It's late 1944, and the Allied armies are confident they'll win the World War II
and be home in time for Christmas. What's needed, says British general
Bernard Law Montgomery, is a knockout punch, a bold strike through
Holland, where German troops are spread thin, that will put the Allies into
Germany. Paratroops led by British major general Robert Urquhart (Sean
Connery) and American brigadier general James Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) will
seize a thin road and five bridges through Holland into Germany, with
paratroops led by Lieutenant Col. John Frost (Sir Anthony Hopkins) holding
the most critical bridge at a small town called Arnhem. Over this road shall
pass combined forces led by British Lieutenant Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward
Fox) and British Lieutenant Col. Joe Vandeleur (Michael Caine). The plan
requires precise timing, so much so that one planner tells Lieutenant Gen.
Frederick Browning (Dirk Bogarde), "Sir, I think we may be going a bridge too
far." The plan also has one critical flaw: Instead of a smattering of German
soldiers, the area around Arnhem is loaded with crack SS troops. Disaster
ensues. Based on a book by historian Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far is
reminiscent of another movie based on a Ryan book, The Longest Day. Like
that movie, it is loaded with more than 15 international stars, including Sir
Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Hardy Krueger, Gene Hackman, Maximilian
Schell, and Liv Ullman.