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A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 6/04, 1/09, 2/24

BridgeToo
1/09: A Bridge Too Far has some high points, a few low, and lots of everything else in the middle.

I won't go so far as to say it's a spectacular WWII picture, but it does well enough to capture the look and feel of what happened. The best parts are the tanks, the airplanes, and, most of all, the parachute scenes. They all look cool. There are couple of problems that keep recurring throughout.

One is the plan. The goals are never made clear. I just don't understand what's happening. The map should be visually taken advantage of with a voice-over narration to educate me.

Two is the cast. Yes, it's full of who's who of the decade, but is it necessary to have them all in the same movie? Why not limit the players to Dirk Bogarde (who actually served in WWII and was part of the Operation Market Garden) and one more big-name actor to reduce the distraction?

If there's anything I remember the most, it's the scene when the soldier died after running to grab the supply canister which was revealed to be filled with maroon berets. That's taking it too far becase WWII was justified compared to the Vietnam War.

All in all, A Bridge Too Far is an above-average WWII picture that's barely understood.

2/24: My rating remains unchanged for A Bridge Too Far.

It's not a terrible movie, but there are obvious issues. Despite the running length of almost three hours, Geoffrey Unsworth's beautiful cinematography is what sustained my attention. Sure, it's nice to look at the paratroopers landing on the field, the tanks, the planes, the soldiers, the military uniforms, and the all-star actors, but clarity is never achieved.

Everything is busy; they're moving equipment. Problems are everywhere, and the fighting is constant. Okay...what exactly is going on? Why can't somebody explain it to me? Robert Redford is on the bridge and waves to Michael Caine. All of a sudden, the former is on some road far away, telling somebody in charge what he should be doing. Yet what ultimately became of the latter's troop? The movie stopped showing them anymore.

Ryan O'Neal as a general? Ha! He looks far too young, but it's almost true of the man himself who was 37 at that time. James Caan has the best scene of anyone. How did his character know his fellow soldier was still alive when he went to pick him up and the body was clearly dead with a gunshot wound in the head? James Caan is like an invisible man when he drove through the woods that's teeming with dozens of Germans and they all miss him completely, even at point-blank range. I never see him again afterwards, prompting me to ask, "What does his character have to do with Operation Market Garden?"

By the way, ever wondered why the words "Market" and "Garden"? The movie never explained. The goal was to create an invasion route into North Germany by taking over nine bridges in Netherlands, which was controlled by the Nazis, with the U.S. and British airborne forces (Market) and crossing these bridges with the British land forces (Garden). The trouble? In spite of sending approximately 41,000 soldiers there, the Nazis had a strength of 100,000 which was overwhelmingly enough to deflect the surprise attack.

Another question I had was: why couldn't the tanks go off the road and drive through the countryside? Again, the movie never explained. It's because the ground was too soft for it to happen along with the numerous dikes and drainage ditches. Anyway, why was I shown the ropes that were meant for the gliders to be pulled by the bigger aircrafts if none of the scenes would make use of them in the air?

Director Richard Attenborough only did the film so he could get the financing to go ahead with his overrated Gandhi. In that process, he sold out Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning when the whole idea had been Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's which was approved by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some of the problems were as follows: landing points being too far away from Arnhem, not enough transport aircraft to spread the dropoffs over a few days instead of all at once, bad weather in England and Netherlands, failed radio support, and slow troop movement. As a result, WWII didn't end in time by Christmas 1944 as anticipated. Hence, the Soviets were the first to arrive at Berlin in May 1945.

All in all, A Bridge Too Far is fine for what it is, but it's hard to tell what's going on most of the time.