read William Goldman's books!

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2003)

A couple of the comments I've read here are mistaken. For a start,
the film wasn't a flop at all. Producer Joseph E Levine, who used to
finance films out of his own pocket in the days when that was still
possible, spent $22 million on it and saw it earn $4 million profit
before it was even released! (Don't ask me how - something to do
will selling to distributors country by country.)
And to those who say there are inaccuracies, don't tell that to the
screenwriter, William Goldman. He says he researched the story
meticulously and had to leave stories out because there was so
much more he could have written about.
How do I know this? From his marvellous book Adventures in the
Screen Trade and its sequel, Which Lie Did I Tell?
When A Bridge Too Far was released in America, a lot of the US
critics questioned its veracity: for instance, in the scene where
James Caan threatens the doctor. Some also remarked that Ryan
O'Neal was too young to play a general, when in fact he was the
right age for Brig Gen Gavin. But if Goldman had written dialogue
into the script to explain that Gavin was the Allies' youngest
general, it would have been like saying "don't think of pink
elephants". In other words, viewers would have assumed he'd put
it in to explain away O'Neal's casting.
For anyone who loves movies these books are required reading. If
you can, also check out Hype and Glory, half of which is about
Goldman being a judge at the Cannes Film Festival.