A flawed masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2020)

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a very good film, if not particularly accurate historically. The story as told is brilliant and the characters, bar one, are consistently fine representations of those brave men who found themselves in terrible circumstances in the war.
Alec Guinness and his Japanese counterpart, the doctor, Jack Hawkins and many more are superb throughout. However, and very sadly, William Holden's character is completely misplaced and is often simply ludicrous. As the apparently cynical token American, presumably brought in simply to appeal to US audiences, his shenanigans are implausible. As the super fit resident of the camp hospital, he hardly looks like a put upon prisoner of a Japanese labour camp. When he escapes, his principal occupation seems to be chasing young women around, something that has absolutely no relevance to the film. In fact, his character serves very little purpose in this respect.
But wait ! Of a sudden, the womanising, skiving layabout is transformed into a killing machine. Conscripted into Jack Hawkins commando group, he takes control when Hawkins is injured and magically becomes a hero, leading the final assault on the bridge. Again, I presume this was a sop to American interests who always seem to need their boys to be saving the world to the exclusion of all others. One Yank in the film and he has to be the hero - what a joke. There is no reason at all why his part couldn't have been played far more realistically by almost anyone else and without the silly womanising element.
Without Holden's stupid character, this film is a 10 all day long. With his inconsistent, ridiculously implausible and completely out of place character, it's reduced to an 8.