 Director David Anspaugh and script writer Angelo Pizzo were unhappy  with studio executives, who cut their budget from $65 million to $27  million. Thus, the films running time had to be reduced from almost  2 hours 10 minutes to 1 hour 41 minutes. Some notable exclusions  were Frank "Pee Wee" Wallace as a German POW and an emotional scene  of "America as a melting pot" in which the players go to Ellis  Island and look up records of their ancestors. Angelo Pizzo said  that only 45