A military blunder too overwhelming in a film too long...

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2003)

Although filmed on a spectacular scale and based on Cornelius Ryan's best-seller about a huge military blunder during World War II, A BRIDGE TOO FAR tries hard to keep the viewer enthralled for three hours but narrowly misses because William Goldman's screenplay had too many facts and incidents to relay. Not that this is a failure by any means--but it tends to become tedious after the second hour with one disastrous mishap after another being played out.
What holds the attention throughout is the presence of an all-star cast, all performing extremely well, some of whom have only cameo roles. But Sean Connery, Michael Caine, James Caan, Edward Fox and Dirk Bogarde each make strong contributions with Connery outstanding in the largest role.
The battle scenes are as realistic as anything ever filmed--sometimes painfully so--and there is a stark realism to the entire story under Richard Attenborough's taut direction.
As good as William Goldman's script is, three hours is a long time to spend on an overwhelming military blunder. If everyone had listened at the beginning to Gene Hackman (as the leader of the Polish brigade) the outcome might have been different. Perhaps his Polish accent was too strong for anyone to understand him. He had me looking for subtitles.
John Addison's military score is effective but nothing that lingers in the memory--as, for example, the military tune for BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

Summing up: For military buffs, an ambitious, large scale project that is just too long for its own good.