"When one man says to another, "I know what to do today, let's play the war game."... everybody dies." – General Stanislaw Sosabowski (Gene Hackman)
Director: Sir Richard Attenborough
Writers: Cornelius Ryan (Book) and William Goldman (Screenplay)
Producer: Joseph E. Levine
Studio: MGM
Major Stars: Dirk Bogarde, James Cann, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Edward Fox, Elliot Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan O'Neil, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Maximilian Schell
By the fall of 1944, the Allies stood on the doorstep of Germany. Having broken out of the Normandy pocket in July, the Allies swept across France before supply problems brought them to a halt. Fuel and munitions were still being brought through the French port of Cherbourg, over 400 miles away.
British general Bernard Montgomery proposed a solution: a daring airborne attack into Holland. A series of bridges would be seized by paratroopers, ending at the city of Arnhem. As this occurred, a simultaneous advance by armored columns would sweep up the road, securing the bridges and allowing the Allies to use the recently-captured (and much closer) port of Antwerp. Poised to strike directly at the heart of Germany, the war would be over by Christmas.
It was a daring plan. It was a bold plan. It failed.
This plan, Operation Market-Garden, is the background for the classic film A Bridge Too Far. It is, without question, one of the finest war films ever produced. Incredibly accurate in detail and history, A Bridge Too Far takes a unflinching look at not only the cost soldiers pay for a general’s hubris, but the cost civilians pay as well. It also took the unusual (for the time) position of portraying Germans as more than just stereotypical "black-hat" villains.
It's one of the last epic war films, with a immense cast of top-flight stars for the time. It has expansive battle scenes and inspiring moments of heroism. It also has its fair share of sobering moments, least of which is the sullen retreat at film's end.
First-hand knowledge: Actor Dirk Bogarde, who plays Lt. General Browning, actually fought in Operation Market-Garden.
We know early on that things are going to go wrong; aerial photos show German tanks in areas lightly-armed paratroopers are expecting to be unprotected. Rather than change plans, the commanding general discards them and sends the officer who brought him the photos off on medical leave.
It doesn’t get any better once the operation begins; radios don’t work and supplies aren’t dropped. Paratroopers who expected to hold a bridge for two days are forced to hold it for five. Traffic holds up reinforcements. The sheer volume of bad luck is almost unbelievable.
Yet the attack advances. Towns are taken, bridges seized. The Dutch people come out to cheer their liberators. But the attack bogs down and those tanks…those tanks that no one was told about turn the tide against the Allies.
The men portrayed on screen served as advisers on the film, giving it a realism that’s all too rare. Lt. Colonel John Frost (played by Anthony Hopkins), Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart (Sean Connery) and Brig. Gen. James Gavin (Ryan O’Neil) were just some of the officers who helped to give A Bridge Too Far almost a documentary feel.
That’s why we find ourselves swept up in it, believing until the end, even though we already know better, that these brave men can pull it out. When General Gavin’s men take the critical bridge at Nimejgen, the final bridge before Arnhem, the music swells to a triumphant roar. Over and over we see Frost’s paratroopers, cut off in Arnhem, repel numerous German assaults and we believe he can keep doing it.
