A Bridge Too Far

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2008)

From BAFTA nominated director Lord Sir Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Cry Freedom), this may not the best war film I've seen, but certainly worth watching. Set near the end of the Second World War, the Germans have lost most of France, and allied forces decide to hit them a final time, this is operation Market Garden. This film follows the armies of Britain, America and Poland as they attempt to capture three bridges behind enemy lines in complicated parachute and armoured assault, most important bridge being Arnhem. But the combination of poor allied intelligence and two crack German tank divisions meant the final part of the operation was doomed to failure. With an all-star cast, in alphabetical: The Blue Lamp's Sir Dirk Bogarde as Lt. Gen. Frederick A.M. Browning, young James Caan as SSgt. Eddie Dohun, Sir Michael Caine as Lt. Col. John O.E. Vandeleur, Sir Sean Connery as Maj. Gen. Robert E. Urquhart, BAFTA winning Edward Fox as Lt. Gen. Brian G. Horrocks, Elliott Gould as Col. Robert Stout, Gene Hackman as Maj. Gen. Stanislaw F. Sosabowski (putting on a ridiculous Polish accent, it's worse than Dick Van Dyke's cockney), Sir Anthony Hopkins as Lt. Col. John D. Frost, Hardy Krüger as Maj. Gen. Ludwig, Barry Lyndon's Ryan O'Neal as Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin, Lord Sir Laurence Olivier as Dr. Jan Spaander, Robert Redford as Maj. Julian Cook, Deep Impact's Maximilian Schell as Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Bittrich, Liv Ullmann as Kate Ter Horst, Denholm Elliott as RAF meteorologist officer, Wolfgang Preiss as Field Marshal Karl R.G. Von Rundstedt, young Colin Farrell as Cpl. Hancock, Alun Armstrong as Cpl. Davies, Toy Story's John Ratzenberger as U.S. lieutenant and uncredited Attenborough as Lunatic Wearing Glasses. The first 45 minutes are too chatty, Hackman's stupid accent is distracting, and it is pretty depressing, but all the explosions and gun shooting makes for good viewing. It won the BAFTAs for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for John Addison, Best Cinematography and Best Sound Track, and it was nominated for Best Editing, Best Production Design/Art Direction and Best Film. It was number 7 on The 100 Greatest War Films. Good!