Gene Hackman AND Michael Caine in THE SAME FILM!

Rating: 8/10 (19 November 1999)

There is a theory (proposed in Roger Ebert's Little Movie Handbook) that everywhere on earth, 24 hours a day, somewhere on cable is at least one movie featuring either Gene Hackman or Michael Caine. Once I became familiar with the "Hackman-Caine Principle", I realized that not only is this probably true, but that "Six Degrees of Gene Hackman" is even easier to play than "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". One day while milling around my video library, I realized that "A Bridge Too Far" had BOTH Hackman and Caine in it, and even though it probably isn't on cable much, I found some cosmic significance in that. With the aid of the trusty IMDB search engine, I found out that this is the lone link in the Hackman/Caine matrix.
By the way, "A Bridge Too Far" is a very fine movie, especially if you're in the mood for a WWII epic (which I frequently am), although "The Bridge at Remagen" is a better WWII bridge flick. "A Bridge Too Far" struggles to be a great epic, and has some wonderful moments, but falls a bit short. Overall, I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10, which is right where the IMDB voters have put it.