Watched
A Bridge Too Far for the first time a few nights ago. It's a really interesting film covering WWII's Operation Market Garden. It's long, 3 hours long, be ready for that.
The cast is pretty incredible. I don't know of too many other films that contain the sheer volume of A list actors this one had. Too many to list here. Beyond the A listers you get guys like John Ratzenburger (yes Cliff from Cheers) and several other notable supporting character actors as well. They all turn in good to very good performances, though no particularly great ones. I think James Caan (there's that guy again) and Liv Ullman stood out the most to me in a positive way. On the other side of the coin Ryan O'Neil wasn't very good, and Gene Hackman's attempt at a Polish accent was comically bad (when he remembered to attempt it).
To me, the movie played closer to a documentary than a drama. Even at 3 hours, the scope of what they tried to cover made it impossible to spend much time with any one character or group of characters, thus it was tough to get too involved in any of them. This lead to the film feeling a bit disjointed too often as they had to jump from place to place to try and keep things in sync chronologically. You experience the tragedy, horror, violence and waste of war, but definitely at a safe remove, not through a sense of investment in any particular character. Also there were a few storylines that really didn't have anything to do with the main thrust of the story or the outcome of the operation. James Caan's storyline in particular was completely irrelevant to the overall film, but coincidentally contained the best scenes IMO. The film was difficult that way - and kept me from liking it as much as I wanted to given the people involved and the subject material.
This one could have been a 10 one hour episode series if made today and probably held more dramatic tension and impact, a la Band Of Brothers. I appreciated the treatment they gave the Germans in this. Just the fact that there is a German perspective is notable, many WWII films and shows from the U.S. don't give you much more than caricatures. Here we do spend time with some of the German command, and though some are played to comic effect, most come across as actual humans, even if you aren't rooting for their team. Maximilian Schell was a good get here.
The best part of the film are the visuals, sound track, and complete devotion to realism and attention to detail in all things. It's practical effects all the way, possibly one of the last films to do so to this extent. Real planes, real artillery, real tanks, real rounds, accurate uniforms, etc. It's a beautifully rendered ode to the terribly destructive power of war machines. It's worth a watch just for that. The air drop scene, the artillery duel scene - just fantastic, I can't express how blown away I was by those. Much of the credit goes to Richard Attenborough as director. He never deviated from or compromised his vision and it shows in the end result (and the outrageous budget it took to complete the film). I can't describe this well enough, you just have to watch it.
It's a must watch for the production quality and epic scope of the various engagement scenes, if nothing else. The cast is also a big draw. Definitely check it out if you haven't seen it. Be sure to block out enough time and have a full supply of snacks - big screen and primo sound system recommended.
