A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Director:

Richard Attenborough

Writers:

Cornelius Ryan (book)
William Goldman (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 June 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Out of the sky comes the screen's most incredible spectacle of men and war!

Plot:

An historic telling of the failed attempt to capture several bridges to Germany in World War II in a campaign called Operation Market-Garden.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | River Crossing | Burning Tank | Rowing | Plan Gone Wrong

Awards:

Won 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Aug. 1

5:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Lt. Gen. Frederick A.M. Browning
James Caan	...	SSgt. Eddie Dohun
Michael Caine	...	Lt. Col. John O.E. Vandeleur
Sean Connery	...	Maj. Gen. Robert E. Urquhart
Edward Fox	...	Lt. Gen. Brian G. Horrocks
Elliott Gould	...	Col. Robert Stout
Gene Hackman	...	Maj. Gen. Stanislaw F. Sosabowski
Anthony Hopkins	...	Lt. Col. John D. Frost
Hardy Krüger	...	Maj. Gen. Ludwig (as Hardy Kruger)
Ryan O'Neal	...	Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin
Laurence Olivier	...	Dr. Jan Spaander
Robert Redford	...	Maj. Julian Cook
Maximilian Schell	...	Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Bittrich
Liv Ullmann	...	Kate Ter Horst
Denholm Elliott	...	RAF meteorologist officer

Runtime:

175 min | Finland:158 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | German | Dutch

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Stereo (35 mm prints)

Certification:

New Zealand:PG | Iceland:16 | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 (1977) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba)

Filming Locations:

Bemmel, Lingewaard, Gelderland, Netherlands

Company:

Joseph E. Levine Productions

Trivia:

Despite the fact that the film was made more than 30 years after the actual battle, a number of its principal characters were able to be employed as military consultants during production. The list of people includes: Brian Horrocks (James Fox), James M. Gavin (Ryan O'Neal), J.O.E. Vandeleur (Michael Caine), John Frost (Anthony Hopkins) and R.E. Urquhart (Sean Connery).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the arrival of Allied troops in Eindhoven, some members of the cheering crowd can be seen waving miniature 50-star American flags.

Quotes:

Major General Urquhart: I thought everyone knew that God was a Scotsman.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Conker: Live and Reloaded (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

3RD MOVEMENT

What makes this movie so good is the realism, shown in every detail

I'm a big fan of war movies and I already have a nice collection on DVD. One of them is A Bridge Too Far and I can only say that it is one of my favorites in this genre (if you can make a comparison between movies like A Bridge Too Far, Saving Private Ryan, All Quiet on the Western Front, Apocalypse Now... of course). What I really don't understand is why this movie never was a big success in the cinema's. Perhaps the people had enough of war movies ... and Star Wars was very hip and new at that time of course, but personally I love this movie.

What makes this movie so good is the realism. In most of the war movies of that period, everybody speaks English. No matter if it is a German, an American,... In this movie everybody speaks the language he is supposed to speak. There even is a difference between the English of the Americans and the British. But of course the use of different languages isn't the only thing that attracted me. Another good example is the fact that they didn't try to make all the Germans look like brainless killers, monsters without any human feelings. The movie showes them the way they really were: good and hard fighters who cared about their comrades just as much as any allied soldier, but who didn't just kill for fun. (Just for your information: I'm talking about the soldiers in the Wehrmacht here and not about the SS, even though not all SS-troops where that bad either. There are good and bad people in every army.)

The effort which was put in this movie is shown in every detail. The uniforms, the weapons, the landscapes, the cities..., everything really gives you the feeling the director wanted to give an accurate vision on what happened during operation Market Garden. Images from the movie were even incorporated in a documentary on this subject. That probably shows better than anything else how good this movie really is.

You probably ask yourself if there really isn't anything negative about this movie. Of course there is, but it never really bothered me. Therefore I reward this movie with a 9/10. Perhaps a little too high according to the average IMDb user, but for me it's sure worth it.