History Film / Valkyrie

* ForWantOfANail: The July plotters actually make two attempts to kill Hitler (some of them, such as Treskcow, even before that). The first time, the Reserve Army has already been mobilized and Stauffenberg is at the Wolf's Lair with the bombs and calling for confirmation, but the civilian leaders of the conspiracy are hesitant to go for it without Himmler at the meeting. They finally proceed on the second attempt two weeks later (where Himmler isn't present either), but the meeting between Hitler and his officers has been moved to a cabin outside the bunker.[[note]]This, in addition to the bomb being placed behind a big wooden table leg by pure chance, significantly decreased the bomb's blast force[[/note]] If Goerdeler hadn't hesitated at the last second, Stauffenberg's bomb would have certainly killed Hitler.

* ForWantOfANail: The July plotters actually make two attempts to kill Hitler. The first time, the Reserve Army has already been mobilized and Stauffenberg is at the Wolf's Lair with the bombs and calling for confirmation, but the civilian leaders of the conspiracy are hesitant to go for it without Himmler at the meeting. They finally proceed on the second attempt two weeks later (where Himmler isn't present either), but the meeting between Hitler and his officers has been moved to a cabin outside the bunker.[[note]]This, in addition to the bomb being placed behind a big wooden table leg by pure chance, significantly decreased the bomb's blast force[[/note]] If Goerdeler hadn't hesitated at the last second, Stauffenberg's bomb would have certainly killed Hitler.

* RecordNeedleScratch: In-universe as an impromptu party at the Stauffenberg house is interrupted by an Allied bombing raid, which causes the record needle to jump.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Upon his arrival at the War Ministry, while waiting to see Froom, Stauffenberg and Olbricht hear the tail end of Keitel giving one to Fromm from outside his office.
-->'''Wilhelm Keitel''': I have got better things to do with my time than to come down here and clean up ''your'' mess! If you were enough of a man to run this department, then I wouldn't have to do it myself! You're an old woman, Fromm! I'd send you to the front, if I didn't think you'd surrender just to be Montgomery's ''whore''!

Part of what got interest in this film going is that popular consciousness has it that there was no resistance within Germany to the Nazi party after the mass-arrests and exodus of the country's overt opposition to Hitler after 1933, in part because Hitler remained in power (and alive) until the Soviets took Berlin. Operation Valkyrie was actually the last of over 15 attempts (and one of the closest to being successful) on Hitler's life by various fringe factions within Germany before the end of the war. Even though the outcome of this assassination attempt is [[ForegoneConclusion rather obvious]], it serves as a reminder that the politics of Nazi Germany [[WeAreStrugglingTogether was far more fractious]] [[InterserviceRivalry than it appears]] at first sight/from Middle- and High-School textbooks.

Part of what got interest in this film going is that popular consciousness is that there was no resistance within Germany to the Nazi party after the mass-arrest and exodus of the country's overt opposition to Hitler in 1933, in part because Hitler remained in power (and alive) until the Soviets took Berlin. Operation Valkyrie was actually the last of over 15 attempts (and one of the closest to being successful) on Hitler's life by various fringe factions within Germany before the end of the war. Even though the outcome of this assassination attempt is [[ForegoneConclusion rather obvious]], it serves as a reminder that the politics of Nazi Germany [[WeAreStrugglingTogether was far more fractious]] [[InterserviceRivalry than it appears]] at first sight/from Middle- and High-School textbooks.

* DoomedByCanon: It's hardly a spoiler to say Hitler survives the attempted coup.

* ForegoneConclusion: Even those unfamiliar with the assassination plot itself should know this.

* AffablyEvil: Adolf Hitler. When he meets Stauffenberg for the first time, he praises him for his service and his sacrifices for Germany and then tells his fellow national socialists that they could learn a lot of things from him. This is particularly noteworthy because every other member of the Nazi high command that is shown is extremely unpleasant. However...
** FauxAffablyEvil: Hitler's politeness is entirely superficial, and only lasts as long as he's in a good mood. When he's in the Wolf's Lair getting bad news from his generals, his entire demeanor changes from soft-spoken and cordial to petulant and nasty. This is very much TruthInTelevision; Hitler's mercurial mood was infamous within his government.

* AffablyEvil: Adolf Hitler. When he meets Stauffenberg for the first time, he praises him for his service and his sacrifices for Germany and then tells his fellow national socialists that they could learn a lot of things from him.

* FatBastard: Hermann Göring, whose small appearance consists of lounging around a lunch table like a fat pig. Which actually sums up his role in World War II quite nicely.

-->'''Goerdeler''': Our only option now is to confront Hitler openly. Force him out.
-->'''Stauffenberg''': And then what? [...] I'm simply asking what you intend to do when Hitler is gone. You don't honestly believe you can just walk into the Reich Chancellery and command the army to end the war, do you?

* FamousLastWords: "Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!". Translates to "Long live our sacred Germany", but the film truncated it a bit, removing the "our" (to be fair, there is some dispute about the actual form of Stauffenberg's last words; his biographer, Joseph Hoffmann, makes a good case for "Es lebe das geheime Deutschland!" ("Long live the secret Germany!")

** Ludwig Beck, when captured, asks for a pistol. As he was a civilian and not active military at that point, he was actually placed under arrest rather than immediately sentenced to death by court martial, but he was well aware that he would have been put in front of the ''[[KangarooCourt Volksgerichthof]]'' and put to death in perhaps a week anyway. In RealLife, he [[BungledSuicide shot himself in the head twice and still didn't die]]. The guard had to finish him off.

** Ludwig Beck. In RealLife, he [[NightmareFuel shot himself in the head twice and still didn't die]]. The guard had to finish him off.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Fromm's reason to summarily execute everyone involved, in an attempt to hide his own role in the failed coup. Ultimately, it did not save him. Hitler had ordered the conspirators to be captured alive so they could be interrogated, which Reimer specifically brought up to Fromm only to be ignored. It was just too blatant a RevealingCoverup.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Fromm's reason to summarily execute everyone involved. Ultimately, it did not save him. Hitler had ordered the conspirators to be captured alive, which Reimer specifically brought up to Fromm only to be ignored. It was just too blatant a RevealingCoverup.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: Fromm's reason to summarily execute everyone involved. Ultimately, it did not save him.

** Erwin Rommel himself isn't mention either, even though he is believed to have been approached by the plotters and was forced to commit suicide afterwards. In fairness, at the time the plot took place, he was recovering after being injured in an air strike.

''Valkyrie'' is a 2008 historical drama film about the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen attempted]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot assassination]] of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler by a dedicated cabal of [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German military officers]], as well as some non-military personnel. It is directed by Creator/BryanSinger, written by Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie, and starring Creator/TomCruise, Creator/KennethBranagh, Creator/BillNighy, Creator/EddieIzzard, Creator/TerenceStamp, Creator/TomWilkinson and Creator/CariceVanHouten.

''Valkyrie'' is a 2008 historical drama film about the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen attempted]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot assassination]] of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler by a dedicated cabal of [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German military officers]], as well as some non-military personnel. It is directed by Creator/BryanSinger, written by Creator/ChristopherMcQuarrie, and starring Creator/TomCruise, Creator/KennethBranagh, Creator/BillNighy, Creator/EddieIzzard, Creator/TerenceStamp, Tom Wilkinson and Creator/CariceVanHouten.

** The plotters are portrayed as this in the film. There's no doubt that the plotters were not Nazis, but certainly were not covert Republicans who believed in equality and democracy. In reality the German officer corps, especially the aristocratic elements that made up a fair chunk of it and the plotters, were strongly authoritarian and murderously anti-leftist and pro-German. Stauffenberg, for example, [[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/GENOCIDE/reviewstr12.htm viewed Poland as "an unbelievable rabble" best under the whip, and as a country filled with "a lot of Jews and a lot of cross-breeds"]]. However, he was disgusted when he later learned that Jews were being rounded up and shot ''en masse'', which was reportedly a factor in him turning against Hitler. The [[http://www.verbrechen-der-wehrmacht.de/docs/home_e.htm German officer corps apparently actually cared about Jewish people, was disgusted by their slaughter]], and masterminded a plot to assassinate Hitler that would include the closing of concentration camps. We do know that they intended to stop the Final Solution, and that they intended to establish at least a token/weak democracy in the vein of Imperial Germany. However, we also know that they hoped to retain Hitler's pre-war conquests--Austria, the Sudetenland, Memel--as well as the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Corridor Polish Corridor]]", transferred from Poland to Germany after World War I and annexed back to Germany after Hitler conquered Poland at the start of World War II. In many cases, the plotters only turned on Hitler because he was losing the war, and had every intention of fighting on against the Soviet Union. We don't know much else, including why they and most of their families were executed, as there were very few living witnesses to convey their motives. It is however true that it would have been difficult for the audience to get behind protagonists who disagreed with less than 20% of Nazi ideology. That said, they weren't ALL vehement racists and autocrats. Tresckow in particular had genuine moral objections to Hitler and believed the plot had to go forward even if it was doomed to fail just to show that there was a resistance (not surprisingly, the movie includes this). Despite their similar backgrounds, the motivations and ideologies of the conspirators varied from person to person, which the movie downplays for RuleOfDrama.

** As the film focusses on the operation in Berlin, the plotters present in France do not appear. This includes Caesar von Hofacker (a cousin of Stauffenberg), Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel (military governor of France), Hans Speidel (Erwin Rommel's chief of staff) and Eberhard Finckh (chief quartermaster of the Paris military administration).

* EnemyMine: Erwin von Witzleben invokes this, suggesting that at this stage in the game, they could just sit back and leave the task of dealing with the Nazis to the Allies. Goerdeler shoots it down, pointing out that [[EvilIsPetty Hitler is spiteful enough]] [[TakingYouWithMe to drag all of Europe down with him rather than admit defeat]].

* EnemyMine: Erwin von Witzleben invokes this, suggesting that at this stage in the game, they could just sit back and leave the task of dealing with the Nazis to the Allies.

** Several main cast members are given roles occupied by others.