A Bridge Too Far (1977)

In September 1944, flush with success after the Normandy Invasion, the Allies confidently launched Operation Market Garden, a wild scheme intended to put an early end to the fighting by invading Germany and smashing the Reich's war plants. However, a combination of battlefield politics, faulty intelligence, bad luck and worse weather led to disaster.

An epic retelling of World War II's most tragic blunder, A Bridge Too Far meticulously depicts the ambitious plan which resulted in more Allied casualties than the entire Normandy landing. Painstakingly re-created on actual battlefield locations and boasting a remarkable all-star cast, A Bridge Too Far accurately recaptures the monumental scope, excitement and danger behind one of the biggest military gambles in history.

This massive 1977 adaptation by director Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) of Cornelius Ryan's novel 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