Bridge Too Far (Widescreen)

This film was made in 1977 about an actual srategic operation mounted in Europe in 1944. It was planned by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the British commander who was well-known for his competition with (and dislike of) the American General George S. Patton, who is not represented in the film.

Montgomery is the bloke who got credit for pushing Rommel's Afrika Korps out of the Sahara, and for trying (unsuccessfully) to beat Patton across Sicily.

Like many top commanders, he was extremely egotistical, but short on aggression, as Patton demonstrated, and in this case his "Operation Market Garden" turned out to be a hairbrained disaster and blood bath: the Aircraft and gliders missed many of their drop zones and failed to drop vehicles and armament as planned (gliders were a disaster on D-Day, too, and they should have known). Eisenhower, being more politician than general, and trying to placate the Brits, let Monty talk him into the disastrous plan.) In the story, at least, one of the top British commanders refused to accept photographic evidence that German "Tiger" tanks from an SS Panzer division near Ramaden (one of their targets, which was supposed to be a "cakewalk") because he didn't want the operation to be delayed, which resulted in many unnecessary deaths. At the end of the movie, he said, "Well, as you know, I always thought we were trying to go a bridge too far." Hence the title. The man he addressed, played by Connery, should have shot him on the spot. The route chosen for the main body of troops who were to support the
airborne units was too narrow, incapable of carrying the required traffic, and resulted in the operation taking over a week, instead of the planned two days. Then, there were the inadequate boats for crossing the Rhine. The operation was mounted in only seven days, as opposed to several months for D-Day, which accounted, perhaps, for the numerous foul-ups. That, and the unmitigated arrogance of the planners!

In short, Monty's plan was hairbrained and poorly thought out, but he claimed afterward that it was "Ninety percent successful." That was Sir Bernard Montgomery!

This movie was well-acted with many top name actors, all of whom did justice to their parts: Sean Connery, Dirk Bogarde, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurance Olivier, and Robert Redford, to name only a few. The film itself seemed to be well researched, and quite realistic foe that era.

One of the better World War II films, I recommend it for those of that endangered species, the WWII generation--those of us who are left--and will most appreeciate it.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

But if you like watching a movie with great attention to detail, then you will love this movie. No longer do we have American tanks with Iron Crosses painted on them, all the battles look almost like the way they would have looked in the real war. Perhaps the violence is not as graphically realistic as today's films, but being a film from the 70's you have to cut it some slack.

I can definately highlight the three best parts of this movie: 1) the airborne drops, which are filmed in first-person so that you see the paratroopers jumping out and even checking their parachutes afterward (adding to the realism); 2) the music - I don't know a collection of military themes that doesn't include the Bridge Too Far March; and 3) the cast, which was well picked for each part - I can't decide who I like better, Sean Connery as Urqheart, Edward Fox as Horrocks, or Sir Lawrence Olivier as a good-hearted Dutch doctor, but every one does their part like no other actor collection I've ever seen.

So in short, I highly recommend this for my fellow World War II historians who want to see a part of history re-animated in a near perfect fashion, then you should definately add this to your collection.

In this troubled time we live in, this film will serve as a reminder of the price that has to be paid from time to time in order for the free world to maintain that freedom.