A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Starring - Dirk Bogarde; Paul Maxwell; Sean Connery; Ryan O'Neal & Gene Hackman Director - Richard Attenborough MPAA - PG (Previously rated R prior to appeal.) Just a perusal of the amazing all-star cast of this movie and you can probably get a pretty good sense of what you are in store for. The cast includes Sean Connery; Gene Hackman; Robert Redford; James Caan; and Anthony Hopkins, just to name a few. It is truly an ensemble piece. While Connery probably ends up with the most screen time, all of the main actors pretty much share the spotlight in this World War II epic. In fact, the cast is listed in alphabetic order in the credits. So my definition of the leads is an educated guess. A Bridge Too Far is based on the true story of an allied operation towards the end of the Second World War. The Allies decided to capture several of the bridges crossing the Rhine River in Germany. Once captured, they felt that the German industrial heartland would be easily overtaken which would mean a quick end to the war. Unfortunately, almost nothing went as planned and this operation turned into one of the biggest disasters for the Allies during the war. As a bit of a historical note -- more Allied soldiers lost their lives during the botched attempts to take the Rhine bridges than perished during the D-Day attack at Normandy. A Bridge Too Far is certainly the type of movie that would be considered an epic. It seems to have a cast of thousands and the battle scenes are grandly staged and quite realistic. While realism is a big part of this movie, none of the scenes contain the graphic horror that is now common in today's war films. To a man, the cast of this movie is magnificent. A Bridge Too Far almost has an edge of your seat quality to it. You never know what is going to happen next in this movie. I always seemed to get the distinct impression that whatever was going to happen, it was bound to be bad for the Allies. The total disaster that seems to have befallen the Allies at every turn is staggering. A Bridge Too Far has the sort of plot that if you didn't know it was based on a true story; you would probably think it was too unrealistic. The movie has such a large cast that it is truly surprising at just how well developed these characters actually are by the end of the film. I could feel for all of them, especially since the disastrous results of this operation would have been considerably worse if it weren't for the skills of those actually on the battlefield. I can't say enough about this movie. Acting, writing, and directing are all simply amazing. Combine that with the fact that this is based on actual events, and you have a very riveting 3 hours. I was sort of surprised that the movie was as long as it was. It went quicker than most 90-minute movies -- certainly a testament to the fine writing and acting. Well worth checking out if you can find it at your local video store. 10/10 Reviewed April 28, 1999 by Joe Chamberlain