A Bridge Too Far

"Well, as you know, I always felt we tried to go a bridge too far." A film of epic proportions, with an all-star cast that includes James Caan, Sean Connery, Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine (who recently had a small role in Inception), Elliott Gould, Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, Sir Laurence Olivier, Liv Ullmann, Robert Redford, and Maximilian Schell (among others), A Bridge Too Far is a visually stunning movie, with large, chaotic, and very gory battle scenes involving tanks, assault boats, jeeps, warplanes, and many soldiers. Based on the Cornelius Ryan book of the same name, the film deals with Operation Market Garden, an attempt by Allied forces to secure vital bridges in Holland from the Germans via airborne assaults. In spite of the large cast, Sean Connery and Michael Caine seem to get the most attention (since the film largely focuses on the British aspect of the battles), although Ryan O'Neal does have a large scene. Although some liberties were obviously taken, the film is actually fairly historically accurate (thanks to the supervision of some of the people who fought in the battle). The film's composer, John Addison, actually fought in the war, and served during Market Garden; his score is hauntingly bittersweet, containing both hints of ironic jingoism and sorrowful remembrance for the dead.
On a side note, the film was, initially, rated "R" because of its graphic violence and profanity. It was lowered to a "PG" upon appeal ("PG-13" did not exist until 1984, 7 years after this movie was released). Not a single image or bit of dialogue was cut to obtain the lower rating.

Rating: 4/4