Puts the popsicle stick number to shame.

Puts the popsicle stick number to shame.

Listen, Bridge, this time you really have gone too far. 

This is impressive filmmaking but it’s largely quite hollow. Aside from Caan’s superb rescue, this just doesn’t have any weight behind it. It’s incredible that 3 hours (which doesn’t half drag) somehow isn’t enough to cram enough character into our… characters. When the effects, scale and stakes are this grand, there’s nothing to latch onto. Awe-inspiring, perhaps, but never emotional.

The cast is truly stacked and seeing some of these players interact feels genuinely prestigious. Most of them, however, have starred in much better War films- Dirk Bogarde in King and Country, Michael Caine in Play Dirty, Sean Connery in The Hill- and I’d recommend those masterpieces any day before this regretful slog.  

Disappointing stuff, especially after it took me ages to actually watch it (all streaming versions are missing the German and Dutch subtitles for some reason). Ah well.

Listen, Bridge, this time you really have gone too far. 

This is impressive filmmaking but it’s largely quite hollow. Aside from Caan’s superb rescue, this just doesn’t have any weight behind it. It’s incredible that 3 hours (which doesn’t half drag) somehow isn’t enough to cram enough character into our… characters. When the effects, scale and stakes are this grand, there’s nothing to latch onto. Awe-inspiring, perhaps, but never emotional.

The cast is truly stacked and seeing some of these players interact feels genuinely prestigious. Most of them, however, have starred in much better War films- Dirk Bogarde in King and Country, Michael Caine in Play Dirty, Sean Connery in The Hill- and I’d recommend those masterpieces any day before this regretful slog.  

Disappointing stuff, especially after it took me ages to actually watch it (all streaming versions are missing the German and Dutch subtitles for some reason). Ah well.

“Would five minutes be too much? Just five minutes' respite? Dear God… grant these young men die in peace and quiet”

I’m at a loss for words with this one, so many things that I could highlight about A Bridge Too Far, a perfect encapsulation of the unnecessary carnage and loss of the Second World War, perfectly and beautifully amplified by the lens of director Richard Attenborough, probably one of the best war films of the 20th Century, with a stacked to the core cast of some of the best names of said century, great performances from everyone, especially Ullmann, Connery, Olivier, Caan and O'Neil, talking about the lens, the cinematography by DP Geoffrey Unsworth was breathtaking, beautiful and brutal, I was not surprised at all to see that this was the same man that shot 2001 A Space Odyssey

“Would five minutes be too much? Just five minutes' respite? Dear God… grant these young men die in peace and quiet”

I’m at a loss for words with this one, so many things that I could highlight about A Bridge Too Far, a perfect encapsulation of the unnecessary carnage and loss of the Second World War, perfectly and beautifully amplified by the lens of director Richard Attenborough, probably one of the best war films of the 20th Century, with a stacked to the core cast of some of the best names of said century, great performances from everyone, especially Ullmann, Connery, Olivier, Caan and O'Neil, talking about the lens, the cinematography by DP Geoffrey Unsworth was breathtaking, beautiful and brutal, I was not surprised at all to see that this was the same man that shot 2001 A Space Odyssey

It had the scope but never the heart

It had the scope but never the heart

I found out earlier during the watch through that I’d have to eventually watch this absolute behemoth of a film so I watched the first hour before going to bed and then finished it afterwards. This is very ambitious and epic but unfortunately that 3 hour runtime really bogs everything down and makes the movie feel really bloated— I was never bored though Goldman’s writing could never make me sick of him

I do have a question on whether this was anti war film cuz the imagery that’s presented on screen sometimes clashes with what Attenborough is trying to say here from his direction (also the whole debate of whether or not war movies can even be anti-war is a discourse that’ll go on for the rest of time and I’m not gonna talk about that here, I’m just saying that if the movie was trying to be anti-war, it didn’t do a great job at it).

Also Michael Caine is underrated and Redford (very hot btw) doesn’t even show up until the latter half of the damn movie so technically we could’ve skipped this

I found out earlier during the watch through that I’d have to eventually watch this absolute behemoth of a film so I watched the first hour before going to bed and then finished it afterwards. This is very ambitious and epic but unfortunately that 3 hour runtime really bogs everything down and makes the movie feel really bloated— I was never bored though Goldman’s writing could never make me sick of him

I do have a question on whether this was anti war film cuz the imagery that’s presented on screen sometimes clashes with what Attenborough is trying to say here from his direction (also the whole debate of whether or not war movies can even be anti-war is a discourse that’ll go on for the rest of time and I’m not gonna talk about that here, I’m just saying that if the movie was trying to be anti-war, it didn’t do a great job at it).

Also Michael Caine is underrated and Redford (very hot btw) doesn’t even show up until the latter half of the damn movie so technically we could’ve skipped this