Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - B 5 Mins Read

    Bridge Too Far, A (1977)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    It seems as if an entire regiment of movie notables appears in this $26 million WWII epic based on Cornelius Ryan’s bestseller about the disastrous ‘Operation Market Garden’ Allied attempt to seize several bridges in the occupied Netherlands in order to outflank German defences and end the war in Europe by Christmas of 1944.

    Concocted by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, it was a combined airborne and ground assault calling for 35,000 paratroopers to be flown from bases in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands.

    Their mission was to secure bridges along a north-south road and hold them for 48 hours so that an armoured column advancing north from the Allied frontline in Belgium would be able to reach Arnhem, 60 miles deep into German-held territory.

    The British 1st Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Roy Urquhart (Sean Connery), supported by a Polish airborne brigade under General Stanisław Sosabowski (Gene Hackman) is chosen to land in drop zones east and west of Arnhem and to secure both sides of the bridge there.

    Further south, the American 82nd Airborne Division under Brigadier General James Gavin (Ryan O’Neill) is to land near Nijmegen and secure its bridge and approaches.

    The US 101st Airborne Division under Major General Maxwell Taylor (Paul Maxwell) is tasked with securing the road and bridges around Eindhoven while the XXX Armoured Corps under Lt. General Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) is to advance north, cross the bridges captured by the American paratroopers, and reach Arnhem two days after the drop.

    All are assured that German resistance in the area will be negligible – despite the fact that reconnaissance photographs and reports from the Dutch resistance indicate Panzer tanks are located near Arnhem. Lt. General Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde) ignores these reports because he is not willing to contravene Montgomery.

    bridgetoofar_045

    British officers also quash reports that the portable radios used by the paratroopers will probably not work across the long distances from the drop zones to the Arnhem Bridge.

    The airborne drops on 17 September 1944 go well, but the Son Bridge near Eindhoven is blown up by the Germans just before the 101st Airborne can get to it. Stiff German resistance, the narrowness of the sometimes raised road (dubbed “Hell’s Highway”), and the need to construct a Bailey bridge all combine to slow the advance of the XXX Corps.

    At Nijmegen, units of the 82nd Airborne cross the Waal River in canvas-and-wood assault boats under withering fire. Eventually, the bridge is captured.

    At Arnhem, the situation begins to deteriorate. As predicted, the radios are useless and many of the jeeps needed to quickly reach the Arnhem Bridge never arrive by glider or are destroyed during landings.

    The Germans overrun the British supply drop zones and launch an armoured attack over the bridge being held at one end by British units under the command of Lt. Col. John Frost (Anthony Hopkins).

    The British manage to hold their positions but incur mounting casualties as General Sosabowski’s men have been delayed by ground fog in England and join the battle too late to reinforce the British.

    After days of fierce house-to-house fighting, Urquhart’s lightly armed troops are forced to surrender or retreat with staggering losses.

    When Urquhart returns to British HQ, he confronts Browning about the fiasco that was Market Garden and Browning sheepishly replies, “Well, as you know, I always felt we tried to go a bridge too far”.

    In the final scene, a Dutch woman (Liv Ullmann) abandons her badly damaged home, which had been used as a hospital by the British. Passing through the front yard – which has been converted into a makeshift graveyard – she and her children walk along the high riverbank with her father, an elderly doctor (Laurence Olivier), pushing some salvaged household items in a wheelbarrow.

    Committed WWII buffs may spot microscopic inaccuracies in the film, such as a few anti-tank guns being painted the wrong colour, but overall the recreation of the battles was acclaimed by real veterans. The action scenes are a triumph, visceral and memorable: swarms of planes, massive explosions and hundreds of paratroopers floating through the sky.

    Most of the film’s characters are either real people or closely based on real people. Plus – in a refreshing change from the usual movie weirdness of watching Nazis speak colloquial English – the Germans speak German, the Dutch speak Dutch, and the British say things like, “I’m awfully sorry, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to occupy your house.”

    Gene Hackman – who plays Polish General Stanisław Sosabowski – is the exception, with an accent foundering somewhere between vampire and pirate

    Unfortunately, hardly any of the big American or British stars are on screen long enough to establish audience involvement, and at an almost three-hour length, A Bridge Too Far is a movie too long. By the end, you’ll feel like you too have trudged for days through muddy Dutch fields without food or sleep.

    Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning
    Dirk Bogarde
    Sgt. Eddie Dohun

    James Caan
    Lt. Col. Joe Vandeleur

    Michael Caine
    Maj. Gen. Robert Urquhart

    Sean Connery
    Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks

    Edward Fox
    Col. Bobby Stout

    Elliott Gould
    Maj. Gen. Stanislaw 
    Sosabowski
    Gene Hackman
    Lt. Col. John Frost

    Anthony Hopkins
    Gen. Ludwig

    Hardy Kruger
    Dr Spaander

    Laurence Olivier
    Maj. Julian Cook

    Robert Redford
    Brig. Gen. James Gavin

    Ryan O’Neal
    Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Bittrich

    Maximilian Schell
    Maj. Harry Carlyle
    Christopher Good

    Director
    Richard Attenborough

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Raid on Rommel (1971)
      Raid on Rommel (1971)
      Captain Foster (Richard Burton) plans on raiding German-occupied Tobruk with…
    • Battle Of Britain, The (1969)
      Battle Of Britain, The (1969)
      The air is thick with screen stars and 27 restored…
    • Breaker Morant (1980)
      Breaker Morant (1980)
      Beautifully filmed, expertly acted and meticulously directed by Bruce Beresford,…
    • Smokey & The Bandit (1977)
      Smokey & The Bandit (1977)
      By the mid-1970s it seemed like Burt Reynolds could do…
    • Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
      Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
      This 70s equivalent of Bridges of Madison County investigated the possibility that…
    • Black Windmill, The (1974)
      Black Windmill, The (1974)
      Major John Tarrant (Michael Caine) is a British secret service…
    • Escape to Athena (1979)
      Escape to Athena (1979)
      Roger Moore ambles in and out of a Teutonic accent…
    • Patton (1970)
      Patton (1970)
      Franklin J Schaffner's complex study of the "red-blooded" American General…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous Article10 Rillington Place (1971)
    Next Article InterCity 125

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Sam and Janet
      1 9 6 7 – 1 9 6 8 (UK) 15 x 30 minute episodes Sam and […]
    • Mansun
      Neo-glam space travellers are supposed to be beamed down to […]
    • This Hour Has Seven Days
      1 9 6 4 – 1 9 6 6 (Canada) 50 x 60 minute episodes This […]
    • Sword and the Sorcerer, The (1982)
      Long, long, long ago – “at a time when the earth was […]
    • Life and Death of Penelope, The
      1 9 7 6 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes A strangled girl is found in […]
    • Flying Blind
      1 9 9 2 – 1 9 9 3 (USA) 22 x 30 minute episodes This […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.