Goofs for
A Bridge Too Far (1977) More at IMDbPro »

• Revealing mistakes: When a damaged Allied cargo plane "crashes" behind some trees near Maj. Gen. Urquhart and his troops, the plane can be seen pulling up and flying away just behind the fireball marking its supposed impact point.
  
  
• Factual errors: The subtitles when Field Marshall Rundstedt is speculating between General Patton and Field Marshall Montgomery near the beginning of the film once misspell "Patton" as "Patten". Later usages correctly spell "Patton".
  
  
• Continuity: At the beginning of the film when the American and British officers are talking, the general's epaulets are on top of his coat collar. A minute later, as the general walks around the table, the epaulets are under his coat collar.
  
  

• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Lt. Col. J.O.E Vandeleur is riding in the car talking to the officer who is driving, you can see in one far away view that their lips are not moving, but you still hear them talking.
  
  
• Continuity: When the boats finally arrive to cross the river at Nijmegen bridge, there is water in them, even though they've been transported for days in trucks in rain-free weather. (Probably a result of previous takes.)
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the arrival of Allied troops in Eindhoven, some members of the cheering crowd can be seen waving miniature 50-star American flags.
  
  
• Factual errors: When von Rundstedt is deciding where to send his armoured reserves in order to rest them before meeting the expected attack by Patton rather than Montgomery he decides to send them to Arnhem. The map counter which is moved clearly shows "II SS Panzer Div (division)" when the correct name of the unit at Arnhem was the II SS Panzer Corps (consisting of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions). The 2nd SS Panzer Division at that time was fighting on the Eastern Front.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the English soldiers are are standing and yelling to the supply drop aeroplanes a damaged plane flies past with an engine out and crashes soon after, but the plane can be seen flying away from the left side of the explosion
  
  
• Factual errors: Col. Robert Stout responds at some point to Col. J.O.E Vandeleur regarding a comment on American ingenuity, Stout says something to the effect of being born in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia didn't exist under that name until 6 January, 1929, which would have made him a rather young colonel at 15. Prior to 1929, Yugoslavia was known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, a name adopted in 1918. Even so, someone born prior to 1929 in those territories would most likely have identified an individual republic as a place of birth.
  
  
• Factual errors: As the first British paratroopers are assembling, there are wide angle shots of activity. Most of the paratroopers are carrying the correct rifles, machine pistols or other weapons, but a few can be spotted carrying American M1 Garand rifles that were rarely used by British or Commonwealth forces. Later in the movie, as the tide turns and the British paratroopers have surrendered, German soldiers crossing a small foot bridge to the British command post can be briefly seen carrying M1s as well. M1s were issued to a small percentage of Commonwealth airborne troopers to increase the rifle fire-power of squads. Photos of Canadian airborne troops verify this.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Ludwig is speaking to a subordinate about blowing the bridge about to be assaulted by the 82nd, the subordinate refers to a "Hauptmann", the German word for captain. In the SS, the rank would be "Hauptsturmführer." Likewise, when he answers Ludwig, he calls him "General". Ludwig is listed in the cast as a Major General, but the equivalent SS rank would have been Brigadeführer. In the film, Ludwig's collar tab has 3 oak leafs and 1 pip which stands for Gruppenführer (General Lieutenant), even though his rank is that of a Brigadeführer.
  
  
• Factual errors: The 82d Airborne Division's Command Post during the operation was never located in an estate mansion as portrayed in the movie. The CP was in the woods outside Nijmegen near the drop zones.
  
  
• Factual errors: Brigadier General James Gavin's (Ryan O'Neal) insignia of rank is incorrectly displayed on his "Ike" jacket. Brigadier Generals wear the star positioned at the middle of the epaulets rather than at the outer edge as do officers in the grade of Lieutenants through Colonel.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The parachutes used by the troopers are equipped with anti-inversion nets. They are around the skirt of the canopy to prevent partial malfunctions. The nets were not developed until the mid 1970s, shortly before the movie was filmed.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the scene where SSgt. Eddie Dohun is waiting on the results of the operation to save Captain Glass, Eddie pulls out the last cigarette in his pack, wads up the pack and throws it down. Then he proceeds to light the cigarette... with a disposable butane lighter, which was not available until the end of the decade. A soldier would have carried a wick-type lighter, most likely manufactured by Zippo, who, during World War II, ceased production of lighters for consumer markets and dedicated all manufacturing to the U.S. military.
  
  
• Anachronisms: There is a German tank featured in several scenes. This tank is actually a German-made, post-war tank named "Leopard 1" with a few modifications to look like a tank of the World War 2 era.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the film, the British kill or disperse the resting crew of a German tank, thus allowing General Urquhart to return to his headquarters. In reality, he just hid and waited for the German tank to move on.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the Allied troops cross the Grave bridge you can clearly see a modern traffic sign on the river bank.
  
  
• Factual errors: Most of the C-47 aircraft in the movie are incorrectly painted a yellowish-brown. The actual color would have been olive drab.
  
  
• Factual errors: During shots of Nijmegen, the tower of the Sint Stevenschurch is standing tall. In fact the tower was destroyed by an American bombing off Nijmegen in February 1944. It was not put back on the church until the late sixties. The opening of the renewed tower was in 1969.
  
  
• Factual errors: According to the book 'A Bridge Too Far', it was Model, not Von Rundstedt, who suggested sending Bittrich's panzers to Arnhem.
  
  
• Factual errors: After the initial attempt by XXX Corps to break out, there is a scene of a wrecked M24 Chaffee being pushed of the road. There is also a burning M10 Tank destroyer among the wrecks. Not only are these vehicles not visible in the initial advance or fighting scenes, but neither were used by the British Army. The M10 might pass for a 17Pdr gunned Achillies.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the British tanks begin advancing onto Nijmegen bridge, there is one shot of a Leopard tank intended to be a Panther - obviously taken from earlier in the film.
  
  

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