A Bridge Too Far

1977
PG
2h 55m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

63K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,298

Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.

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Historical Epic War Epic Drama History War

Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.

Director
- Richard Attenborough
Writers
- Cornelius Ryan
- William Goldman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

63K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,298

Director
- Richard Attenborough
Writers
- Cornelius Ryan
- William Goldman
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 4 BAFTA Awards
- 7 wins & 5 nominations total

Trivia
Sir Dirk Bogarde's portrayal of General Browning was highly controversial, and several friends of the late General suggested that, had Browning still been alive in 1977, he would have sued director Sir Richard Attenborough and screenwriter William Goldman for libel. Bogarde took issue with the portrayal during filming, having known Browning personally, as he was a member of Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery's staff during the war. Bogarde was upset by the personal criticism he received following the release of the film, especially as he had not been involved in the writing of the script. Although Attenborough publicly took responsibility for the controversy, his relationship with Bogarde was never the same again. Browning's son said he believed his father was made the fall guy for the failure of Operation Market Garden in the film because the producers knew there would have been too much flak if they went after Montgomery.

Goofs
The Allied plans for Market-Garden were correctly shown as falling into German hands from a downed Allied plane. In the film, they were ignored. In actuality, they were turned over to German paratroop expert General Student, who realized their accuracy and importance and used them in determining his troop deployments.

Quotes
[an SS officer is approaching under a white flag]
Major Harry Carlyle: Rather interesting development, sir.
[to the German]
Major Harry Carlyle: That's far enough! We can hear you from there!
SS Panzer Officer: My general says there is no point in continuing this fighting! He wishes to discuss terms of a surrender!
Major Harry Carlyle: Shall I answer him, sir?
Lt. Col. John Frost: Tell him to go to hell.
Major Harry Carlyle: We haven't the proper facilities to take you all prisoner! Sorry!
SS Panzer Officer: [confused] What?
Major Harry Carlyle: We'd like to, but we can't accept your surrender! Was there anything else?
[German officer walks off]
Lt. Col. John Frost: Well, that's that.
[the officer returns to General Bittrich, and they converse in German]
SS Panzer Officer: They rejected our surrender offer. What are your orders, Herr General?
Lt. General Bittrich: Flatten Arnhem.

Alternate versions
The UK cinema release was cut by the BBFC in order to get an "A" rating by editing out the word "fucking" in the scene where James Caan holds the doctor at gunpoint, while Elliott Gould's line "Roll the fuckers" was dubbed over with "Roll it, fellas." In addition, a shot of a dead soldier with his intestines exposed was cut, and closeups of men's bloody faces during the assault on Arnhem were also removed. The cuts were restored in the 15-rated video and DVD versions.

Connections
Edited into My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004)

Soundtracks
3rd Movement
(from Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-Flat Major, BWV. 1051) (uncredited)
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach

User reviews298

Review

Featured review

8/10

What A Waste of Life

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Plot In A Paragraph: The story of the Battle of Arnhem during World War II.

Connery has one of the more substantial roles in Richard Attenborough's all star cast. (Said to be the most expensive cast in living memory) Thwre were famous actors everywhere. Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Robert Redford, James Caan, Elliot Gould, Anthony Hopkins, Edward Fox, Laurence Olivier and Dirk Bogarde amongst others. Connery was General Urquhart in his first combat drop, and again he delivers a solid performance.

Like watching Saving Private Ryan, all I think watching this movie is what a waste of human life. The amount of soldiers whose lives were lost in this operation due to bad planning based on poor intelligence and faulty radios leading to a complete breakdown in communication is staggering!! When told his superior was "proud and pleased" Connery growled that he went in when 10,000 men and came out with less than 2,000.

In a year dominated by the first Star Wars ($300 million) and Smokey & The Bandit ($127 million) A Bridge To Far still managed to gross $50,000, despite being in direct competition with them, to become Connery's biggest hit outside of the Bond Franchise. It ended 1977 as the 7th highest grossing movie of the year. Another best for Connery as no movie he started in outside of the Bond moves had broke the Top 10 grossers of the year.