Movie review: ‘A Bridge Too Far’

FloridaGator80

One of Hollywood’s staples has always been movies with an ensemble cast of big names, especially war flicks. Just watch “The Great Escape” (click here to read my review) or “Battle of the Bulge” (click here to read my review). Both of those were in the 1960s, so let’s jump ahead today to “A Bridge Too Far.” It is the best example of the genre from the 1970s and offers such big names such as Robert Redford, Elliott Gould, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, James Caan and Gene Hackman. It’s a standard war story, but well told and much better than “The Big Red One” (click here to read my review) with that film’s lesser known ensemble cast wasted in a shallow effort. This is the fifth review I did for this blog and the first war movie review I did for it.

‘A Bridge Too Far’
(1977; rated PG; 175 minutes; directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Robert Redford, Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Gene Hackman)

A STAR-STUDDED WAR FILM

(NOTE: I reorganized and expanded this review with additional trivia and opinion as well as the updating of links on May 19, 2018. I again expanded the review on Nov. 28, 2020. I again expanded the review on Feb. 27, 2025.)

As anyone with any knowledge of World War II history knows, the paratrooper-based offensive of 1944 in Holland by the Allies became “A Bridge Too Far” and is based on the book of the same title by noted historian Cornelius Ryan, who also penned book that became the same-titled “The Longest Day” (click here to read my review) about the D-Day invasion – and that one became a classic, big-cast war film in 1962.

You want star power? It’s here from Bob Redford to Mike Caine to Gene Hackman to Ryan O’Neil to Sean Connery to Sir-to-be Tony Hopkins. Not impressed? How about adding Jimmy Caan, Maximilian Schell, Hardy Kruger, Liv Ulman, Elliott Gould and “Chariots of Fire’s” Ben Cross? Not yet? How about adding Larry Olivier and “Cheers’” John Ratzenberger from TV?  Ratzenberger? OK, he’s a stretch among this star power and I hope I can be forgiven for calling Olivier by the name “Larry.” Oh, click here to read my review of “Chariots of Fire” …

Even today’s “Ocean’s” series is hard-pressed to keep up the marquee value of the collective cast of “A Bridge Too Far” (click here for my review of “Ocean’s Eleven” and click here for my review of “Ocean’s Thirteen”).

As to the plot, the Allies plan a massive post D-Day parachute assault along a long corridor of strategic bridges that will help them leapfrog into Germany through Holland. A bunch of challenges, from poor planning and execution to just bad luck, spell an ultimate setback (I won’t say “defeat” since we won it all in the end; remember, lose a battle but win the war) because the planning was just “A Bridge Too Far.”

The story skips back and forth from its launch points in England to the battle scenes across Holland.

Of course, with such a big cast (there are 14 actors shown in some movie posters/video covers) the film suffers from not enough time on screen for any one actor. Charlton Heston in the previous year’s “Midway” (click here for my review) is an exception, as he had a larger role though in a similar-sized cast.

Sean Connery does his best, as does Hopkins in their on-screen time, but none gets a chance to establish the presence one would expect from the number of Academy Award winners in the cast (seven, according to IMDb.com).

Let me skip through some the cast (but don’t hold it against me if I don’t give each equal space) …

  • An Oscar winner (not for this one), Connery is earnest and convincing as “Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart,” commander of the ill-fated British paratroopers given the bridge “too far” to capture. Heck, with this performance I’d follow him into battle. Connery is a legend as “James Bond,” but I liked him best in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” He won his statue for “The Untouchables.” He died on Halloween 2020 at 90 after a long illness.
  • Equally good is another Oscar winner (and three-time nominee, but not for this one) Hopkins, who plays “Lt. Col. John Frost.” At first, you’re led to believe he’s a bit of a prissy, up-tight officer (while planning personal logistics for the drop, he wants to take his golf clubs) but ultimately shows a soul and disposition of steel, even when confronted by the German officer whose troops ultimately capture him. Hopkins would go on to much greater fame as “Dr. Hannibal Lecter” in “The Silence of the Lambs” (for which he won an Oscar – click here to read my review) and assorted other Lecter films. He was nominated for “Amistad,” “Nixon” and “The Remains of the Day.”
  • One of the especially nice turns is from Edward Fox as “Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks.” Fox starred in the title role in 1973’s “The Day of the Jackal” (click here for my review) and would go on to another outstanding turn in 1982’s “Gandhi,” which was also directed by Attenborough. A very underrated actor, in my opinion.
  • An Oscar nominee (not for this one), James Caan, who forever will be known as “Santino ‘Sonny’ Corleone” from “The Godfather” and received his nomination for it, plays “Staff Sgt. Eddie Dohun.” He’s a tough-minded soldier who has promised to look after his company’s commander. In one of the tensest moments of the film, Caan holds a U.S. medical officer at gunpoint and demands the thought-to-be-dead man be examined. Caan’s fellow solider is examined and found to be alive, of course. Caan’s career is too prolific to summarize, but I will say that I enjoyed him as a casino boss on TV’s “Las Vegas” and he bickered very well with Alan Arkin in “Freebie and the Bean” (click here to read my review). Caan died of a heart attack at 82 in 2022.
  • A two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Dirk Bogarde does a pretty much perfect job as the general officer selling a load of incompetence to the subordinates who will have to execute it. Bogarde is simply “Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning” and he deserved recognition for his work. Bogarde was nominated for “Song Without End” and “The Patricia Neal Story” from TV. He died at 78 in 1999 of a heart attack.

Along with its big cast, it takes up a lot of time – nearly three hours – but could have used two more to flesh out some of the more interesting characters, including the Polish commander played to perfection by two-time Oscar winner and two-time Golden Globe winner Gene Hackman. I just don’t want to take up more of your time, so I’ll just end it with the sad news that Hackman, who was a native of California, was found dead at his home in New Mexico in February 2025 at the age of 95.

So, do you like war films? Don’t worry. I’m absolutely certain that you’ll like this one.

“A Bridge Too Far” was the No. 6 film at U.S. theaters in 1977 with $50.7 million in ticket sales, according to Wiki. The No. 1 film was – no freakin’ surprise here – “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” with $307.2 million, which was more than twice what the No. 2 film earned. Oh, yes, the No. 2 film was Burt Reynolds’ wonderfully iconic “Smokey and the Bandit” (click here for my review) with $126.7 million. Here are the other films from that year that I’ve reviewed:

Additional cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Bogarde’s full name was Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; Connery’s middle name was Sean and his first name was Thomas; Fox’s full name is Edward Charles Morrice Fox; and Michael Caine’s birth name was Maurice Joseph Micklewhite.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The producers were only able to locate four of the many Sherman tanks seen on the screen. The rest were plastic molds set on top of Land Rovers.”
  • Robert De Niro turned down the role ultimately played by Caan. It would have been an interesting character for De Niro, but I’d say that Caan was the perfect physical and emotional type for the character. Thanks, Robert, for turning it down.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Sean Connery played one of the largest roles in the film as General Urquhart, but was angered to discover that Robert Redford, in a much smaller role, was getting considerably more money. He went on strike for a short time until his fee was adjusted to his satisfaction.”
  • It was reported that Roger Moore was considered for the part ultimately played by Fox. Sorry, Roger, but you, too, might have been “007,” but you wouldn’t have done as good a job as Fox.
  • Filmmakers were criticized for casting a then 35-year-old Ryan O’Neal as U.S. Gen. James Gavin. Actually, Gavin was a paratroop general at 37 at the time of the real battle. It wouldn’t take too much research to have discovered that (except that Google wasn’t around for lazy critics then). O’Neal died of congestive heart failure at 82 in 2023.
  • Caan reportedly said he was offered his choice of several characters in the film and chose the one he portrayed because of the scene confronting an Army doctor with his injured friend.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Dirk Bogarde‘s portrayal of General Browning was highly controversial, and several friends of the late General suggested that, had Browning still been alive in 1977, he would have sued Director Sir Richard Attenborough and Screenwriter William Goldman. Bogarde took issue with the portrayal during filming, having known Browning personally, as he was a member of Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery‘s staff during the war. Although Attenborough publicly took responsibility for the controversy, his relationship with Bogarde was never the same again.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page for the film.

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