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Rating:  - A Classic WWII Movie
While sections of the Band of Brothers do a better job of showing a small part of Operation Market Garden, no film does a better job of showing the entire picture. With an all star cast, this is a great movie.
Rating:  - Good Classic Movie
The title says it all. Acting was good and good battle sceens. I would recommand this for any WW 2 movie collection.
Rating: - A Bridge Too Far
A Bridge Too Far is a classic war movie that illustrates both the arrogance of the British army and the inability of the German army to grasp reality. Caught in the middle were thousands of regular America and British troops who paid the dear price.
This movie is reasonably well-acted, though at times many of the characters appear to be going through the motions. The true drama comes out in the end when the British finally realize the futility of their operation. There are many fine performances, namely Sean Connery and Dirk Bogaard. Gene Hackman is most unfortunately miscast as a Polish officer, but aside from this, most play their roles admirably.
Operation Market Garden's failure falls squarely on one person not portrayed in the film, Bernard Montgomery, an idiot of Herculean proportions. While the subsequent failure of the mission did not greatly impact the war's outcome, the horrific waste of lives could have easily been avoided.
Rating: - A Story Too Long OR A Movie Too Short...
Think of this as 'The Longest Day, Part 2', and you'll have an idea what to expect: glimpses of personal war stories amid glimpses of a major WWII military campaign, with a multi-star cast. But in order to focus on some very compelling personal stories, some of the 'big picture' had to be glossed over to keep the movie's length down. Some people might prefer less 'personal' and/or more 'historical' coverage; this might have made a better mini-series...
PROS: Some stellar performances, accurate equipment, a frank portrayal of war politics, a sympathetic treatment of the Germans, and an attractive price. DVD quality is good.
CONS: Some rather wooden performances, some confusion about what is happening where in relation to other groups (especially if one is not familiar with this lesser-known campaign), and a feeling at the end that perhaps something was missing (like a sequel?).
While there is something to like here for almost anyone (except love-interest), this movie will appeal mainly to military fans, but with more food for thought than a simple shoot-and-blow-them-up actioner.
Rating:  - A WASHOUT TOO CLOSE
Take a terrific cast, add great cinematography, add realistic battle scenes and what do we have?-A chorus of boos and jeers. Connery seems to be the only personna that the viewer can latch onto, and none too well at that. Redford does a decent sequence, then disappears. Olivier seems totally miscast,and his lumberings down a dirt road under a full sun as a finale typifies the entire movie.It lumbers for 3 solid hours with the Allies and Germans giving "matchstick man" perfomances (to borrow a line from the Rock group "Status Quo").Annoying scene changes disrupt any flow that the film might have. Also, am I the only movie-goer who found the dialogue too faint and the music too loud? Anyway, the "good guys" won while the Germans and the audience finally lost.
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