I saw the flick first, book later. I agree with your take on the book vs. movie. The movie is actually pretty good, and my favorite WW-II movie. (It has some annoying flaws. Elliott Gould as an Infantry Officer, is just bad casting.) Casting of the Germans seems better than the Allied side, mostly because they used real actors and not blow dried Hollywood stars. (Model's character's summation, "Market-Garden war ein haarverbrenntes (sp?) Plan.")
The story behind making the movie (as told on the History Channel's "History vs. Hollywood") is worth retelling. Producer Joseph E. Levine financed most of the $25 million budget himself. Much of the budget went to exorbitant salaries for its all-star cast, including Robert Redford, who earned $2 million for 10 minutes of screen time. (Bad call. Definitely not a chick-flick.)
Levine thought the story should be told and risked most of his personal fortune financing the film. Fortunately, it was a success at the box office and he landed on his feet.
2. Saving Private Ryan --most realistic combat movie ever
3. Das Boot (Directors cut/subtitled) --best submarine movie ever. I enjoy watching at night, no lights on in the house, and have the air-conditioning turned low, very cold.
4. Patton --George C. Scott is just great. The scenes giving speeches are most excellent. I consider this a movie about Patton; not a ‘war’ movie.
5. The Memphis Belle --Another of my favorites. Another overlooked WWII pic. A great cast. Matthew Modine, Sean Austin, very good. Deserves more respect. Great scenes of the air war –plus I’m a sucker for anything having B-17s in it.
6. Kelly’s Heroes --Funniest war movie ever. I think of it as a comedy set in WWII. Another movie I don’t consider a ‘war’ movie.
7. Stalag 17 --An excellent drama set in WWII.
8. Big Red One
Most the German Soldiers (extra's) in the movie are United States Air Force Enlisted men on Permissive TDY, I was overseas at the time when the memo came through asking for volunteers to help make the movie. I remember the US Army Enlisteds being upset they were not allowed to go on TDY.
The Great Escape
Battle of Britain
Wings of Eagles
The "realism" in Spielberg's film, Saving Private Ryan, was already established much earlier in Cornelius Ryan's A Bridge Too Far. The cast portraying the Red Devils at the bridge, were superb. Ryan himself, was dying from prostate cancer. The film is one of the few that shows the difficulties of taking decisions, all up and down the chain of command, as such decisions are affected by logistics, something that most people do not get any sense of, from their public education, and rarely, if ever, from film.
This sound track is Stanley Maxted's live report from the battle, during a desperately needed parachute drop:
http://www.marketgarden.com/new/sounds/maxted1.mp3
All the noise that you hear, is not static --- it is the hammering din of battle and men's shouts.