It’s interesting to look back and see the development of war
films over the decades since movies began being made. Early films showed us
acts of heroism or were used as propaganda to promote war interests and boost
the morale of people at home. In the fifties and sixties the war film began to
slightly alter. There were plenty of movies still being made but stories
focused on the homecoming of soldiers as well as events that happened. Even
those movies began to alter as the war in Vietnam raged and suddenly the clean
uniformed scenes of battle opened up to more gritty glimpses into what took
place. The seventies led us into a look at war at its ugliest and also at the
effects it imposed on those who fight. That was the standard until the last
decade or so when we’ve seen a melding of all of these types of films, a good
thing in my opinion, because the truth is indeed an amalgamation of all these
points of view. But one of the first films in the sixties to begin that melding
was THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN.
Based on the true story of that bridge the film takes place
during WWII. The German Army has been all but defeated and most of those in
charge realize this. As they army retreats bridges are being blown up all along
the river ways to prevent the invasion of Germany by the allied forces. The
only bridge remaining is that in Remagen.
The film is told from both sides of the story. On the allied
side leaders send their men in without care for their morale or the fatigue
they feel. This is a chance to cut off nearly 10,000 German soldiers from their
homeland and capture them. Tired, worn down and promised over and over again
that they’ll get a break, a group led by Lt. Phil Hartman (George Segal), a
battle weary but well informed leader, is pushed first to retake a town and
then push even further on to take the bridge by Maj. Barnes (Bradford Dillman),
a career officer who sees little of the battle from behind his command post
while ordering others to move forward. Among the group under Hartman’s command
is Sgt. “Angel” Angelo (Ben Gazzara), a soldier looking to do well financially
from the war by collecting items from the dead German soldiers he comes across.
This doesn’t sit well with Hartman and the two come into conflict from time to
time.
On the other side we are presented with Maj. Paul Kreuger
(Robert Vaughan). Kreuger is just back after a serious injury and given the job
of blowing up the bridge at Remagen. Both he and Gen. Von Brock (Peter Van
Eyck) disagree with the commands they receive from headquarters, more concerned
with trying a last ditch effort to rescue the soldiers still on the other side
of the Rhine river. But the high command doesn’t care, mistakenly feeling they
can lose those soldiers and still win the war. Kreuger puts the charges in
place to blow the bridge but holds off until the last minute before doing so.
These two stories move along at a steady pace with tons of
battle sequences to press them forward. The intersecting of the two tales is
what fills the final third of the film. What makes this movie different from
most is that early war films had groups of men together fighting a common enemy
and few were killed in the line of duty. This film shows that this wasn’t the
case in reality. Men die. The body count climbs as commanders at a safe
distance, on both sides, send out commands to their men to win at all costs.
And those costs are the bodies of those same men.
The film is a solid war film and much better than I remember
it having seen it as a child when it was first released. Both Segal and Vaughan
present characters on both sides of the issue that have honor in their blood
but are forced to follow orders. The supporting casts does an equally
impressive job, bringing to life characters that you care about. John
Guillermin’s direction is some of his best in a career that included THE BLUE
MAX and THE TOWERING INFERNO.
Once more Twilight Time offers the cleanest and best looking
copy of this film that can be found. Extras this time around are light and include
the isolated music track and original theatrical trailer. As always the number
of copies they are offering are limited so if you are at all interested make
sure you pick one up before they’re gone.
Click here to order.
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