AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

betty dalton Record breaking war movie, in sheer size of the production. Biggest production ever in movie history. "A Bridge Too Far" tells the true story about the invasion of Holland during WW II, which was bigger in size than D-day in France and which caused more casualties. Greatest cast of movie stars ever ensembled in any movie in the entire seventies, featuring an incredible number of 14 oscar winners: Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, James Caan, Anthony Hopkins, Dirk Bogarde, Liv Ullman etc. Acting performances are excellent. How could it have been otherwise, with such an unique cast of movie stars from the seventies. Everybody who was famous at the time played in it. Steve McQueen was the only star that refused to take part, because he wanted a bigger paycheck. Since this huge war movie production was already crumbling under a huge financial burden, Steve McQueen's paycheck demands were rejected.This war movie became the biggest grossing box office hit in Europe, but it didnt do well in America. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but the film was completely ignored at Oscar time for daring to expose the fatal inadequacies of the Allied campaign. Almost 3 hours long, this movie is a slowburner though, but enticing from beginning to end. Never bored me for a minute. On the contrary, even though I have seen this movie dozens of times I still get excited by it. But I am from the older generation, therefore speed is NOT a necessity for me to enjoy a movie. Young people however may find it a bit long drawn, because there arent Star Wars explosions every 10 minutes. There isnt a happy ending. Therefore lots of people WONT like the ending. The ending is true to life though, because everything is as has happened during World War II. War aint fun, but this movie is still very charming and even very funny at some other moments though. Glorious and suspenseful too. Director Richard Attenborough made a movie that is enjoyable for the entire family, but he also clearly stated that he didnt want to make a movie that glorified the war. The ending of "A Bridge Too Far" is a big downer. You wont feel cheery at the end at all. And that is the explicit intention of the director. War isnt supposed to be an uplifting or feel good experience. Ofcourse not. But movies wont sell if they dont have a hapyy ending. This movie finds a good balance between entertainment and true to life depressing devastation. I must confess that I regularly watch it only for the first 2 and a half hours which are very glorious and suspenseful and even funny. But I do skip the downer part at the last 30 minutes, because I have already seen it so many times and just as everybody else I dont like downers at the end of a movie...Endnote: there is an excellent additional bonus DVD which features hours of real life war footage from World War II including a short documentary about the making of this biggest war movie of all time. The production of this movie was truly insane. But so is war...

Goingbegging No, the Americans didn't want a film that showed a huge failed operation involving American arms (they were still reeling from Vietnam), and 'A Bridge Too Far' found little favour in the States. Only in the UK did it recoup its considerable costs.This is the story of Arnhem, the moment in September 1944 when Montgomery was stung into a doomed attempt to capture the Rhine bridges because he was being made to look slow by George Patton, who was not, however, facing anything like the same opposition.Neither Patton, Monty or Eisenhower are represented in the story, and the officers being played by the all-star cast are not exactly household names, the relationships between them never clearly defined. In fact, the plot as a whole is quite hard to follow in the course of this overlong and over-repetitive screenplay.Best-known of the officers is Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), commander of the Airborne Division, who is generally blamed for going into denial about enemy strength. He declares that the wehrmacht is down to schoolboys and pensioners, and when shown a picture of several tanks beside one of the bridges, he claims they're not operational. But neither Bogarde nor any of the others is able to carry conviction as a regular officer, who has spent his whole career deferring to higher authority. Sean Connery and Michael Caine in particular are unable to camouflage their rebel blood. More believable, at least, is Edward Fox as the sociable and popular Brian Horrocks ("Pack my dinner-jacket"), who gets a loud cheer as he delivers a briefing.Interestingly, the German officers are all shown speaking German, with no dubbing or sub-titles, clearly meant as a decisive step away from the German accented cod-English that filled-up all those cheap black-&-white war-films of the 50's. Yet the pre-title sequence is a needless history lesson, delivered in exactly that style, apparently by some female victim of war whose status is unexplained.

loyallufc2 Besides perhaps Cross Of Iron the greatest WW2 movie ever made. It is tragic while almost certain of victory,the allies should suffer such a defeat,but it was inevitable with hindsight. The over confidence of all but the Polish general is well filmed,despite evidence of panzer divisions nearby. There is no Wayne like propaganda,just the suffering on both sides fairly portrayed. It was a big underestimation of the SS units they would be facing,battle hardened as they were. Fine performances in an all star cast,and capturing the futility and sheer blood letting of war make this an unforgettable classic. I think Sean Connery and Dirk Bogarde stood out,Bogarde all too willing to sacrifice his men.

SimonJack "A Bridge Too Far" is one of the best war movies ever made. It's based on a 1974 historical novel by Cornelius Ryan who also wrote "The Longest Day" in 1959. Ryan was highly regarded for the detail of research for his books. He strove for accuracy and authenticity. Ryan was born in Dublin in 1920 and became a British war correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in 1941. He went on 14 bombing missions with the U.S. Army Air Forces. On D-Day (June 6, 1944), he flew over the Normandy beaches in a bomber. Then, after returning to England, he went to Normandy on a patrol boat the same day. He later covered Lt. Gen. George Patton's Third Army, and then reported on the war in the Pacific. Ryan's "The Longest Day" sold millions of copies and was the basis for the 1962 movie by the same name. He wrote the screenplay for that blockbuster film that won two Oscars. In an item in Time Magazine of Dec. 9, 1974, Ryan was quoted: "What I write about is not war but the courage of man." There can be no doubt about that in his two books that were made into two of the best historical war films of all time. Besides the logistics, planning, and background details and facts, Ryan incorporates the characters and personalities of individual men in his stories. He covers Allied and Axis forces alike, from generals to sergeants to privates."A Bridge Too Far" is about Operation Market Garden. It has gritty, tough, scenes of men in battle on both sides. Much time is devoted to the fighting of the British 1st Airborne Division in the Battle of Arnhem. The advance airborne battalion under Lt. Col. John D. Frost (played superbly by Anthony Hopkins) captures one end of the Arnhem bridge and then holds out for nine days. All this with ammunition running out and no resupply or reinforcements, while the Germans throw heavy artillery, tanks and mechanized infantry attacks at them. Elsewhere, the rest of the division commanded by Major General Roy Urquhart (played superbly by Sean Connery) is divided, cut off and surrounded by German forces. Operation Market Garden failed because the Allies did not capture the Rhine bridge at Arnhem and had to retreat. It was planned to spearhead a drive to capture the Ruhr Valley and shut down Germany's war production plants. The American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions did secure river crossings at Eindhoven and Nijmegen, respectively. But the British XXX Corps met with strong German opposition and slowed to a crawl on the ground. It failed to reach the British paratroopers 64 miles away in just two days as planned. So, the whole operation bogged down, with only the ground gained to Nijmegen. "A Bridge Too Far," covers the entire Operation Market Garden. For the first time, the public got a look at the foibles and errors in planning this major wartime operation. The film shows the questions raised by various commands and officers at the time. The major foul- ups were many, and the outcome was disastrous for the British and Polish paratroopers. Just over 2,000 of the 10,000 plus British and Polish force were able to escape when ordered to retreat. The rest were killed, wounded or captured. Not a single radio worked for the British Airborne forces, so they couldn't communicate among their units or with headquarters. How could they go into combat without tested and working equipment? The film shows how. The planners put the landing zone for the Brits eight miles from their target bridge. So a surprise strike and quick capture of the bridge wasn't to be. But the Germans would have time to cut off units and surround them. There weren't enough aircraft for all the forces to strike together the first day. So, units were dropped over three days. Again, there was no surprise or catching the Germans off guard. Instead, they had time to surround the British landing zone. The top brass dismissed aerial photography that showed hidden German tanks. The operation leaders didn't believe or trust the underground reports they received. Yet the Dutch had been reliable for four years. And, when unit commanders expressed concerns, the top brass dismissed them. There were many signs of military incompetence at various levels in this film, but mostly at the top. "A Bridge Too Far" is an independent film made by Joseph Levine and Directed by acclaimed English actor and director, Richard Attenborough. The production team and crew read like a British telephone directory. The cast includes 20 big name American and British actors of the day. Numerous Allied commanders from Market Garden, now retired, served as consultants during the making of the film. Besides Urquhart and Frost, already mentioned, these included Maj. Gen. Brian Horrocks (played superbly by Edward Fox), Brig. Gen. James Gavin (37 years old at the time, and played very well by Ryan O'Neal), and Brigadier Joe Vandeleur (played superbly by Michael Caine). The movie was filmed at several locations in The Netherlands. There are some small equipment goofs, but the military equipment and armament are very impressive. The special effects are "dynamite." The filming of the C-47 "Dakota" transport planes and the towed gliders is wonderful. The parachute jump is one of the best and most impressive I've seen on film (I am a former paratrooper). And the musical score for the film is excellent. This movie didn't receive a single Academy Award nomination in 1974. And it was a year that had very few good films. So, Hollywood blew it by ignoring this great movie. The film did win three BAFTA awards with four more nominations. "A Bridge Too Far" will likely be held as one of the great historical war movies of all time.