This list will have you screaming "Currahee!" Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most impactful scenes from “Band of Brothers,” one of TV’s greatest miniseries.
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00:00 I'm just one part of the big war, that's all. One little part.
00:03 And I'm proud to be a part of it.
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:10 impactful scenes from Band of Brothers, one of TV's greatest miniseries.
00:14 Must be doing something right, look! God, I'm so confused, they're firing on the third gun!
00:18 We better blow this thing before they figure out what the hell's happened!
00:21 Number 10. Marching into Bastogne.
00:25 In this scene, Easy Company and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division are charged
00:30 with defending Bastogne, a strategic crossroads town.
00:33 So we're going to put a perimeter around Bastogne, dig in tight as a tick.
00:36 Second battalion be deployed over here to the east.
00:39 However, Easy is short on ammo and other crucial supplies. As other soldiers retreat after already
00:45 facing the Germans in the area, the Easy boys take what ammo they can get from the shell-shocked
00:49 troops.
00:50 Got any grenades, please?
00:51 We got grenades!
00:53 They also receive additional ammunition from Lieutenant George Rice.
00:56 This scene leaves its mark because it illustrates how heroic the characters are in a quiet way.
01:01 What's your name, Lieutenant?
01:02 George Rice, 10th Armored.
01:04 Good work, son.
01:05 You got any more mortar rounds, sir? We're real short.
01:08 Under-prepared, under-dressed, and outgunned,
01:11 we see them march into the darkness with the flashes of guns in the distance.
01:15 What kings of men they were.
01:17 Number 9. Pranking Captain Sobel.
01:20 Humor is sprinkled throughout Band of Brothers.
01:23 It helps the men of Easy Company deal with the horror around them.
01:27 There should be no fence here.
01:28 Tipper!
01:29 However, one of the funniest moments in the series happens before they enter the war.
01:33 The company's original commanding officer, Captain Sobel, isn't the best leader in the field.
01:38 There should be no, there should be no fence here.
01:40 We could go over it, sir.
01:43 During a training exercise, he gets his group lost in a field.
01:47 George Luz is goaded into pranking Sobel to get the group moving again.
01:51 Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?
01:53 Who said that? Who broke silence?
01:55 I think it's Major Horton, sir.
01:58 He impersonates Major Horton's voice perfectly,
02:01 instructing Sobel to cut through a farm's fence.
02:04 What is the goddamn holdup, Master Sobel?
02:07 A fence! Say, um, god.
02:13 A barbed wire fence!
02:15 It's some great payback for all the grief Sobel puts his men through.
02:19 The only thing funnier than the herd of cows running loose
02:22 is Sobel's face when he realizes what happened.
02:24 Around a week after D-Day, Easy Company must retake the French town of Carentan.
02:32 It's their first major urban engagement, and it gets incredibly chaotic.
02:44 Right from the start, they take heavy fire on their approach, losing many men.
02:48 Additionally, fighting in a town creates a ton of collateral damage
02:57 and puts civilians in harm's way.
02:59 Easy Company has a rough time of it throughout,
03:01 with some of the grisliest injuries in the series,
03:04 not to mention Blythe's mental trauma.
03:06 And just when it seems like it's all over, Richard Winters is hit by a ricochet.
03:11 It's an explosive and impactful battle that left a major impression.
03:14 June 6th, 1944.
03:20 D-Day, Easy Company and many other paratroopers take part in the Normandy invasion.
03:25 The sequence depicting the nighttime battle on the coast of France
03:35 is harrowing from beginning to end.
03:37 "Let's go!"
03:39 The planes take fire throughout.
03:45 Some men are injured before they even jump.
03:47 An entire plane goes up in flames,
03:49 and all around them are explosions and utter chaos.
03:53 "Maybe three more minutes of this ferry!
03:55 We get any lower, we ain't gonna need any friggin' parachutes!"
03:58 Not only is it impressive that the real Easy Company and other real soldiers
04:03 managed to survive something this dangerous,
04:05 but the scene is also incredible from a production perspective.
04:09 'Band of Brothers' was released in 2001,
04:11 and yet the visual effects of this battle have aged amazingly well.
04:15 Truly, it was a miniseries ahead of its time.
04:18 One of the most gripping episodes in the series follows one of Easy Company's medics,
04:25 Eugene "Doc" Rowe.
04:26 His efforts to keep his men alive in the cold hell of the forests around Bastogne
04:30 often seem fruitless.
04:32 Nevertheless, a major bright spot is his friendship with Belgian nurse Renée La Mer.
04:37 "You're a good nurse."
04:38 The pair's quiet conversation in the ruins of Bastogne is particularly memorable.
04:43 Renée offers Doc chocolate, and he notices the state of her hands.
04:47 He insists her skill with healing the men is a gift,
04:51 though Renée feels it's the opposite.
04:53 "But your touch...calms people.
05:00 That's a gift from God."
05:02 "No, it's not a gift.
05:03 God would never give such a painful thing."
05:08 Nevertheless, when the time comes to continue helping others,
05:11 she leaps at the chance.
05:12 This quiet moment of humanity is made even more poignant by Renée's death
05:16 when the aid station is bombed.
05:18 Arguably Easy Company's first major engagement on the ground on D-Day,
05:25 this battle sees them charged with taking out a group of cannons at Breakhoar
05:29 that are targeting one of their landing zones.
05:31 Easy's assault on the guns captures the frenetic nature of combat perfectly,
05:42 while still making everything coherent and relatively simple to follow.
05:46 The action is fast and frequent,
05:53 and even manages to inject a few comedic moments.
05:56 "I can't believe I f*cked up my ass, sir!"
05:59 "Your ass?"
06:00 Some incidents with grenades, a shot in the behind,
06:02 and the loss of one man aside,
06:04 this is still a textbook attack on a fixed position.
06:08 And as the end card of the episode indicates, we mean that literally.
06:11 Number 4
06:13 Barrage and Breakdown
06:15 "I need my helmet."
06:16 "You hear that? Is that Joe?"
06:22 "Yeah, I think that's Joe."
06:27 Easy Company's stay in the forest surrounding Bastogne
06:30 sees the company hit several times by German artillery.
06:40 And while the one that Carwood Lipton compares to 'The Fourth of July' is on-deucing,
06:44 a far more impactful one occurs later in the episode.
06:54 During this barrage, several of the long-standing fixtures of the series are killed.
06:58 Joe Toy and Bill Garnier are wounded and lose limbs in a brutal sequence.
07:10 And while he's not injured himself,
07:12 Buck Compton is torn up seeing them torn up.
07:15 It's a scene that hammers home that even soldiers who aren't injured
07:18 still suffer emotional trauma.
07:20 "Gosh, how we all know what an exciting young man you are,
07:23 and how your heart and love."
07:25 Number 3
07:30 Spears' Run
07:32 During their time in Bastogne,
07:34 Easy is saddled with Lieutenant Dyke, who isn't exactly a battlefield commander.
07:39 So when the time comes to take the town of Foy, Dyke freezes.
07:42 Captain Winters wants to go himself, but is refused.
07:50 Enter then-Lieutenant Ronald Spears.
07:52 Spears quickly takes charge,
07:59 assessing the situation and leading the men forward quickly and decisively.
08:03 While that alone is awesome enough,
08:05 he soon after charges straight through the German lines to hook up with another company.
08:10 "At first the Germans didn't shoot at him.
08:12 I think they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing."
08:16 And to top off this Sunday of badassery,
08:19 Spears returns in the same direction from which he came.
08:22 "But after he hooked up with the I Company, he came back."
08:25 The leadership and valor on display here are simply unmatched.
08:35 Plus, he really did it.
08:36 What a boss!
08:37 Number 2
08:39 Liberating the Concentration Camp
08:41 In the Second World War, the Holocaust always looms.
08:44 When Easy Company men first find a concentration camp,
08:47 they don't understand what they're seeing.
08:49 And even knowing what's coming, it's still shocking.
08:52 The imprisoned men are all emaciated and malnourished.
09:02 The production reportedly hired cancer patients to help make it more authentic.
09:06 Seeing the Easy men uncover each new horror is hard to watch.
09:17 Liebgott having to tell the liberated prisoners that they can't leave
09:20 is the ultimate heartbreak though.
09:22 Even if it is a show, just knowing that real people were treated this way turns the stomach.
09:27 Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
09:32 Bull in the Barn
09:33 Stranded and Alone
09:34 Bull Randleman Fights to Survive
09:36 Lipton's Promotion
09:49 He held Easy together, and he didn't even realize it.
09:52 Every day kept the spirits up, kept the men focused, gave them direction.
09:56 All the things a good combat leader does.
09:59 You don't have any idea who I'm talking about, do you?
10:08 No, sir.
10:10 The Mark of a True Soldier
10:12 Blythe deserved that Edelweiss.
10:14 Winters Kills a Young Soldier
10:17 It's an event that haunts Easy's leader.
10:19 Picking Up Laundry
10:27 Not everybody made it back.
10:29 "Lieutenant Mearns, one of yours, isn't he? I hope he hasn't forgotten his laundry."
10:33 "I don't think he's in a hurry."
10:35 "I'm sure he's not."
10:36 "I'm sure he's not."
10:37 "I'm sure he's not."
10:38 "I'm sure he's not."
10:39 "I'm sure he's not."
10:40 "I'm sure he's not."
10:41 "I'm sure he's not."
10:41 "I'm sure he's not."
10:42 "I'm sure he's not."
10:43 "I hope he hasn't forgotten his laundry."
10:44 "I'll take it."
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11:06 Number 1 - The Final Scene
11:10 "We in it shall be remembered. We lucky few. We band of brothers."
11:17 Every war ends eventually, and the conclusion of Easy Company's time in Europe brings with it a
11:23 tremendous sense of relief. The last scene of the last episode sees a montage of the men playing a
11:28 game of baseball as Winters recounts everyone's lives after the war.
11:32 "Bull Ranamon was one of the best soldiers I ever had.
11:35 He went into the earth moving business in Arkansas. He's still there."
11:40 It's touching to know that after everything these men went through,
11:43 many of them went on to succeed and stay connected in civilian life.
11:47 "Lewis Nixon had some tough times after the war. He was divorced a couple of times.
11:52 Then in 1956 he married a woman named Grace and everything came together for him."
11:57 As if that wasn't perfect enough, it's followed up by the final interview with the real members
12:02 of Easy Company, with their names finally revealed.
12:05 "I'm just one part of the big war, that's all. One little part.
12:10 And I'm proud to be a part of it."
12:12 The real Winters' final speech about a question he got from his grandson is so moving that we
12:16 struggle to hold back the feels every time we hear it.
12:19 "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?"
12:23 "Grandpa said no."
12:27 "But I served in the company of heroes."
12:37 Is there a Band of Brothers moment we missed? Sound off your favorites and a currahee in the
12:41 comments. "The real men, the real heroes, are the fellas that are still buried over there and those
12:47 that come home to be buried." Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
12:53 and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
12:57 [Music]