Rating: PG
Genre:
War
Release Date: 09/23/2008
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 176 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Questionable for Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general
Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into Germany. Paratroops led by British major general
Robert Urquhart (
Sean Connery) and American brigadier general
James Gavin (
Ryan O'Neal) will seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with paratroops led by
Lieutenant Col. John Frost (
Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall pass combined forces led by
British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (
Edward Fox) and
British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (
Michael Caine). The plan requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells
Lieutenant Gen. Frederick Browning (
Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster ensues. Based on a book by historian
Cornelius Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far is reminiscent of another movie based on a
Ryan book,
The Longest Day. Like that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including
Sir Laurence Olivier,
Robert Redford,
Hardy Krueger,
Gene Hackman,
Maximilian Schell, and
Liv Ullman.
~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide