Bridge Too Far, A (1977)
A Bridge Too Far (1977), directed by Richard Attenborough.
First review
Ambitious presentation of Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to win WW2 in 1944 by dropping 35,000 paratroopers in enemy territory. They would seize the bridges around three Dutch towns and hold them for an armored relief column coming up the single available road.
What could go wrong? Quite a lot on both sides. It was a bold plan that failed.
Large cast of many known actors, including Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford and Michael Caine. There is no one lead, and so many characters to follow that we spend little time on human interest side plots. It's mainly history. The actors fit their roles, although I think Gene Hackman looks out of place as a Polish general, and it's hard to take Elliot Gould seriously in anything. Redford needs a haircut.
I find it pretty satisfying as a war history/adventure. It's sort of a sequel to The Longest Day, which was also adapted from a Cornelius Ryan book. The wikipedia article has details on the cast and the historical characters they play.
We see gliders being rigged for towing but none actually in the air.
Available on Blu-ray, often on sale.
Second review
Additional notes, and I've added thumbnails from the Blu-ray.
It's still very impressive in its scale and historical detail, one of the great reenactments.
I'd forgotten how bloody was the allied defeat.
I could have used more maps or maybe just some instructive schematics. Keeping track of who is doing what and where is difficult.
I'm going to read the book. Even if the bridges had been taken and held, how was the operation supposed to be supplied through that one little road?
We are just getting used to the cavalcade of stars on display when new ones pop up to startle us: Robert Redford, Laurence Olivier, Liv Ullmann.
Great details: the field artillery and half-tracks, emergency bridge building.
Screenplay by William Goldman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Hot Rock (1972), Marathon Man (1976), The Princess Bride (1987), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996).
Photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth: A Night to Remember (1958), Becket (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Magic Christian (1969), Zardoz (1974), The Great Train Robbery (1978).
Score by John Addison: School for Scoundrels (1960), Tom Jones (1963), Torn Curtain (1966), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), A Taste of Honey (1961).
Available on Blu-ray. This is an early mpeg2 encoding. The black levels are poor but given the soft nature of the source the image is surprisingly good in spots.
