A great production marred by a weak script and lazy characterizations

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2013)

As this script tells it, Operation Market Garden was a guaranteed failure from the beginning. Virtually everyone from the top of the command chain to the bottom knows it, Americans and Brits and Poles know it, the Germans know it, and they all say it in no uncertain terms. Had this been the case in reality, it is too far a stretch of the imagination to believe that Montgomery and Eisenhower and their civilian superiors would have approved it. Similarly, the script's characterizations are too plainly communicated. The whole needless arc of a gruff non-com (James Caan) and a scared young officer who looks to him for protection is predictable from their first exchange. The movie's casting is hit and miss. It's packed with A-listers, and while some are excellent in their roles and bring much-needed subtlety to the proceedings (see Sean Connery and Anthony Hopkins and their long-awaited radio exchange), some are just distracting (see Robert Redford's shameless mugging and Gene Hackman's embarrassing attempt at a Polish accent). Yet despite its many problems, "A Bridge Too Far" is an impressive production and a fun one. The quality of the action set pieces matches or exceeds those in classic WWII films like "The Longest Day" and "The Battle of the Bulge." A paratrooping scene in which the sky becomes choked with planes and people is shot from every possible angle, including the point of view of the nervous jumpers as they slowly fall to earth. The combat sequences show with humanity and intensity the various components of the operation and the disasters that befall them.