A Bridge Too Far
Not our finest hour

// The skinny: In hopes to bring about a swift end to WWII, the Allies plan a bold and daring operation to push through to Germany from Holland. But ultimately it ends with disastrous results.

// Review: For those of us not quite middle aged or war history buffs, Operation Market Garden was exposed to us mainly through Band of Brothers. It was an extremely ambitious and over-estimated attempt to finish the war. But like many short cuts, it didn't work out quite the way envisioned and the Allies paid in blood. The basic premise was that every single bridge needed to be secured in order to get adequate re-enforcements to push through the main one. The Aliies fell woefully short.

/ The movie was just as ambitious by using an all star cast of Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, James Caan, Anthony Hopkins, Elliot Gould, Laurence Oliver, Robert Redford, and almost included Audrey Hepburn and Steve McQueen. It followed several companies of soldiers with their generals as they each attempted to secure their objectives and rendezvous up. In a film era before CGI it was impressive to see a Saving Private Ryan sized movie with such star power, a host of soldiers, vehicles, explosions, and ruined cities on just a $26M budget.

/ While the focus was on the Allies, the Germans were not portrayed as pure evil. Rather they were just as arrogant, compassionate, calculating, and blundering. The performances were all well done with Hackman's Polish general being the most memorable. What made it difficult to watch was that I already knew that Market Garden ended badly and it's not fun knowing the ending when the good guys get the beat down. The film infuses some moral victories, but just like the real life operation, we got smoked in a big way.

// Wrap up: If you enjoy war movies, especially if they aren't CGI orgies, this is a good watch. It's fun too see so many recognizable faces (including a Cliff Claven cameo). Even though you know we eventually lose there is still a lot of tension following each character thread.

Entertainment rating: 3