Operation Market Garden was a hugely ambitious military mission conceived by Field Marshal Montgomery as a means for the Allied troops to be in Germany by Christmastime 1944. It would encompass the largest airborne assault the world had ever seen, dropping thousands of men across the Netherlands and capturing a series of strategically important bridges. This would give them straight access into Germany and on to victory.
Buy A Bridge Too FarIt was a spectacular failure. Millions of dollars worth of equipment and weaponry were destroyed. Thousands of lives were lost. And they ultimately didn’t secure their objectives.
In 1977, United Artists released A Bridge Too Far, a film based upon Operation Market Garden. It was hugely ambitious and expensive. They purchased numerous planes, tanks, and military equipment. They shot on location. It was absolutely packed with stars, written by William Goldman, and directed by Richard Attenborough.
It was mostly a roaring success. It did very well at the box office and was nominated for several British Academy Awards, but the general critical response was very mixed.
I find I’m rather mixed on it as well. There are some very good scenes. Some rather dull ones, too. It is fun seeing so many great actors on screen, but they often go as quickly as they came. There is so much going on in so many different places it gets confusing as to what is happening where. The film never manages to keep all the objectives clear nor truly define what went wrong.
The film does indicate that most of the blame lies at the top. Field Marshal Montgomery and General Patton were in a race to see who could break the front line and march into Germany first. Montgomery conceived of this plan and pushed it through without enough planning. Convincing Eisenhower to go for it caused everyone else to fall in line, despite their concerns. We see numerous lower-ranking officers grumble to themselves, and sometimes even raise concerns to those immediately above them, but when all is said and done, they take their orders and do their best.
There is one early scene in which a couple of men discuss the communication equipment. It worked well in the deserts of Northern Africa, but they are unsure if it will hold up in the vastly different conditions of Europe with its rain, its mountains, and large cityscapes. But they are too afraid of mentioning their concerns for fear of causing delays. So they shut their traps and hope for the best. Through the rest of the film, we will see that the communications break down nearly everywhere.
There is a spectacular scene when the troops first parachute in. With thousands of men jumping out of planes, their parachutes opening and flapping in the wind, we get a real sense of the size and scale of the mission. Another scene shows Colonel Robert Stout (Elliott Gould) leading a group of soldiers to construct a Bailey bridge over the river when the Germans destroyed the original. It is an amazing feat of engineering.
There are big scenes and little scenes just like those throughout the film. We follow the commanders making decisions and the grunts carrying them out. We see the German commanders both make incisive decisions as to the Allies plans and completely underestimate them. There are some moving scenes when a Dutch woman (Liv Ullman) opens her home to the wounded and a Dutch doctor (Laurence Olivier) works furiously to help them.
I wouldn’t say any of the scenes are particularly bad, but most of them just kind of come and go without making much of an impression. There are so many of them, though, that they very quickly start blending together. I’m surprised that Goldman’s script isn’t tighter. A few adjustments would have helped clear things up in terms of exactly what everybody was doing and how one problem led to another, building up to the failure of the entire mission. They say the film is historically accurate, which is a fine thing on its own, but it doesn’t make for a great movie.
There is enough here to make fans of war films rejoice, and certainly there are enough stars to keep you interested, but one can’t help but feel a little disappointed that such effort was put into something that could have been so much more.
Kino Lorber presents A Bridge Too Far with a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack. Their 4K restoration from the original camera negative has been taken from an Australian release by Imprint Video.
Extras include:
4K UHD Disc
- Dolby Vision/HDR Presentation of the film
- Audio Commentary by Filmmaker/Historian Steve Mitchell and Combat Films: American Realism Author Steven Jay Rubin
- Audio Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman and the Main Crew
- Optional English Subtitles
BLU-RAY Disc
- Audio Commentary by Filmmaker/Historian Steve Mitchell and Combat Films: American Realism Author Steven Jay Rubin
- Audio Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman and the Main Crew
- Theatrical Trailer
- Optional English Subtitles
- Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase
