Category Archives: Sunday Morning Sidewalk

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #2

Posted on by

February #2

“Day of Days”

The second week of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk brought me back to HBO MAX for the second episode of the classic series, Band of Brothers. This episode followed the men of Easy Company on the jump out of the airplane and to the land of Normandy, France. The jump scattered the battalions across the area and they had to scurry around hostile territory in order to survive and complete their mission.

Lt. Winters is seemingly left in charge as the superior office is one of the missing in action. He spent some time in this episode gaining the trust and respect of his men, in particular one who seemed to be more interested in “killing Krauts” than following orders.

One of the more powerful moments of the episode was when Easy Company captured a group of German soldiers and it was discovered that one of them was born in Oregon. Malarkey discovered this piece of information and he bonded with the solider since he, too, was from Oregon. As he left the Germans, they were executed, including the born American. The look on Malarkey’s face told the story.

The realism of the battle scenes really stood out. The brutality and fear came through with every gunshot or grenade toss.

The end quote of the episode featured names of men who were awarded for their success and bravery.

“For destroying the German guns at Brécourt Manor the following awards were awarded

Bronze Stars

Walter Hendrix, Donald Malarkey, John Plesha, Joe Toye, Carwood Lipton, Cleveland Petty, Myron Ranney, “Popeye” Wynn

Silver Stars

“Buck” Compton, Bill Guarnere, Gerald Lorraine

The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to

Lt. Richard Winters”

“Easy Company’s capture of the German Battery became a textbook case of an assault on a fixed position, and is still demonstrated at the United States Military Academy at West Point, today.”

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #1

Posted on by

January 26

Episode One: “Currahee“

Starting a stroll down the Sunday Morning Sidewalk here at EYG. The idea is to pick out a season of TV, ideally a short season, perhaps a show that only had one season, and watch an episode every Sunday morning.

While there are a ton of series that could have been our first series, I chose a series that has been on my to-watch list for quite awhile. It is over at HBO MAX, and it is Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg produced 2002 mini series, Band of Brothers.

I was not sure exactly what this first episode held for me. I have historically not been a huge fan of war movies, which was why I had not watched this before now.

When the episode began, it felt like a documentary style show, partially because of the initial interviews with members of the Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and I was suddenly confused. I saw the episode underway and I thought, “Could this be actual footage?” It took me a few moments to figure out that this was not real footage, which speaks very highly of the show itself.

It was more than just a reenactment too. This was a show written from interviews and journals of the men involved in the company and it seemed as if accuracy was a major goal of this series.

If I had any question, the moment David Schwimmer walked onto screen, I knew what was going on. Schwimmer was playing a captain who pushed the men in their training, but turned out to be a lackluster field leader. It became so bad that men under his command staged a rebellion to draw attention to their concerns.

The acting is on par with some of the best acting you are going to see on any size screen. The first episode truly showed the skills of Damian Lewis, as Richard D. Winters.

Episode one does a great job of setting up what we are going to be seeing and provide us with an accurate view of the situation these men were in.

Next-February 2nd. Episode Two: “Days of Days“