The Bridge at Remagen (1969)

Perhaps it's the ability to win over the audience, when a director films a story from both sides of a conflict. The audience is then won as this picture is seen from the view point of both the American and then from the German point of view. The battle for control of Europe began on D-Day when the Allies landed at Normandy. Even since then, the German war machine has been put on the defensive. This movie concerns itself with the dramatic defense of the last bridge over the Rhine River. The Movie is called " The Bridge at Remagen " and the German commander Maj.Paul Kruger,( Robert Vaughn) and his aid Capt. Carl Schmidt have been given explicit orders by the commanding General Von Brock (Peter van Eyck), that the bridge is not to be taken intact. On the opposite bank of the river, Lt. Phil Hartman of the American forces has been given conflicting orders. First the Allies want to the bridge utterly destroyed. Later, the men are told to take the bridge in one piece. Amid the confused American soldiers is opportunistic Ben Gazzara as Sgt. Angelo. Bradford Dillman plays Maj. Barnes, an officer who's display of courage is constantly being exhibited, unfortunately not by him. The film is packed with high action, drama and incredible scenes of conflict. The story dealing with the taking of this last bridge is also loaded with the philosophy of war at it's very worse. Still by virtue of its exciting and powerful content, it has become a war time Classic. ****

Fmovies: Famous for its Apocalypse Now-style production problems. Filmed in then-Czechoslovakia where the then Communist government offered up a whole town (due to be cleared to make way for a strip mine) for cinematic destruction. But halfway through shooting the Russian army invaded to remove reformist president Alexander Dubcek. George Segal and Robert Vaughn give career best performances, but it also marks the moment when US war films moved beyond action-adventure and into a darker realm. The capture of the Remagen Bridge in 1945 was a magnificent feat of arms by the US Army. But in the film account the troops are slovenly, often fearful thugs, slanging and striking their officers, robbing corpses and killing children. It's not really about World War II at all, but about how many Americans saw the Vietnam War. The Bridge at Remagen is out of time, set in 1945 but made in 1968, the year of the Tet Offensive, when the US realised that Vietnam was a lost war. It shows.

While it doesn't follow the exact historical events and has its fair share of "realistic" technical and tactical flaws, I think The Bridge at Remagen is a great movie. The WW II U.S. M24 Chaffee tanks, the M8 Armored Cars, half tracks, jeeps, troop carriers, and 2 1/2ton trucks are all just great. Unlike other WW II films of the period (60's-70's)the use of these vehicles sometimes make it seem as if one is watching George Stevens footage from WW II and not a Hollywood production. The moving, combat vehicles scenes were never better. Filming on location in eastern Europe where they had whole villages and towns that could really be blown up and destroyed adds a great deal also. I think most of the technical flaws (uniforms/weapons, both American and German)can be overlooked by the quality of what they did get right and the only real tactical flaw that I can't forgive is the out-in-the-open American tank vs German Flak battery duel. I just love those American M24's so I give it an 8 out of 10.

The Bridge at Remagen fmovies. Only someone who was there, e.g. the U.S. 9th Armored Division, can really say whether this movie about the Remagen bridgehead comes close to what they went through in securing the Ludendorf, the last remaining intact bridge over the Rhine, on March 7, 1945. Only they know of the finality of the gunfire, and the smell it left in the air along with the smell of the dead bodies. But as a combat veteran I was impressed by this movie as it retained the tension and fear involved in war. I do not like most movies because they gloss over reality, but this movie closely shows the different types of individuals that usually make up an army. There are the commanders at the top who see the overall picture, the self-centered career minded officer types who reap only contempt, and the officers and their N.C.O.s-on the American side armored infantry-that just do what they have to do and are just trying to survive. It also shows the close, emotional bonds that war can create between soliders involved in battle. This movie keeps it dirty, with nothing very unbelievable. It gives a good idea of an armored division on the move-and that ain't much fun.

Very under rated war epic. Why this movie isn't just as big as the other big war movies of the 60's(the guns of Navarro /bridge to far) is probably because it was to realistic for the times! acting is good only problem is that the Germans speak a little bit to good English but the action is topnotch especially the big tank battle scene in the middle of the movie, is one of the best war scenes i've ever seen till this day!!!The Bridge scene is also very impressive with tanks that destroy huge apartment blocks! this was a big budget movie at the time you can tell you can't count the extra's walking around and the destruction is as realistic as I've ever seen !!TRULY A MUST SEE FOR WAR MOVIE LOVERS!!!

'The Bridge at Remagen' has, for what ever reason, largely been lost or forgotten by today's movie-going public. I think this is a real shame because the sensibilities and attitudes that the film has toward it's own themes fit very much into the modern movie-goer's. Films like 'The Big Red One,' 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'The Thin Red Line,' and a host of other modern war films owe their dark edge to earlier films like 'The Bridge at Remagen.' 'The Bridge at Remagen' is about worn out soldiers. It is a film that doesn't like war, and stews in bitterness. George Segal's world weary eyes are matched only by Robert Vaughn's. Two men, one an American and the other a German who are trying less to kill the others forces than they are trying to just keep the men that they command. Segal has been ordered to capture the town around the bridge. He's told not to worry about the bridge because it is assumed that the Germans will have blown it up themselves by the time he gets there with his troops, or that the Allied air force will bomb it in order to trap and destroy the German 15th Army ... an army on the wrong side of the bridge. Vaughn, excellently playing the conflicted Major Kruger, is ordered to blow up the bridge. The 70,000 troops of the 15th Army and countless civilians are to be sacrificed at the greater expense of protecting Berlin. The General who gives Major Kruger the order to blow up the bridge suggests that holding the bridge for as long as possible so that fleeing troops and civilians can escape might not be a bad idea. This ultimately leads to tragedy for both sides.

The film is highlighted by worn out lower level officers who must command on the front lines, and the incompetent or uncaring officers who outrank them. These lower ranking officers and their men are merely pawns to be pushed beyond the breaking point and destroyed. The lower level officers see letters of condolence that they need to write for the families of the fallen men serving under them. The higher ranking officers see flags on maps. 'The Bridge at Remagen' is deeply cynical and highly embittered. Although it is in my mind superior in every way to similarly themed films like 'Anzio,' It was overshadowed and consumed by films with bigger budgets and star power. Need one look much further than 'A Bridge Too Far'? The two leads, Segal and Vaughn are both tremendous and are playing their parts in top form. Vaughn especially turns in some of the best work of his career.

The only real flaws in 'The Bridge at Remagen' aren't too serious, but they are strong enough to detract overall. The direction does lean toward heavy-handed pedantics and this can become aggravating. Only having a soldier standing in front of the camera and yelling "WAR IS BAD! WAR IS BAD!" over and over again would it have been more 'in your face.' The movie also suffers from some pacing issues, especially early on, although I think it is redeemed by the hard and gritty ending.

'The Bridge at Remagen' -- very much worth taking a look at if you can find it, and almost certainly belongs (with pride) on the DVD shelf of any serious WW2 film fan.