An excellent, authentically-based production

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2009)

I'd say this film rates among the WWII greatest, quite close to The Longest Day, in that realism was well served in both cases.
While watching A Bridge Too Far, I had the battle's history on my internet screen for comparison purposes. The producers did mess with a few minor facts, but primarily stuck to the truth. I was impressed.
In contrast, although The Bridge on the River Kwai (true spelling transliteration Kwae) was one of the greatest ever seen, they deviated far from the truth, since the bridge is still standing as built. I've seen it.
Getting back to A Bridge Too Far, it became clear in watching that the military operation was illogically conceived, poorly planned, and loused up for many reasons from git-go. Dirk Bogard's portrayal of General Browning as an utter Boob was one among fairly numerous true-to-life characterizations.
Unfortunately, Hollywood has produced a few supposedly authentic World War II films which were too silly to watch. Battleground, Pearl Harbor, and Battle of the Bulge come to mind immediately as frightful examples.
On the other hand, Midway, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Twelve O'Clock High, and The Breat Escape all proved to be memorable, not to mention reasonably factual.
I'm excluding such productions as The Guns of Navarone, Command Decision, Von Ryan's Express, and a few others, which although great in production, were entirely fictitious.