Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3109 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Dutch, English, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 168 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
1977's A Bridge Too Far by director Richard Attenborough features an all-star cast in an epic rendering of a daring but ultimately disastrous raid behind enemy lines in Holland during the Second World War. A lengthy and exhaustive look at the mechanics of warfare and the price and futility of war, the film is almost too large for its aims but manages to be both picaresque and affecting, particularly in the performance of James Caan. The impressive cast includes Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery and Liv Ullmann among others. While not a classic war film, it nevertheless manages to be a consistently interesting and exciting adventure. --Robert Lane

Special Features

• A Bridge Too Far: Heroes From The Sky documentary
  
• A Distant Battle: Memories of Operation Market Garden feature
  
• Richard Attenborough: A Filmmaker Remembers feature
  
• Audio commentary with screenwriter William Goldman
  
• Trivia track
  
• Photo gallery
  
• Original theatrical trailer

DVD Technical Information:

• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, English)
  
• Running Time: 168 mins
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
  
• Subtitles: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English for the hearing impaired, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish

Synopsis
Richard Attenborough's ambitious, all-star adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's book, scripted by William Goldman, gives an account of the Battle of Arnhem during 1944, part of an Allied attempt to expedite the end of the war with a costly operation to capture six bridges connecting Holland to Germany. A multitude of notable actors--such as Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Olivier, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Robert Redford, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Edward Fox, James Caan, Elliott Gould, and many more--star in this military epic.

Customer Reviews

An excellent war film, with amazing acting and battle scenes
The star studded cast in this film speaks for the film's excellence alone. Actors such as Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman and Anthony Hopkins come together to combine their acting skills. Primarily, the fighting scenes are well structured, with none of the desperado "one man kills fifty men alone" sort of scenes, but instead concentrates on the viewers adrenaline, and the drama of battle. Even if you know the outcome of Arnhem before you watch the film, you cannot stop yourself wishing 30 Corps will rush to the paratroopers' rescue. For me the most poingant part of the film, was the bit where the wounded paratroops were sat on the lawns of a Dutch mansion , singing a hymn to pass the time waiting for the Germans to capture them, while their able bodied comrades retreated to safety. Get this film! It is an amazing war movie, which has Americans in cast, but does not neglect the British role in the affair.

Quite simply excellent.

a sprawling, beautifully filmed epic
This is an impressive adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's bestseller about the disastrous events that took place in September 1944, where the mission to take and hold the bridges that bordered Holland and Germany was unsuccessful, and human toll tragic, with approximately 8,000 casualties in the allied forces, and an equal number of Germans falling in battle. The script by William Goldman and direction by Richard Attenborough holds the many threads of this piece of complex history together, and makes it understandable to the viewer; so much went wrong, from the incorrect, misinterpreted or ignored intelligence, to the basic flaws in the plan.
The introduction before the titles is fascinating, with marvelous archive footage to illustrate a narration of aspects of the war, and the planning of "Operation Market-Garden".

The megastar cast is too numerous to mention, but standouts are Sean Connery as Major General Roy Urquart, James Caan, Michael Caine, and Edward Fox, who won 2 international awards for Supporting Actor. Maximilian Schell is excellent as a German general, and when the Nazi side of the story is told, the actors speak German, with English subtitles, adding to the realism of the film.
The cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth is spectacular, some of it very innovative, and with intense beauty; a rousing score by John Addison also adds a lot to the film.
"A Bridge Too Far" was Cornelius Ryan's last big best-seller, and no cost was spared in this ambitious production, costing $ 26 million, a huge amount in 1977.
A must see for anyone who appreciates history on film. Total running time is 176 minutes.

A Bridge Too Far
As action movies go, this is one of the best.
However, as an older Brit, I noticed there seems to be an ongoing theme in the movie that the British were incompentent and the Americans totally switched on and efficient.
Really?
Whilst I love our "cousins" dearly, my experience with them in the past has left a lot to be desired miltary wise.
What was Richard Attenborough thinking of when he made the film? He could have left out all the anti-Brit quips and still had a great movie.
But, it's still a fantastic piece of entertainment, even more so because it is (mainly) true.
Buy and enjoy.