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VINE VOICEon August 26, 2012
This was a film that was lavished with big-name stars, authentic locations, good special effects, cinematography and a director who would go on to win an Oscar.
The film covers the Market-Garden operation planned by British Gen. Bernard Montgomery in late '44 to bypass the Siegfried Line, cross the Rhine and win the war in 1944 while the Germans were on the ropes. The film does a decent job of showing the deliberate ignoring of intelligence of powerful German units in the area of Arnhem as well as the planning issues that made it difficult for British paras to capture the bridge across the Rhine. It portrays the courage of allied soldiers well and shows the misfortunes that helped derail the operation.
The movie isn't completely accurate and doesn't reflect the effectiveness of Germans in the defense. There were some poingant scenes in the film, but the scene where the elderly Dutch woman trying to hail a taxi is shot by German snipers is simply over the top and silly. I felt some of the individual performances were good, such as Sean Connery's and that of James Caan but, on the whole, you got the feeling that a lot of them were just there for a paycheck and their performances weren't very "inspired" (Ryan Oneil, Robert Redford, Elliot Gould).
It's certainly worth a view, but not necessarily worth buying a new copy of this DVD for keeps. It's an "okay" war movie and I give it three stars.
The film covers the Market-Garden operation planned by British Gen. Bernard Montgomery in late '44 to bypass the Siegfried Line, cross the Rhine and win the war in 1944 while the Germans were on the ropes. The film does a decent job of showing the deliberate ignoring of intelligence of powerful German units in the area of Arnhem as well as the planning issues that made it difficult for British paras to capture the bridge across the Rhine. It portrays the courage of allied soldiers well and shows the misfortunes that helped derail the operation.
The movie isn't completely accurate and doesn't reflect the effectiveness of Germans in the defense. There were some poingant scenes in the film, but the scene where the elderly Dutch woman trying to hail a taxi is shot by German snipers is simply over the top and silly. I felt some of the individual performances were good, such as Sean Connery's and that of James Caan but, on the whole, you got the feeling that a lot of them were just there for a paycheck and their performances weren't very "inspired" (Ryan Oneil, Robert Redford, Elliot Gould).
It's certainly worth a view, but not necessarily worth buying a new copy of this DVD for keeps. It's an "okay" war movie and I give it three stars.
on March 19, 2017
It was better in the 70's
on June 7, 2016
This movie was OK. If the point was to confuse, as war can be very confusing, then they succeeded.
on March 13, 2015
I love WWII movies and although it had quite a few movie stars in it, the movie itself was just okay. It was hard to follow the story and it was a very long movie.....176 minutes.
on March 27, 2017
This movie has the biggest collection of big name actors of any movie. Lawrence Olivier, Michael Caine, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, James Caan, Elliot Gould, Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, Maximillian Schell, to name a few.
Some nice action scenes, but a lot of it looks staged. And then there's the sheer number bridges. Impossible at anytime to tell just what's going on where. The thing even has temporary bridges. Then there's Redford playing George Washington crossing the Delaware River with his merry men.
Go figure.
Some nice action scenes, but a lot of it looks staged. And then there's the sheer number bridges. Impossible at anytime to tell just what's going on where. The thing even has temporary bridges. Then there's Redford playing George Washington crossing the Delaware River with his merry men.
Go figure.
on June 30, 2016
It was everything I expected.
on August 9, 2015
Slow, cut about 1 hour. It was Montgomery's vain ego that led to these 1000's of deaths.
on January 4, 2014
This is the kind of war flick much like "The Longest Day' with a cast of thousands (more like 10 - 20 recognizable stars) that gives a overview of the Market-Garden operation. If you need more for knowledge of the battle you can google it, not going into that here. The film is somewhat gritty but a still more sanitized view of war than more recent works like "Platoon" or "Saving Private Ryan." The film is kind of split between promoting the glorious or the futile view of armed conflict. Sweeping shots of troops and equipment on the move fail to accurately portray the seemingly emptiness of most modern battlefields that would probably go over poorly with the average viewer. Limited involvement in character development is all that is needed to flesh out the generally noble depictions of the main players. Possibly the most realistic part of the film is the points where ego, pride and the need of people to conform to a group point of view lead to pathos and tragedy. Solid, worth a view but of more interest to war movie buffs than to the average customer.
on September 17, 2015
Waaay too long. Too many sub-stories. A little disjointed.
