A Bridge Too Far (1977)
As this weekend has been the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem it only seemed fitting to watch this epic retelling from director Richard Attenborough.
The last of the great all star ensemble epics, A Bridge Too Far tells the story of Operation Market Garden. The Allied forces plan to parachute thirty five thousand men into Holland and take the Rhine bridges of Nijmegan, Eindhoven and most famously Arnhem in a bid to move into Germany on two fronts.
Attenborough directs with an attention to detail that gives the film an almost documentary style which allows some moments of great tension to gradually build up and up until Saving private Ryan arrived on the scene in the late 90's was possibly the only film that gave a sense of what it was like actually being there.
Although i've seen this seemingly dozens of times over the years the film still has great re-watch value thanks to it's epic scale, cast of thousands and portrayal of a disastrous Allied initiative which saw around two thousand men killed and thousands more taken prisoner of war by the Germans.
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