Gritty War Movie

Rating: 8/10 (23 March 2012)

"A Bridge Too Far" is a good film. The explosions, as was the style until Saving Private Ryan, are way too flashy -- bright orange blossoms of pyrotechnic orgasm punctuate every battle scene. Aside from those and the music, a fine fine film.
It's a faithful version of Cornelius Ryan's epic account of Operation Market-Garden and the Battle of Arnhem, directed with gusto and honesty by Richard Attenborough, whom I believe is a veteran of the battle. The casting is brilliant, except maybe for Ryan O'Neal, who plays the boyish Jim Gavin, well, *too* boyishly. (O'Neal was 37 during filming, and Gavin was the same age during the battle, but Gavin had two years of battle-hardening under his belt -- his boyishness was relative to older soldiers, not to Hollywood stars!) And aside from the clunky retro German tanks, and the over-obvious use of roll bars on the Kubelwagens, the machinery assembled has rarely been exceeded. Look at all those Shermans! See the beautiful C-47s! (Even though it's fairly obvious not that many of them were airworthy, after repeated viewings.) Watch the Dutch Air Force parachute into their own country, standing in for the British 1st Airborne Division, its Polish contingent, and the American 101st and 82nd Airbornes! Technically, everything looks great.