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| An information-packed poster for the grand spectacle that is Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far |
A tragic chapter in the WWII annal: The enormous 1944 Operation Market Garden fiasco in Holland; a historic military failure, conducted by the Allied forces against the Germans, which was supposed to clear the way for an end to the lengthy war.
William Goldman's (The Hot Rock (1972)) script, which adapts Cornelius Ryan's (MacArthur: Man of Action (1950)) 1974 book of the same title, is a multi-character work, which feels like perhaps it was inspired in some way by Robert Altman's Oscar-winning Nashville (1975). The title is taken from an unconfirmed quote by a British Lieutenant-General during the operation, referring to the advance to the Arnhem bridge across the Rhine river.
The posters hail it as the ultimate WWII movie, which few would agree with today; there are scores of better films about the war, - but not many as huge in the scope of their production as A Bridge Too Far, which was a truly enormous undertaking.
The star cast, in the first place, is staggering, counting Laurence Olivier (Richard III (1955)), Ryan O'Neal (Barry Lyndon (1975)), Anthony Hopkins (360 (2011)), James Caan (Comes a Horseman (1978)), Robert Redford (A Walk in the Woods (2015)), Liv Ullmann (Leonor (1975)), Dirk Bogarde (Penny Princess (1952)), Sean Connery (Cuba (1979)), Michael Caine (Dunkirk (2017)), Elliott Gould (Judgement (1992)), Gene Hackman (Narrow Margin (1990)) and more.
The spectacular scenes of bombings, parachute troops, military machinery of many varieties etc. are vast and impressive, and the film is therefore entertaining for anyone who enjoys large scale war movies, while it should also be noted that it is in many ways an anti-war film due to the very detail-oriented and serious way it portrays a case of major loss and senseless destruction in war towards an end that goes wrong.
The absence of a central lead character, - the entire, calamitous misfortune seems to be the lead in itself, - does eventually make A Bridge Too Far feel too distant and impersonal for it to manage to really creep under my skin.
The film is directed by one of the masters of truly epic cinema, English master filmmaker Richard Attenborough (Young Winston (1972)), who took the task upon himself in order to be able to make Gandhi (1982), his world-renowned masterpiece of the Indian leader and humanitarian.
Listen to a UK cinema lobby spot for the film here
Budget: Reportedly 22-27 mil. $
Box office: 50.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain (but likely a box office success; returned 1.87 times its cost in North America alone)
[A Bridge Too Far premiered 15 June (USA) and runs 176 minutes. Planes, tanks, jeeps and other machinery from the war were brought to the production from a long list of countries. Shooting took place in England, including in Twickenham Film Studios, and principally in Holland, around 35 miles from the actual site of the WWII operation, from April - October 1976. Approximately 1,000 men participated in air drops for the film's mass-parachute scene and about 100 stunt men worked on the film. Redford reportedly received 2 mil. $ for around 2 weeks work on the film, which angered Connery, who apparently got less for more work, and his pay was changed to satisfy him. The portrayal of Bogarde's character Lieutenant-General Browning was highly controversial due to his being perceived as most responsible for the disaster, which in reality was thought not to have been the case. Producer Joseph E. Levine (Boys' Night Out (1962)) financed the film himself and was able to procure an astounding 26 mil. $ in distribution advances by showing footage during production, which reportedly put the film in the black before it even opened. The film's North-American performance of 50.7 mil. $ was viewed as disappointing by some, but the film reportedly did better business in Europe. If we assume that the world gross reached 75 mil. $, which is likely based on this information, the film would register as a box office success. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to two notches harder than this one. The film won 4 BAFTAs out of 8 nominations. Attenborough returned with Magic (1978)). Bogarde returned in Despair (1978), Redford in The Electric Horseman (1979), and Connery in The Great Train Robbery (1978). A Bridge Too Far is fresh at 62 % with a 6.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of A Bridge Too Far?
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