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on June 19, 2014
A Bridge Too Far is a WWII saga based on "Operation Market Garden" an ill advised boondoggle conceived by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery. The intent of the plan was to race through the Netherlands across the Meuse, Wall and Rhine rivers in an attempt to circumvent the Siegfried line and gain entry to Germany. The operation required a combined attack where airborne units parachuted into German held territory securing and holding the bridges, until ground forces (British XXX Corps and there supporting mechanized and infantry divisions) advanced along what is now referred to as "Hell's Highway", a two lane chokepoint through the Dutch countryside. An unreasonable time schedule, along with logistics and communications problems; slowed the operation to the point that the Germans were able to react. While many of the objectives were met it came up short of the prize. The sacrifice of men and equipment is generally considered too much for too little. The movie while taking several historical liberties boasts an all-star cast, and director Richard Attenborough does a respectable job cramming several days of hell into just short of three hours.
on May 30, 2015
This review is for the physical item I received from Amazon. If you are after a "pure" movie review I recommend you also see the 'The Internet Movie Database' where, you will find movie reviews unrelated to the delivery mechanism.
The Blu-ray case is full of holes, is lightweight and flimsy. This of course, requires the case to be replaced with a more substantial one (with no holes) and the original case goes into a landfill.
Light can also pass through the Blu-ray case, which may shorten the life of the Blu-ray. If a sturdier case with no holes were used this senseless waste could be avoided.
The Blu-ray version is MUCH better than streaming. There are no artifacts and video is sharp. Amazon streaming was grainy.
The movie itself, I liked, 5 Stars.
The Blu-ray case is full of holes, is lightweight and flimsy. This of course, requires the case to be replaced with a more substantial one (with no holes) and the original case goes into a landfill.
Light can also pass through the Blu-ray case, which may shorten the life of the Blu-ray. If a sturdier case with no holes were used this senseless waste could be avoided.
The Blu-ray version is MUCH better than streaming. There are no artifacts and video is sharp. Amazon streaming was grainy.
The movie itself, I liked, 5 Stars.
on July 27, 2017
Good, but far from the best.
on August 31, 2015
Pretty well done given the magnitude of the event. British and Poles had the worst of the campaign and they get most of the time in the film.
I wonder if they did not show actual footage of the drop? Impressive nonetheless.
The campaign was a fiasco and a tragedy. Story tells that pretty well.
I wonder if they did not show actual footage of the drop? Impressive nonetheless.
The campaign was a fiasco and a tragedy. Story tells that pretty well.
on February 2, 2000
This movie is an excellent adaption of Cornelius Ryans book by the same name. Ryan's books rely heavily on personal eye witness accounts and interviews, which makes for good movies. The director had an all-star cast for the various characters and most of the acting is decent, with the exception of Ryan O'Neal as General Gavin of the 82nd Airborne (what was the director thinking!). Interesting note, Sean Connery played a Scottish infantry man in Cornelius Ryan's "Longest Day" which was also made into a movie in the 50's. In this film Sean plays a General :) The biggest weakness of the film is the fact that in trying to cover the enormity of the battle the film flow is a bit disjointed, hopping from scene to scene. BTW the reviewer below that stated that the British intelligence assesment could not possible be as bad as shown in the film is dead wrong. British intelligence was extremely arrogant with a "not invented here" attitude which basically ignored all intelligence reports from spies in occupied countries. Poor intelligence technique, a lousy plan, and an overly cautious British advance doomed the Allies for this battle.
on January 25, 2016
This is one of my favorite movies but the movie fails to tell us the complete story and the heroism that occurred at Nijmegan and Eindoven even before the debacle at Arnhem. As a movie the pace is excellent and the story telling is divine. Again I just wish they would tell the whole story and just just the British perspective.
on September 2, 2014
Worst thing was watching Ryan O'Neal, and an underused Gene Hackman.but everyone else was fine, particularly Edward Fox and Dirk Bogarde. Not enough screen time for Michael Caine. Superb special effects, must have been incredibly expensive before CGI.
on September 16, 2015
The movie illustrates the maxim, never undertake vast projects with half-vast planning. It was Murphy's law let loose on a murderous rampage. The film sticks very close to the facts and lays the blame for failure where it belongs, on the field marshal and general staff who believed what they wanted to believe, and damn the facts.
