Historically astute, but why did they get stuck with musical score by Addison

Rating: 7/10 (24 January 2009)

Many of the commenter's posts about, 'A Bridge Too Far' hits the marks about the above average attention of this films attention to historical accuracy, and for that I give it kudos. The use of subtitles with Germans and Dutch speaking their native tongues is another plus as well.
One point well taken by another poster is this film condensed Two SS division commanders who fought in the actual battle into one fictional character. A small amount of this type of creative license is acceptable if it does not sacrifice historical accuracy as egregiously as U- 571 depicting Americans as the first to capture an Enigma machine when it was the British that were the first to capture this device from a U-Boat. All in all ABTF kept historical facts pretty well on the mark but by no means perfect. The movie depicted the Polish paratroopers being shot at in the sky at their drop zone which is inaccurate, they were warned off in time when amazingly one of British Airbornes radios were working to warn off the drop which was changed to another spot. There are other inaccuracies but the filmmakers certainly had integrity in the historical depiction of Market Garden, not perfect, but it's by no stretch of the means a U-571 which is a churlish movie.
I think the film would have been served better by using unknowns for the major characters. The battle scenes could have been made more clearer as to just where they were taking place without having to resort to 'take note audience' type dialog by the principals for audiences unfamiliar with the historical facts about the battle, but of course, if not deftly done, this can make a film of this nature very ponderous; keeping the narrative flowing while giving a sense just where in the three cities (Eindhoven, Nijmegan & Arhnem) the action is taking place is difficult.
My biggest gripe about this film is John Addison's musical score which sounds like the music from Alvin & the Chipmunks. I really thought the score was a major minus to the film. It sounded as if Addison was doing a weak imitation of the major fanfare from 'The Longest Day' by Maurice Jarre.
With all the money spent on this film, it was crying out for a Jerry Goldsmith score or at the very least Ron Goodwin who scored many WW-II pictures such as, 'Battle of Britain (1969)', 'Where Eagles Dare', '633 Squadron' & many others. I would be so bold as to say the score was incompetent. It lacked any kind of emotional depth and did not convey the proper emotive qualities for the various stages of the film. A very one-dimensional score by John Addison.
A very exemplary film with great pains to get original military hardware or fabricate facsimiles of equipment not available. Loved it when they showed the Bailey bridge being thrown up and the collapsible boats the Americans used to ford the river at Nijmegan.