Eisenhower did not leave World War II with the biggest migraine headache of all time, having to contend with all the egos he did there. Maybe because the Allies don't quite reach their objective and pay a terrible price. Reviewed by bkoganbing 9 / 10 The Allies OverreachĪlthough A Bridge Too Far, the story of the Allied failed offensive operation in the Netherlands known as Market Garden is based on a book by Cornelius Ryan who also wrote The Longest Day, it doesn't quite reach the classic heights of that film. ![]() According to at least some folks, the General wasn't actually incompetent. My only reservations are the film's length, the odd casting of Gene Hackman (what WAS his accent?!) and the way the film seems to go out of its way to portray General Browning as a complete horse's butt.and I am not sure if this is reasonable or not. It's competently made and the director used some creativity to make the battles seem more realistic (such as the use of fake Sherman tanks.as discussed in the IMDb trivia). Again and again, you see troops being tossed into various fronts.with mostly expected results since you know ultimately the Germans won this battle and pushed off the offensive. The film is a very long (too long if you ask me) recreation of Operation Market Garden, a failed attempt by Allied troops to dislodge the Germans and take bridges in Holland. So is this another overblown epic or is it worth seeing? After all, 90% of the budget must have been to pay these stars! Fortunately, while I was not in love with the film, I didn't hate it.and that makes it a whole lot better than the movies I just mentioned (particularly "Midway".what a terrible film). Similar films, such as "Midway", seemed to spend ALL the budget on stars and there was little left for anything else.such as a decent script or the limited and appropriate use of stock footage. Like "The Towering Inferno" or "Earthquake", "A Bridge Too Far" is jam-packed full of celebrities and celebrity cameos.something that usually does not work very well. "A Bridge Too Far" reminds me of one of those Irwin Allen mega-epics of the 1970s. Reviewed by MartinHafer 7 / 10 Star-studded and a bit overlong.but still well done. When the end credits roll, I always feel tired - like the characters - which is a testament to how involving (and effective) the movie is. I love this movie anyway, maybe because of the production style, which is more realistic than the cornball war films of previous decades but not quite so over-the-top as "Private Ryan." The battles are both thrilling and terrifying, a nicely struck balance. ![]() The film's one major weakness is that it telegraphs the battle's result from too early on all the smart characters think that the operation will be a disaster, and lo and behold, it's a disaster. It helps that the ensemble cast is great - perhaps the best ever assembled - and the characterization, though a bit thin (as in most war movies), is certainly good enough considering how heavily the plot dominates. By contrast, "A Bridge Too Far" is like something the History Channel would produce it's full of maps and narration and endless tactical discussions that, amazingly enough, really held my attention - and really enlightened me about the battle of Market Garden. ![]() "Private Ryan" may have served up more blood and guts, but it had a fanciful plot and it didn't really tell audiences anything about D-Day. Reviewed by dr_foreman 9 / 10 my favorite WWII movie Faulty intelligence, Allied high command hubris, and stubborn German resistance would ensure that Arnhem was a bridge too far.-grantss ![]() The key to the operation was the bridges, as if the Germans held or blew them, the paratroopers could not be relieved. They would be reinforced, in due course and in turn, by the British XXX Corps, land-based and driving up from the British lines in the south. airborne divisions to take the towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen and a British airborne division, reinforced by a Polish airborne brigade, to take the town of Arnhem. The true story of Operation Market Garden, the Allies attempt, in September 1944, to hasten the end of World War II by driving through Belgium and Holland into Germany.
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