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A Bridge Too Far
Original film poster
Directed by	Richard Attenborough
Screenplay by	William Goldman
Based on	A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan
Produced by	Joseph E. Levine Richard P. Levine
Starring	Dirk Bogarde James Caan Michael Caine Sean Connery Edward Fox Elliott Gould Anthony Hopkins Gene Hackman Hardy Krüger Laurence Olivier Ryan O'Neal Robert Redford Maximilian Schell Liv Ullmann
Cinematography	Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by	Antony Gibbs
Music by	John Addison
Production company	Joseph E. Levine Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	June 15, 1977 (1977-06-15)
Running time	176 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Languages	English German Dutch
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$50.7 million

A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 epic historical war film directed by Richard Attenborough. It depicts Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied operation in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II; the film's screenplay, by William Goldman, is based on a book of the same title by historian Cornelius Ryan. It stars an ensemble cast, featuring Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Hardy Krüger, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford, Maximilian Schell and Liv Ullmann.

Independently produced by Richard and Joseph E. Levine, it was the second film based on a book by Ryan to be adapted for the screen (after The Longest Day) (1962). It was the second film based on the events of Operation Market Garden, following Theirs Is the Glory (1946). A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was shot on location in the Netherlands, in many of the real locations where the historical events took place.

Although released to a tepid critical response, A Bridge Too Far received several awards. At the 31st BAFTA Awards it won four out of eight nominated categories, including Best Supporting Actor for Edward Fox and Best Score for John Addison—who himself had served in the British XXX Corps during Market Garden. Attenborough was nominated for Best Direction, and the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture. It was a success at the box office, becoming the sixth-most popular movie of 1977.

Plot

Operation Market Garden involves 35,000 men being flown 300 miles (480 km) from airfields in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. Two divisions of US paratroopers are responsible for securing the road and bridges as far as Nijmegen. A British division, under Major-General Roy Urquhart, is to land near Arnhem and hold the bridge there, backed by a brigade of Polish paratroopers under General Stanisław Sosabowski. XXX Armoured Corps is to push up the road over the captured bridges and reach Arnhem within two days.

As Major-General Urquhart briefs his officers, some are surprised that they are going to attempt a landing so far from their objectives. Although the consensus is that resistance will consist entirely of inexperienced old men and Hitler Youth, reconnaissance photos show German tanks at Arnhem. General Browning nevertheless dismisses the photos and ignores reports from the Dutch underground.

The Arnhem bridge is the prime target, as the last means of escape for the German forces in the Netherlands and it is a direct route to Germany. However the road to it is only a single lane linking the key bridges, and vehicles have to squeeze onto the verge to pass. The road is also elevated, causing anything moving along it to stand out.

Although the airborne drops surprise the enemy and meet little resistance, the Son bridge is demolished by the Germans just before it can be secured. Furthermore, many of the jeeps either do not arrive or are destroyed in an ambush, in addition to their nonfunctional radio sets.

Meanwhile, XXX Corps's progress is slowed by German resistance, the narrowness of the road, and the need to construct a Bailey bridge to replace the bridge at Son. They are halted at Nijmegen, where soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division perform a daylight crossing to capture the Nijmegen bridge, and XXX Corps is further delayed waiting for infantry to secure the town.

The Germans close in on the isolated British paratroopers occupying Arnhem near the bridge, and although Sosabowski's troops finally arrive after being delayed in England they are too late to reinforce the British. After days of intense fighting against SS infantry and panzers the outgunned troops are either captured or forced to withdraw to Oosterbeek. Urquhart receives orders to retreat, while the other Allied commanders blame the various difficulties encountered for their failure to provide support.

Urquhart escapes with less than a fifth of his original 10,000 troops while those who are too badly injured to flee stay behind to cover the withdrawal. At British headquarters, Urquhart confronts Browning about his personal sentiments regarding the operation and the latter contradicts his earlier optimism.

Back in Oosterbeek Kate ter Horst, whose home has been converted into a makeshift hospital by the British, abandons its ruins. Passing through the front yard, now a graveyard for fallen troops, she and her children leave with an elderly doctor, pulling a few possessions in a cart, while wounded British troops sing "Abide with Me" as they await capture.

Cast and roles

Note: Characters ordered by rank

British

Americans

Other Allies

Germans

Dutch civilians

Production

Air filming was done in the first weeks of September 1976, culminating in a series of air drops of a total of 1,000 men. Supplies were dropped from a number of Dakota aircraft. The Dakotas were gathered by the film company Joseph E. Levine Presents Incorporated. All aircraft were required to be CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) or FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) registered and licensed to carry passengers. An original deal for the purchase of 10 fell through when two airframes were rejected as passenger configured without the necessary jump doors. Eleven Dakotas were procured. Two ex-Portuguese Air Force, 6153 and 6171 (N9984Q and N9983Q), and two from Air Djibouti, operating from Djibouti in French Somaliland, F-OCKU and F-OCKX (N9985Q and N9986Q) were purchased by Joseph E. Levine. Three Danish Air Force K-685, K-687, and K-688, and four Finnish Air Force C-47s, DO-4, DO-7, DO-10 and DO-12, were loaned for the duration of the parachute filming.

Aircraft 6171 doubled as the camera ship on most formations, with a camouflaged Piper Aztec, G-AWDI. A camera was mounted in the astrodome, one on the port upper mainplane surface, with a third camera on the outside of the forward port cabin window and a fourth under the aircraft centre section. In addition, centre escape hatches were removed to make additional camera ports available, provided that no troops were aboard during filming. A second Aztec, G-ASND, was a backup camera ship on some shots, but it was not camouflaged. An Alouette, G-BDWN, was also employed. After a mishap with G-AWDI, two locally hired Cessna 172s, PH-GVP and PH-ADF, were also used. Ten Horsa glider replicas were built, but a windstorm damaged almost all of them. Seven or eight were hastily repaired for the shoot. The replica gliders were tail-heavy and required a support post under the rear fuselage, with camera angles carefully chosen to avoid revealing this. Dakota 6153 was fitted with tow gear and Horsa replicas were towed at high speed, though none went airborne. A two-seat Blaník sailplane, provided by a member of the London Gliding Club, Dunstable, was towed aloft for the interior takeoff shots.

Four Harvards portrayed American and German fighters. Their original identities were PH-KLU, PH-BKT, B-64 and B-118, the former two aircraft loaned by the Royal Netherlands Air Force. These were flown by members of the Gilze Rijen Aero Club, which also provided an Auster III, PH-NGK, which depicted an Auster V, RT607, in wartime camouflage. Spitfire Mk. IX, MH434, depicting a photo reconnaissance variant, coded AC-S, was lent by the Hon. Patrick Lindsay, and was flown by aerobatic champion Neil Williams.

Sufficient American tanks, jeeps, and trucks of World War II vintage were found because many of the vehicles were being discarded from European military (almost entirely reserve) units, especially from Greece and Turkey.

The scenes set around the Arnhem bridge were shot in Deventer, where a similar bridge over the IJssel was still available. Although a replica of the original road bridge in Arnhem existed, by the mid-1970s modern urban development surrounded it, making it impossible to use as a setting for a 1940s city. A few scenes were shot in Zutphen, where the old municipality house and the main church can be seen. Additional scenes were filmed at Twickenham Studios.

The Motion Picture Association of America initially gave the film an R rating for its use of the word "fuck" and depictions of war violence, but United Artists lobbied it to change it to a PG rating so that younger audiences could see the film. Cuts were also made to the film when released in the United Kingdom to avoid an AA rating from the British Board of Film Censors.

Finance

In order to keep costs down, all the star-name actors agreed to participate on a "favoured-nation" basis (i.e. they would all receive the same weekly fee), which in this case was $250,000 per week (the 2012 equivalent of $1,008,250 or £642,000).

Shooting of the American-led assault on the Bridge at Nijmegen was dubbed the "Million-Dollar Hour". Because of heavy traffic, the crew had permission to film on the bridge only between eight and nine o'clock on October 3, 1976. Failure to complete the scene would have necessitated rescheduling at a cost—including Redford's overtime—of at least a million dollars. For this reason, Attenborough insisted that all actors playing corpses keep their eyes closed.

After United Artists agreed to pay $6 million for US and Canada distribution rights, the film went on to become the sixth-most popular movie at the 1977 US box office.

Reception

The film received a favourable, but tepid response from critics. Critics agreed that the film was impressively staged and historically accurate, although many found it too long and too repetitive. On Rotten Tomatoes, 59% of 29 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Its critics consensus reads: "A Bridge Too Far is a war movie too long, although top-notch talent on both sides of the camera keeps the end result consistently watchable." According to Metacritic, the film received "generally favorable" reviews based on a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 from 13 critics.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times said further, "The movie is massive, shapeless, often unexpectedly moving, confusing, sad, vivid and very, very long." James Caan and Anthony Hopkins were cited by many critics for the excellence of their performances in a film with hundreds of speaking roles and cameos by many of the period's top actors. Generals Urquhart and Horrocks acted as military advisers to the film, adding to its historical accuracy. However, some reviewers suggested that the film contains historical inaccuracies and needs to be viewed as a 'Hollywood' interpretation of events. Robin Neillands commented, "A countless number of veterans have urged me to ignore most of the story in the film A Bridge Too Far".

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote "A picture of conventional length on this subject might have scored some conventional ironies. But why did anyone think that a film about a failed WWII operation, without any novelty of information or deepening of history or even differently spectacular action, should run five minutes less than three hours? A Film Too Long".

Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four, describing it as

such an exercise in wretched excess, such a mindless series of routine scenes, such a boringly violent indulgence in all the blood and guts and moans they could find, that by the end we're prepared to speculate that maybe Levine went two or even three bridges too far. The movie's big and expensive and filled with stars, but it's not an epic. It's the longest B-grade war movie ever made.

Gene Siskel gave the film two-and-a-half out of four and wrote,

More often than not, A Bridge Too Far isn't a story; it's a parade of famous faces. As for the battle footage, it is more often tedious than glamorous. The paratroop landing provides a spectacular five minutes. Other action footage is routine.

John Pym of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "by the end of this extravagant film, we have a fair idea of the who-did-what logistics of a costly military operation. The root problem with A Bridge Too Far, however, is that the top-heavy complement of stars never allows for any focus of attention." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote,

In strictly cinematic terms, the appeal of A Bridge Too Far is easy to state: it is spectacular in the size and range of its effects, earnestly well-acted by a starry and able cast, well-paced and swift despite its length, and marked by an evident attempt to give the balanced truth of a tragic episode from history.

Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "an unusually conscientious and impressive war epic" that justified its high budget...

in terms of careful period recreation, visual spectacle (the sequences depicting paratroop landings are particularly awesome), the mixture of exciting combat episodes with vivid human interest vignettes, an effort to establish a coherent, many-faceted view of a complicated and ill-fated military adventure, and a generally superior level of filmmaking intelligence and craftsmanship.

A "making-of" documentary included in a special edition DVD of A Bridge Too Far says that, at the time of its release, "the film was shunned by American critics and completely ignored at Oscar time for daring to expose the fatal inadequacies of the Allied campaign".

Accolades

Promotion

To promote the film, scriptwriter William Goldman wrote a book titled Story of A Bridge Too Far as a favour to Joseph E. Levine. It was published in December 1977 and divided into three sections:

1. "Reflections on Filmmaking in General and A Bridge Too Far". This section features some essays later reprinted in Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade.
2. "A Bridge Too Far: The Story in Pictures" – 150 sequential photographs from the film with Goldman's captions.
3. "Stars and Heroes" – some of the movie's actors and the men they play tell Goldman their thoughts on the film and the battle.

Notes

1. Carried the primary responsibility for the 'Garden' ground offensive part of the operation
2. Escaping in 1941 to the UK, he studied at the Royal Military Academy and later, in Edinburgh, he was trained as an OSS agent and assigned to operations behind enemy lines in occupied Holland.
3. A member of the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment claims there were no more than 200 men involved. Parachute drops were conducted by the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, only 100 jumpers plus support, 10 man sticks per Dakota.

References

1. "A Bridge Too Far (1977)". Lumiere. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
2. "A Bridge Too Far (1977)". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
3. McKenna, A.T. (2011). "Joseph E. Levine and A Bridge Too Far (1977): A Producer's Labour of Love". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 31 (2): 211–227. doi:10.1080/01439685.2011.572606. S2CID 144254805.
4. "A Bridge Too Far, Box Office Information". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
5. ^ Goldman 1977
6. Ryan, Cornelius (1959). The Longest Day (1st ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. ASIN B002YJG2WU. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
7. "Theirs Is the Glory." Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film, Co-authored by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith. Page x, Introduction. Published 2016 by Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1-911096-63-4
8. ^ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com.
9. Fox had known General Horrocks as a friend before working on the film and took care to portray him accurately. Later he would cite this as his favourite film role. A Bridge Too Far (1977) British Film Institute, archived from the original on 12 March 2008, retrieved 19 October 2009
10. O.B.E. (Military Division) of the Order "in recognition of gallant and, distinguished services in Sicily" Supplement to The London Gazette, March 23, 1944
11. The major did not die of wounds at Brigade HQ but was taken prisoner, moved to the St Elizabeth Hospital and later conducted an escape (Operation Pegasus) with the Dutch Resistance to bring out 138 escapees of the battle, returning to his post with the remnants of his company Evasion Report: 21st September – 23rd October 1944 (www.pegasusarchive.org)
12. Ambrose et al 1999, p.132
13. ^ "War Stories". www.101airborneww2.com. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
14. "Capt. Arie D. Bestebreurtje – World War II Special Operations Soldier". B26.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
15. Hurst, Flt. Lt. K.J., DC-3 Project Officer for the film; AIR International, July 1977, Volume 13, Number 1, pp. 33-34, Talkback column
16. Entirely Up To You, Darling; page 152-3; paperback; Arrow Books; published 2009. ISBN 978-0-099-50304-0
17. A., C. (15 June 1977). "The final decision will be mine". The Washington Post. ProQuest 146729580.
18. ^ Morgan, Jason (9 January 2006). "A Bridge Too Far". FilmCritic. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
19. Canby, Vincent (16 June 1977). "Film: It's a Long War In 'Bridge Too Far'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
20. "A Bridge Too Far". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
21. "A Bridge Too Far". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
22. Canby, Vincent (16 June 1977). "Film: It's a Long War In 'Bridge Too Far'". The New York Times. p. 74.
23. Neillands, Robin (2005). The Battle for the Rhine 1944. London: Cassell. pp. 87 and 93. ISBN 978-1-40722-127-4.
24. "Senses and Nonsenses". The New Republic. 2 July 1977.
25. Ebert, Roger (17 June 1977). "A Bridge Too Far". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
26. Siskel, Gene (16 June 1977). "Big-budget 'Bridge' overspans itself". Chicago Tribune. p. 6, Section 2.
27. Pym, John (July 1977). "A Bridge Too Far". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 44 (522): 142.
28. Champlin, Charles (12 June 1977). "World War II Writ Large in 'Bridge Too Far'". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 1, 13.
29. Arnold, Gary (16 June 1977). "An Epic War Movie At the Head of Its Class". The Washington Post. p. C1.
30. Papamichael, Stella. "A Bridge Too Far: Special Edition DVD (1977)". BBC. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010..
31. ^ Egan, p. 145

Sources

• Goldman, William (1977), William Goldman's Story of a Bridge Too Far, Coronet Books, ISBN 978-0-340-22340-6
• Ryan, Cornelius (1974), A Bridge Too Far, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 978-0-340-19941-1
• Ambrose, Stephen E. & Immerman, Richard H., Ike's spies: Eisenhower and the espionage establishment, University Press of Mississippi, 1999. ISBN 0-385-14493-8 OCLC 6863017

Further reading

• Arthur, Max. Forgotten Voices of the Second World War: A new history of world war two in the words of the men and women who were there, Ebury Press, 2004 ISBN 0091897351 OCLC 57691717
• Waddy, Colonel John (1977), "The Making of a Bridge Too Far", After the Battle, no. 17, London: Plaistow Press, pp. 10–34

External links

• A Bridge Too Far at IMDb
• A Bridge Too Far at Box Office Mojo
• A Bridge Too Far at the TCM Movie Database
• A Bridge Too Far at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• "A Bridge Too Far". at British Cinema Greats. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2007.

v t e Works by William Goldman
Plays	Tenderloin (1960) Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961) A Family Affair (1962) Misery (2012)
Novels	The Temple of Gold (1957) Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow (1958) Soldier in the Rain (1960) Boys and Girls Together (1964) No Way to Treat a Lady (1964) The Thing of It Is... (1967) Father's Day (1971) The Princess Bride (1973) Wigger (1974) Marathon Man (1974) Magic (1976) Tinsel (1979) Control (1982) The Silent Gondoliers (1983) The Color of Light (1984) Heat (1985) Brothers (1986)
Films	Masquerade (1965) Harper (1966) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) The Hot Rock (1972) The Stepford Wives (1975) The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) Marathon Man (1976) All the President's Men (1976) A Bridge Too Far (1977) Magic (1978) Mr. Horn (1979, TV) Heat (1986) The Princess Bride (1987) Misery (1990) Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Year of the Comet (1992) Chaplin (1992) Maverick (1994) The Chamber (1996) The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) Absolute Power (1997) The General's Daughter (1999) Hearts in Atlantis (2001) Dreamcatcher (2003) Wild Card (2015)
Non-fiction	The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969) Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983) Wait Till Next Year (1988) Hype and Glory (1990) Which Lie Did I Tell? (2000) The Big Picture: Who Killed Hollywood? and Other Essays (2000)
Category

• 1977 films
• 1970s action war films
• 1970s action drama films
• 1970s American films
• 1970s British films
• 1970s English-language films
• 1970s German-language films
• 1977 independent films
• American action war films
• American action drama films
• American epic films
• American independent films
• American World War II films
• British action drama films
• British action war films
• British epic films
• British independent films
• British World War II films
• Dutch-language films
• Films about armoured warfare
• Films about bridges
• Films based on non-fiction books
• Films directed by Richard Attenborough
• Films about the British Army
• Films about the United States Army
• Films set in 1944
• Films set in Belgium
• Films set in the Netherlands
• Films scored by John Addison
• Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios
• Films with screenplays by William Goldman
• Epic films based on actual events
• Historical epic films
• Operation Market Garden
• War epic films
• Western Front of World War II films
• World War II films based on actual events
• United Artists films
• English-language independent films
• English-language action drama films
• English-language war films