a good film about a real mess

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2011)

A huge international cast stars in "A Bridge Too Far," a world war II film based on the Cornelius Ryan novel. It's based on a true incident and has true characters, some of whom gave rise to controversy when the film was released.
The stars include Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Ryan O'Neal, Liv Ullmann, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Elliot Gould, Jeremy Kemp, and James Caan.
The title refers to a remark by Lt. General 'Boy' Browning (Dirk Bogarde) who supposedly said something like, "I always said we were going a bridge too far." The film tells the story of operation Market Garden, an attempt by the allies to end the war by securing three bridges in Holland that allowed access over the Rhine into Germany.
Unfortunately it was a complete disaster.
There were too many contingencies not planned for by the Allies, plus the German presence was much stronger than expected. And the Germans got stronger since they were getting the Allies' supplies - when the parameters changed, no one told the planes, and all the signaling in the world didn't help because the pilots were trained not to pay any attention to ground signals. So the divisions were running out of food and ammunition. Some of them couldn't actually get to the bridges -- all kinds of problems.
The scapegoat for all of this in the film is Lt. General Browning for several reasons. One - the characters of Patton, Montgomery and Eisenhower were not featured in the film; the funds for the movie came from the U.S. and Browning, being British, seemed a good bet; and lastly, Browning was dead and couldn't complain.
Alas, Browning was well known. He not only served in WW II but worked for Queen Elizabeth, and on top of that, he was married to Daphne du Maurier. She and Browning's children were offended by his portrayal in the film as a cold-hearted general who ignored good Dutch surveillance. His portrayal was the subject of editorials in the British papers and letters to the editor from Richard Attenborough, the director.
Dirk Bogarde didn't take kindly to the portrayal he was directed to give by the script and director either and felt completely betrayed by Attenborough, his director and next door neighbor, causing a rift between them that was never completely fixed.
In truth, indeed, Browning reported to Montgomery who wanted a big success in Holland and he did ignore good information about panzer divisions in Holland; in fact, the soldier who complained that the surveillance was being ignored was put on sick leave.
This all sounds like it was an enormous part of the film, but it wasn't. At the time, though, I think a prejudice against Bogarde being gay also played into the complaints.
The film is filled with huge battles and has some very exciting and poignant sequences. Though there are so many divisions and commanders, it's directed well so that it's not hard to follow.
A slice of World War II that reminds us again of the terrible loss of civilian and military life and mass destruction. Not a bad idea for memorial day.