A Bridge Too Far
A Bridge Too Far, a book by
Cornelius Ryan published in 1974, tells the story of
Operation Market Garden, a failed
Allied attempt to break through
German lines at
Arnhem in the occupied
Netherlands during
World War II. The name for the book comes from a comment made by British Lt. Gen.
Frederick Browning, deputy commander of the
First Allied Airborne Army, who told
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery before the operation, "I think we may be going a bridge too far."
A film version under the same title was released in 1977, directed by
Richard Attenborough and featuring an ensemble cast of many film stars, including
Dirk Bogarde,
James Caan,
Michael Caine,
Sean Connery,
Denholm Elliott,
Elliott Gould,
Edward Fox,
Gene Hackman,
Anthony Hopkins,
Jeremy Kemp,
Laurence Olivier,
Robert Redford,
Liv Ullmann,
Maximilian Schell,
Hardy Krüger and
Ryan O'Neal. The music was scored by
John Addison, who was a soldier with the British XXX Corps during Operation Market Garden.
The scenes around the 'Arnhem' bridge were actually shot in
Deventer, where a similar bridge over the
IJssel was still available. The bridge at Arnhem, while still unchanged from 1944, was by the mid-1970s sitting in modern urban surroundings which could not be used to portray a 1940s city.A few scenes were shot in
Zutphen, where the old municipality house (a white building which in the film featured the
Nazi command center) and the main church can be seen.
Taken from DVD packaging:"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 recreated 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."
The movie's treatment of military history is somewhat misleading compared to the original book; in particular, the reasons for the delay in
XXX Corps reaching the Arnhem bridge, which led to the failure of the attack, differ considerably from the book.
According to an episode of the Dutch TV history programme
Tijden (site in Dutch) (English:
Different Times) about the making of this movie, the producer Joseph E. Levine told the Deventer town government that their town should get the world premiere for A Bridge Too Far, on
June 14 1977. This never came to be, though, and Deventer even missed out on the Dutch premiere, which was held in Amsterdam.
*
Joseph E. Levine financed the $22 million budget himself. During the production, he would show footage from the film to distributors who would then pay him for distribution rights. By the time the film was finished, Levine had raised $26 million, putting the film $4 million in the black before it had even opened.
* To tempt the distributors, Levine needed to assemble an all-star cast. The principal players were paid $250, 000 a week, though
Sean Connery held out for a total of $750, 000. The part of Major Cook came down to a choice between the two biggest box office stars,
Steve McQueen and
Robert Redford. Attenborough pushed for McQueen, who he had worked with as an actor on
The Sand Pebbles and
The Great Escape. But McQueen wanted $3 million, plus $50, 000 for his entourage, $470, 000 to buy a house he couldn't sell and to have his part scheduled so he could immediately begin production on another film he was being paid $3 million for. Levine turned him down and Redford agreed to play the part for $2 million.
* Shooting of the American-led assault on the Bridge at Nijmegen was dubbed the "Million-Dollar Hour". Because of the heavy traffic, they had permission to film on the bridge between eight and nine o'clock on the 3rd October 1976, and if they couldn't shoot the scene, they would have to reschedule at a cost - including Redford's overtime - of at least a million dollars. For this reason, Attenborough insisted all corpses keep their eyes closed.
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War film*
Theirs is the Glory*
