A Bridge Too Far [DVD] [1977] [2005]

Let me start this review off with a disclaimer. I am not a pedantic killjoy who thinks that all Second World War films must be historically authentic and 100% accurate. I enjoy ‘Where Eagles Dare’ and ‘The Dirty Dozen’ as much as – and probably more than – the next person! But those are made-up stories peopled entirely by fictitious characters …‘A Bridge Too Far’ had a big budget, a multitude of fine actors to star in it, Richard Attenborough as director, Cornelius Ryan’s excellent book as its source material and a screenplay by William Goldman. (Who doesn’t love ‘Marathon Man’?) It is an undeniably good-looking film, with high production values. There is a lot of excellent location photography. Some of the action sequences – notably Frost’s paratroopers’ defence of the northern end of the Arnhem bridge against the German armoured attack – are really impressive, even if they do not match up to the actual events in every detail. On a quieter note, the understated and soberly realistic scene where Urquhart takes refuge in a Dutch house, one which looks just like a house in an ordinary suburban street in your neighbourhood, is both affecting and effective.Moreover, it does not bother me that some significant events have been omitted or that sometimes things which were, in reality, said or done by one individual have been attributed to another person (either another real person or a fictional character who is a composite of several real people) for the purposes of the film. This sort of thing is pardonable – even inevitable – if the film is not to be impossibly long and filled with so many different characters that the viewer cannot keep track of who they all are.Then why am I so critical of the film of ‘A Bridge Too Far’?Almost everything that is wrong with the film arises from the screenplay’s gross misrepresentation of many of the real people and many of the real events that belong to the story of Operation Market Garden.The film portrays almost all the British officers as snobbish, eccentric or incompetent – and sometimes all three. Even figures who are generally treated sympathetically, such as Frost and Vandeleur, are given lines of dialogue which not only make them display these qualities but also have no basis in Cornelius Ryan’s book (or in any other account of these historical events which I have read). The film also fails to do justice to the exploits of the Polish paratroopers. By the time they were dropped in, things had got as bad as they could get and the Poles performed with exceptional bravery.While some significant real events are – albeit understandably – omitted, there are too many imaginary events, and overblown, distorted versions of actual events, which have been shoehorned into the screenplay. For example:● The grumpy old lady who lives in the house which Frost’s paratroopers occupy puts on her coat and hat, leaves the house, tries to hail a taxi – and is gunned down by the Germans. (It is entirely made up.)● When the RAF drop containers of equipment beyond the British forces’ perimeter, a lone paratrooper runs out and – cheered on by his comrades – starts to carry a container back. He is shot by a German sniper, the container falls open and we see that it is full of red berets. (This is based on a single sentence in Ryan’s book which recounts how a glider pilot, Sergeant Goldthorpe, recalled that: “A few hours earlier he had risked his life to retrieve a resupply pannier – only to discover that it contained, not food or ammunition, but red berets.” Obviously Sergeant Goldthorpe was still alive when he told his story.)Are these scenes meant to be poignant? Are they meant to be darkly comic? If the intention was to show the suffering of the citizens of Arnhem and the cruel irony of unimportant items being dropped when what the British forces needed above all was food and ammunition, was this the best way to do it?I have one last criticism, and this one is not related to the screenplay. I recognise that music is very much a matter of personal taste, but I have a problem with the soundtrack music. Was it meant to hark back to the music of such films of the1940s and 1950s as ‘The First of the Few’ and ‘The Dam Busters’? It actually sounds less like pastiche and more like parody.

Good Film about Operation Market Garden that was an embarrassment to both the USA and UK WWII Forces. Shocking mistakes and lost personnel and hardware. Blueray title is perfect!

‘A Bridge Too Far’ was never a blistering success at the box office when it was originally released in 1977. People felt that World War II films were a little ‘old hat’ by then, so there wasn’t as much interest in it as there possible could have been if it was released a couple of decades earlier.Plus, when the history textbooks are studied, you hear a lot about the D-Day landings, the Battle of Britain and so forth. However, ‘Operation Market-Garden’ rarely gets a mention. It was an audacious plan by the Allies to take four bridges in only a few days time in the middle of German-held Europe, thus ensuring a vital route of supplies is maintained to the Allied forces fighting on the frontline.A plan of this magnitude and intricacy could only be done justice on an epic scale. And, to the film’s credit, it does just that. It has a stellar ensemble cast, including such greats as Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Caine, all of which play different Allied military personnel at various points of the mission.Without wishing to give too much away, perhaps one aspect of the film’s success may be down to the fact that the ‘goodies’ don’t necessarily win. It’s unlikely that most of us would appreciate a World War II film where the Germans come out on top, however, history was not kind to Operation Market-Garden. It went ahead and, in one Allied General’s own words “Was over 90% successful.” Unfortunately, a catalogue of errors – some manmade and others beyond the Allies’ control – contributed to it being labelled one of the biggest mission failures of the latter half of the war.If you like your war films, you should love this. It’s big, powerful and doesn’t pull many punches when it shows the horror of what soldiers on all sides went through. You need to be okay with ensemble casts. There could probably be a film made about every character featured in this film. But there isn’t enough time for that, so we do have to sacrifice a little character development in favour of condensing the mission down into a watchable viewing.‘Saving Private Ryan’ may have a better budget, but A Bridge Too Far has a raw, epic feel that really makes it come across like a history lesson which more battles and stars.

An excellent WWII film. The cast is excellent, the production values really high actually, the special effects are excellent, no CGI at all. It's not the blood and guts shaky cam war films we get now but it's really good and shows how far war films have come from the 1940s, 1950s even the 1960s. Its a film not a documentary so its not all 100% history but it's largely right. The film is structured a bit like a disaster movie with of course the main person in charge insisting everything will be fine even when confronted with daming evidence a disaster is about to unfold.