA Today.
  16. Riding, Alan (June 7, 2001). "Arts Abroad: A Normandy Landing, This One for a Film". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  17. Elliott, Stuart (September 10, 2001). "Advertising: Jeep's manufacturer seeks to capitalize on the vehicle's featured role in 'Band of Brothers'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
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  19. Billen, Andrew (October 8, 2001). "The true drama of war". New Statesman. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009.
  20. Hellen, Nicholas (April 8, 2001). "BBC pays £15m for new Spielberg war epic". The Sunday Times.
  21. Garner, Clare (December 11, 1999). "Hatfield prepares for invasion of Spielberg brigade". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  22. Huff, Richard (September 9, 2001). "Actors & Vets Bond In 'Band Of Brothers'". New York Daily News.
  23. MacDonald, Sandy (September 15, 2002). "Miniseries put actors through boot camp". Daily News. Halifax.
  24. Kingseed (2014), p. 260.
  25. "The 101st Airborne Division". The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  26. "The 12th Armored Division". The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  27. "The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum: Liberation of Concentration Camps". The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  28. "Die Amerikanische Armee entdeckt den Holocaust" [The American Army discovers the Holocaust]. Bürgervereinigung zur Erforschung der Landsberger Zeitgeschichte (in German). Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
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Bibliography
  • Kingseed, Cole C. (2014). Conversations With Major Dick Winters: Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-69813-960-2.

Further reading

A number of books give further insight into Easy Company:

  • Alexander, Larry (2010). In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company's Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth. New York: New American Library. ISBN 978-0-45122-991-5. Part travelogue, part historical perspective.
  • Brotherton, Marcus (2010). A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us. New York: Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-42523-420-4. Profiles of deceased Easy Company men by their family members.
  • Brotherton, Marcus (2011). Shifty's War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers. New York: Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-1-10150-525-0.
  • Brotherton, Marcus (2009). We Who Are Alive and Remain. New York: Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-42523-419-8. Oral history featuring 20 surviving members of Easy Company.
  • Compton, Lynn & Brotherton, Marcus (2008). Call of Duty. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-42521-970-6. Recounts Compton's career as an attorney and prosecutor of Sirhan Sirhan.
  • Einhorn, Dalton (2009). From Toccoa to the Eagle's Nest: Discoveries in the Bootsteps of the Band of Brothers. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 978-1-43926-479-9.
  • Guarnere, William; Heffron, Edward & Post, Robyn (2008). Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends. New York: Dutton Caliber. ISBN 978-0-42522-436-6.
  • Malarkey, Donald & Welch, Bob (2009). Easy Company Soldier. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-31256-323-3.
  • Powers, Jake (2008). Easy Company 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - In Photographs. Guildford: Genesis Publications. ISBN 978-1-90566-206-7. A limited edition coffee table book.
  • Webster, David Kenyon (1994). Parachute Infantry. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-80711-901-3. Published posthumously.
  • de Trez, Michel (2004). Corporal Forrest L. Guth. The Way We Were No.1. Wezembeek-Oppem: D-Day Publishing. ISBN 978-2-96001-765-6. A collection of Guth's war time pictures and memoirs.
  • Winters, Richard D. & Kingseed, Cole C. (2005). Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters. New York: Berkley Caliber. ISBN 978-0-42520-813-7.
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