Story of movie A Bridge Too Far Film : A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 epic war film based on the 1974 book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan, adapted by William Goldman. It was produced by Joseph E. Levine and Richard P. Levine and directed by Richard Attenborough.
| A Bridge Too Far | |
|---|---|
Original film poster | |
| Directed by | Richard Attenborough |
| Produced by | Joseph E. Levine Richard P. Levine |
| Screenplay by | William Goldman |
| Based on | A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan |
| 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 |
| Music by | John Addison |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Edited by | Antony Gibbs |
Production company | Joseph E. Levine Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date | June 15, 1977 |
Running time | 176 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $50.7 million |
The film tells the story of the failure of Operation Market Garden during World War II. The operation was intended to allow the Allies to break through German lines and seize several bridges in the occupied Netherlands, including one at Arnhem, with the main objective of outflanking German defences in order to end the war by Christmas of 1944.
The name for the film comes from an unconfirmed comment attributed to British Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning, deputy commander of the First Allied Airborne Army, who told Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the operation's architect, before the operation: "I think we may be going a bridge too far", in reference to the intention of seizing the Arnhem bridgehead over the Rhine river.
The ensemble cast includes 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. The music was scored by John Addison, who had served in the British XXX Corps during Market Garden.
Screenplay
Operation Market Garden envisions 35,000 men being flown 300 miles from air bases in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. Two divisions of US paratroopers, the 82nd and 101st Airborne, are responsible for securing the road and bridges as far as Nijmegen. A British division, the 1st Airborne, under Major-General Roy Urquhart, is to land near Arnhem and hold both sides of the bridge there, backed by a brigade of Polish paratroopers under General Stanis?aw Sosabowski. XXX Armoured Corps are to push up the road over the bridges captured by the American paratroopers and reach Arnhem two days after the drop.
The British are to land using gliders near Arnhem. When General Urquhart briefs his officers, some of them are surprised they are going to attempt a landing so far from the bridge. The consensus among the British top brass is that resistance will consist entirely of "Hitler Youth or old men on bicycles". Although reconnaissance photos show German tanks at Arnhem, General Browning dismisses them and also ignores reports from the Dutch underground. He does not want to be the one to tell Field Marshal Montgomery of any doubts since many previous airborne operations had been cancelled. Although British officers note that the portable radios are not likely to work for the long distance from the drop zone to the Arnhem Bridge, they choose not to convey their concerns up a chain of command intent on silencing all doubt.
Speed is the vital factor. Arnhem's is the crucial bridge, the last means of escape for the German forces in the Netherlands and an excellent route to Germany for Allied forces. The road to it, however, is only a single highway linking the various key bridges - trucks and tanks have to squeeze to the shoulder to pass. The road is also elevated, causing anything moving on the road to stand out.
The airborne drops catch the Germans by surprise and there is little resistance. Most of the men come down safely and assemble quickly, but the Son bridge is blown up by the Germans just before the 101st Airborne secures it. Then, soon after landing, troubles beset Urquhart's division. Many of the Jeeps either do not arrive by their gliders at all or are shot up in an ambush. Their radio sets are also useless.
XXX Corps' progress to relieve them is slowed by German resistance, the narrowness of the highway and the need to construct a Bailey bridge to replace the one destroyed at Son. They are then halted at Nijmegen. There, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division perform a dangerous daylight river crossing in flimsy canvas-and-wood assault boats and the Nijmegen bridge is captured, but XXX Corps has to wait several hours for infantry to secure the town.
The Germans close in on the isolated British paratroops occupying part of Arnhem at the bridge, although armored attacks are repelled. Urquhart had been separated from his men and the supply drop zones overrun by the Germans. Finally, Sosabowski's troops, held up by fog in England, enter the battle too late and are unable to reinforce the British. After days of house-to-house fighting, pitted against crack SS infantry and panzers, the outgunned troops are captured or forced to withdraw. Arnhem itself is indiscriminately razed in the fighting.
Urquhart escapes the battle zone with fewer than a fifth of his original ten thousand crack troops; those who were too badly injured to flee stay behind and cover the withdrawal, surrendering afterwards. On arriving at British headquarters, Urquhart confronts Browning about his personal sentiments regarding the operation: does he think it went as well as was being claimed by Montgomery? Browning's reply contradicts his earlier optimism: "Well, as you know, I've always thought that we tried to go a bridge too far."
In the film's final scene, a young Dutch woman, whose elegant and beautifully furnished home was used as an overflow hospital by the British, abandons the mostly destroyed house. Passing through the front yard, now converted to a graveyard for fallen troops, she and her children trek along the high riverbank, with her father, an elderly doctor, pulling a few salvaged possessions in a cart.
Allies
| Actor | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dirk Bogarde | Lieutenant-General Frederick "Boy" Browning | GOC I British Airborne Corps, and at HQ First Allied Airborne Army as its deputy commander, British Army at Nijmegen |
| James Caan | Staff Sergeant Eddie Dohun (based on Charles Dohun) |
runner for Captain LeGrand King "Legs" Johnson, CO, Company F, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division U.S. Army (attacking Best) |
| Michael Caine | Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E. Vandeleur | CO, 3rd Battalion (Infantry), the Irish Guards, the Guards Armoured Division, XXX Corps, British Army |
| Michael Byrne | Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Vandeleur | acting CO, 2nd Battalion (Armoured), the Irish Guards, the British Guards Armoured Division. Cousin to "Joe". |
| Sean Connery | Major General Roy Urquhart | GOC, 1st British Airborne Division, Arnhem |
| Edward Fox | Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks | GOC, XXX Corps, British Second Army. |
| Elliott Gould | Col. Robert Stout (based on Robert Sink) |
CO, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division |
| Gene Hackman | Maj. Gen. Stanis?aw Sosabowski | CO, Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, Polish Armed Forces |
| Anthony Hopkins | Lt. Col. John Frost | CO, 2nd Parachute Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division at Arnhem road bridge |
| Ryan O'Neal | Brig. Gen. James Gavin | CO, US 82nd Airborne Division, US Army at the bridge across the Maas river in Grave, later at the Maas-Waal canal and the bridge across the Waal river in Nijmegen |
| Robert Redford | Maj. Julian Cook | CO, 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne, US Army seizing key bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal and the river assault crossing of the Waal river. |
| Denholm Elliott | RAF meteorology officer | fictional |
| Peter Faber | Capt. Arie D. "Harry" Bestebreurtje | Liaison officer with the 82nd Airborne Division, Office of Strategic Services, Royal Dutch Army |
| Christopher Good | Maj. Carlyle (based on Maj. Allison Digby Tatham-Warter) |
CO, A Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, Arnhem, British Army |
| Frank Grimes | Maj. Fuller (based on Brian Urquhart) |
G-2 (Intelligence Officer) for the 1st Airborne Corps, British Army stationed at the HQ located in Moor Park Golf Club, Hertfordshire, England |
| Jeremy Kemp | RAF briefing officer | RAF, but the briefing probably took place at the 1st Airborne Corps HQ located in Moor Park Golf Club, Hertfordshire, England |
| Nicholas Campbell | Capt. Glass (based on Captain LeGrand King "Legs" Johnson) |
CO, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 502PIR, |
| Paul Copley | Pvt Wicks | Batman to Lt. Col. Frost, CO, 2nd Parachute Battalion, British Army |
| Donald Douglas | Brigadier Gerald Lathbury | CO, 1st Parachute Brigade, British Army in Arnhem. Wounded and briefly paralysed, Lathbury made a complete recovery and escaped captivity during Operation Pegasus. |
| Keith Drinkel | Lieutenant Cornish (based on Captain Eric Mackay, 9th Parachute Sqdn R.E.) |
1st Airborne Division |
| Colin Farrell | Corporal Hancock | 1st British Airborne Division, Urquhart's batman |
| Richard Kane | Col. Weaver (based on Graeme Warrack) |
Senior Medical Officer, Headquarters RAMC, 1st British Airborne Division, at the Main Dressing Station in the Schoonoord Hotel of the Oosterbeek Perimeter |
| Paul Maxwell | Maj. Gen. Maxwell Taylor | CG, 101st Airborne Division, US Army at the Son bridge and later St-Oedenrode |
| Stephen Moore | Maj. Robert Steele (based on Major Anthony "Tony" John Deane–Drummond) |
Second-in-Command, 1st Airborne Divisional Signals British Army, Arnhem |
| Donald Pickering | Lt. Col. C.B. Mackenzie | Principal General Staff Officer (Chief of Staff), Headquarters, 1st Airborne Division, British Army, Divisional HQ at the Hartenstein Hotel |
| Gerald Sim | Col. Sims (based on (acting Colonel) Lt. Col. Arthur Austin Eagger) |
Senior Medical Officer, 1st Airborne Corps, R.A.M.C., British Army |
| John Stride | Grenadier Guards major (based on Captain Lord Carrington) | British Grenadier Guards Commander who argues with Major Cook after 82nd capture Nijmegen Bridge |
| Alun Armstrong | Cpl. Davies | 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division |
| David Auker | "Taffy" Brace | Medic, 1st British Airborne Division |
| Michael Bangerter | British staff colonel | British XXX Corps staff officer at General Browning's HQ |
| Philip Raymond | Grenadier Guards Colonel (based on Lt. Colonel Edward H. Goulburn) | C.O. 2nd Armoured Grenadier Guards Battalion |
| Michael Graham Cox | Capt. Jimmy Cleminson | T/Capt., James Arnold Stacey "Jimmy" Cleminson Officer Commanding, 5 Platoon (B Company), 3rd Parachute Battalion, British Army, Arnhem |
| Garrick Hagon | Lieutenant Rafferty | Lieutenant, 101st Military Police Platoon, 101st Airborne Division, Division Field Hospital, US Army |
| John Ratzenberger | Lt James Megellas | Lieutenant, Company H, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, US Army, at Waal River crossing |
| Arthur Hill | US Army surgeon (colonel) | Chief Division Surgeon Lt Col. David Gold, 101st Airborne Division Clearing Station |
| Ben Cross | Trooper Binns | 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division |
| Mark Sheridan | Sergeant Tomblin | 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division |
| George Innes | Sergeant MacDonald | British 1st Airborne Division radio operator at the Hartenstein Hotel |
Germans
| Actor | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hardy Krüger | Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl Ludwig | Based on Heinz Harmel, CO of the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg, but he did not want his name to be mentioned in the film |
| Maximilian Schell | General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich | CO of II SS Panzer Corps |
| Wolfgang Preiss | Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt | OB West (commander of the German forces on the Western Front) |
| Walter Kohut | Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model | CO of Army Group B |
| Hartmut Becker | German Army sentry | |
| Hans von Borsody | General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt | Chief of Staff OB West |
| Lex van Delden | Oberscharführer Matthias | Bittrich's aide. |
| Fred Williams | Hauptsturmführer Viktor Eberhard Gräbner | Commander of the reconnaissance battle group of 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen |
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