A Bridge Too Far is a long and complex look at the spectacularly failed Operation Market Garden, where Allied troops were to drop behind enemy lines into Holland and take bridges to support an advancing ground force in September 1944.  As history has shown, it didn't go as planned.  At all.

This movie is rather long (3 hrs) and for the first two, is a mixture of rather dull scenes of talking-head-generals discussing strategy and a disjointed and confusing following of no less than five different groups going after their respective goals.

The problem here is that once they get going into a bit with one of the groups, a battle begins, we're abruptly taken away to another force who's either doing nothing, or doing something seemingly unrelated.

The last hour chronicles the final failing hours of the operation, and is actually quite a moving bit of film.  If you've made it that far, that is.  A "reel too far" maybe.

The ensemble cast is spectacular: Caan, Connery, Redford, Gould, Olivier, Hackman, Hopkins... they all do marvelous jobs.  It's just there are too many things going on here, too many interlude stories, and too many talking heads to try and keep track of.  If they'd focused on just a couple less, it might've made for a far more compelling story.

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