MovieChat Forums > The Winds of War (1983) Discussion > Good Miniseries with several disturbing ...

Good Miniseries with several disturbing scenes that still pack a punch

posted 18 years ago by johnyzero_2000
11 replies | jump to latest

I checked this out from the library because I wanted to see it again after I first saw it back in 1983 when I was 10. I remember when it first came on tv and for weeks it was advertised and when it premired forget about watching anything else on TV. The scene that upset me the most when I was a kid was when Natalie, Byron, and Slote and Jastrow were stranded with a flat tire and while changing the tire one of the ladies evacuating offered Byron something to eat. Then all of a sudden there was an air raid and the German plane opened fired. Here is the part that really upset me, the little girl who was watching Byron change the tire was at the side of the woman who offered Byron a sandwich and the woman was lying dead and the little girl was saying, "MAMA! MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!" while shaking her in hope of reviving her Mama! God I was very upset when seeing this and I ran to my room and cried because I couldn't watch it anymore. I did manage to see the rest of the movie later in the week though but the imgage of the little girl crying Mama really upset me.

So far the Winds of War has stood up very well and is still entertaining and relevant today. As of all the negativity of Ali McGraw's casting I say Bull ****!!! I think she is great, I have seen a lot worse and Ali has that star appeal that makes you love her all the more, plus I think she looked damned hot for 46! I am looking forward to seeing War and Remembrance.

[–] nyctc7 18 years ago

"As of all the negativity of Ali McGraw's casting I say Bull ****!!! I think she is great, I have seen a lot worse and Ali has that star appeal that makes you love her all the more, plus I think she looked damned hot for 46! I am looking forward to seeing War and Remembrance."

Count me as an Ali McGraw fan here as well. We seem to be outnumbered, and I could never fully understand why. McGraw IS the feisty, headstrong, intelligent, independent, beautiful, yet vulnerable, Natalie! From the time Jan-Michael Vincent first gazes at her with when she takes her sunglasses off, to the time she tells him, "Ok, you've done it, I'm in love with you," is my all-time favorite movie romance. After that, I think it falls down, but just a little. The first time I watched W&R, I was jonesing for those two actors! But upon second viewing, I really came to appreciate Jane Seymour and Hart Bochner. Especially Seymour.

[–] lferrigon-1 18 years ago

I loved Ali MacGraw and Robert Mitchum and as for them being too old, that is silly. I felt they fitted their roles quite well.

[–] Stevicus-2 18 years ago

Yes, that was a very wrenching scene with the little girl crying "Mama."

Only, one small correction: Sloate wasn't in that scene. He was still in Warsaw at the US embassy. Natalie and Byron went to Krakow on their own the day before the Germans invaded, and then they had to race back to Warsaw ahead of the German advance. That entire sequence of them in the line of refugees was actually quite riveting.

[–] soylentgreen-1 18 years ago

Despite being a huge WWII buff, I still hadn't seen this again since its original broadcast when I was 13. And yes, it still does pack quite a punch.

I found the entire segment devoted to Natalie, Byron and Leslie(and the other neutrals) making their painfully slow way out of Poland to be very well done. The sense of terror was vivid and and relentless. Having not seen this is so many years, I genuinely feared for Ron Rifkin's character. I didn't expect it to have the same impact after all these years, but damn if it didn't deliver.

You, Mr Neville, are the refuse of the past. You are discarded!

[–] jamma_man69 18 years ago

Remember Ali was playing a 28 year old

not a 48 year

in the bok that is how old Pug Henry was

[–] slatersontheisland 18 years ago

Regarding the age issue, I guess you just have to suspend belief a little, especially in the case of Mitchum, McGraw and Vincent. After all, look how many middle-aged actors play in "Romeo and Juliet" - a story about two teenaged lovers?

[–] mtterry 18 years ago

It was borderline painful to watch Ali MacGraw try to play a 25 year old spitfire. Mitchum was similarly too old, but not as far off (or as bad an actor) as MacGraw. Jane Seymour was much better.

[–] springmoon60 18 years ago

I have to agree here. McGraw and Vincent were simply too old to be playing the characters of Natalie and Byron (as was the actress who was supposed to convince me that Madeline was 19. Um, no.) You could actually see that McGraw was well past 30 in those scenes, and there were no lighting tricks to make her look any younger. I guess the idea was to get some marquee names at the time. W&R was much better cast.

[–] possumopossum 17 years ago

johnyzero, if you thought that was bad, you should have seen WAR AND REMEMBRANCE where it showed a bunch of people in Auschwitz going to their deaths. When all these people are going to the huts to undress for the "showers", there is a dog lunging at a little girl being held by her mother. The little girl goes into hysterics while the mother tries to comfort her by giving her a flower. This scene really gets you because you know these two are going to their deaths, and, though at this point in the movie you don't see an actual gassing, you can hear her off-stage crying and screaming, "Momma! Momma!" as the gas crystals are being poured into the vents. In the next scene, when the prisoners are carting them out of the gas chamber in wheelbarrows, you see the little girl lying naked and dead on top of the other dead bodies still clutching her flower. The look on Hoess's face when he sees that little girl is gut-wrenching, too.

[–] stumitchumjc_omnimovie 17 years ago

Yeah, and as payback, IT FELT GREAT(!!!!), as Lady Aster had his boys machine-gun and bayonet (SHEFFIELD STEEL!!) all those Jap scumbags in the water. I only wish Patton's denying the *beep*--the last syllable of sauerkraut-- (civilians included!!!) quarter was included, too! Devil Dog Marines using flamethrowers at Okinawa and at Iwo Jima, too! Thank GOD for the late General Paul Tibbets!!

[–] phantomfan47 17 years ago

W & R really made me cry and I don't cry often when I watch movies.

That scene with the little girl and the gassing scenes made me tear up, but I also find myself crying when Byron goes looking for Louis at the end. I think Jane Seymour really added something to Natalie.