It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The battle scenes were how I imagine it was. It's hard to capture the horror, but you could almost feel the fear. The naive people at home is realistic due to propaganda from the state media. To go to all the trouble of this great movie, and then put the wrong armistice date at the end was regrettable. There was still heavy fighting on Oct 11. Nov 11 was Armistice Day.

I had seen this when it originally aired on TV in 1979 and just watched it again on YouTube. My impressions have not changed in 38 years. Some of the acting is a bit wooden especially by Thomas and it is still weird that even though the unit is comprised of young Germans, you still hear American and various different English accents amongst them. The other actors like Borgnine, Holm, Pleasence and an under utilized Patricia Neal are very good. However the production values alone make this worthwhile viewing. Life on the Western Front of WWI is vividly captured. Desolated landscape, rats, lice, dead bodies everywhere, shell shock, battle fatigue, PTSD (whatever each generation calls it) and just the shear monotony of life on the front. Unlike "Joyeaux Noel", ( a film I do love) no one has the perfect part in their hair or a clean shaven face, everyone is covered in mud and blood all the time. There are a few acknowledgements to its more well known predecessor like the hands on the barbed wire and Paul's aiding of Kat towards the end. Whereas the original tells the story in a more linear fashion, this one sticks closer to the book where Paul recounts his education and recruitment story in flashback. Still a very powerful anti- war film that can stand proudly alongside the more well known classic.

This movie is clearly underrated when compared to THE moral beacon of war movies: "Full Metal Jacket". For several reasons, I find this masterpiece on par with the latter film by Stanley Kubrick.First, there is the clear notion of the "dehumanization process" at the start of both films, but in my opinion, the viewer is better reminded of this process towards the end of this film, when we see the main character reflect on the past years and concludes that he has been transformed into a broken man, only to realize that he will never fit into normal life again. In this respect, the final scene is almost merciful.Secondly, when watching the film I was reminded of an HBO documentary I saw last week about PTSD and war trauma. "All quiet on the Western front" managed to capture the very essence about this condition in a time where the term "PTSD" hasn't even been coined (as far as my sources are accurate, that was only in the next year, 1980, and it was still very much of a mystery at that time).Add to that the superb performances and compelling screen play, and I can only conclude that this film is an absolutely must see!

Granted I've never seen the original - I do have that unfortunate problem of being unable to relate to films made in a very young time.Nevertheless, I did grow up during the "Golden Age Of TV Movies" and I never saw this on television. There was a teacher that kept airing it when I was working in the A/V Lab. I didn't care about that.Well I was old enough to take note. Now I think this is probably the Best Made For Television Movie of all time.The Great War (or World War I) is a war that I believe is immensely ignored in the scheme of the 20th Century. I was one of those people that heard pretty much everything about WWII and I can recite it backwards and inside-out.But the thing about the situation in Europe needs to be looked at more seriously and in a long amount of time. WWII didn't just pop out of nowhere.I'm going to tell you to know the 20th Century you need to research "The Great War" and "The Franco-Prussian War".But if you want to only find out how the Industrial Revolution turned war into a total, complete killing factory World War I is where it all started.And if you research further, most people didn't really know what they were fighting for and/or who.Young men were asked to go fight to keep up the status quo. That's basically about all you can say about ANY war.That's what this movie is about; young me going to war and dying and the tragic circumstances. It's an endless theme.