Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Leofwine_draca John Guillermin directs another all-star cast in this big budget WW2 adventure about the desperate attempts to take a bridge that provides crucial access across the Rhine into Nazi Germany. The story is set in the dying days of the war and the desperation of the men involved on both sides is more than apparent thanks to the realism of the script, which has a certain darkness to it which works well.THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN carefully tells the story of this battle from both sides, although I found the German characters to be better written and more realistic than their American counterparts. Of the US troops, George Segal is saddled with a dullish character, although Bradford Dillman is better as the prissy major. The Nazi characters are well drawn and the best of the bunch is Robert Vaughn. He's not the first actor I would have chosen to play a Nazi but he does surprisingly well cast against type and brings plenty to this multi-layered character. The action is realistic and sufficiently thrilling to make THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN worth a watch.

Dalbert Pringle If you really enjoy a brutally violent and highly-explosive WW2 drama where, once again, the Americans get the sweet, privileged opportunity to kick some serious Nazi-ass, then 1969's "The Bridge At Remagen" is sure to deliver the goods, even if it is done across enemy lines.Set in Germany, along the Rhine River, this action-packed war picture certainly contained plenty of first-rate special effects, as well as some dynamite-charged battle sequences.With its all-star cast, headlined by George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn, The Bridge At Remagen was a very liberal re-telling of actual events that took place in 1945 when the Allies made a final advance into Germany territory in order to gain control of the one, last bridge still standing on the Rhine which remained in Nazi hands.Filmed in glorious living-colour, this picture had a running time of 117 minutes.Note: There's one very unpleasant scene in this film where an American officer is found to be robbing the corpses of the German soldiers. And, when finally caught, it was his self-righteous answer to his questionable actions that I found to be very callous and disturbing.

Robert J. Maxwell This could have been interesting -- and the film has its moments -- but as it stands it's pretty dull in most respects and positively poor in others. I must say this despite the fact that John Guillerman was my director in the fabulous and much underrated art house classic, "King Kong Lives." (The public loathed it but the critics went ape.) I don't know where to begin. All the expectable stuff is here -- the sound effects are those you've heard a thousand times in other war movies. The M-1 rifles don't make sounds like CRACK or POP as they do in the real world. They sound like sneezes or like some grotesquely distorted version of the word "cashew." The acting is below par, and based on familiar types: the battle-weary lieutenant, the greedy impudent sergeant, the ambitious green officer who keeps talking about decorations. You want to know what the director thinks of your intelligence? When we first see Segal he's shaving -- and he's not looking at himself in the mirror but at an angle, at the camera, so we see his full face. Even some five-year-olds must be jarred by that.George Segal slouches around and makes expressions once in a while. But he slouches, not as if he's exhausted, but as if he's being casual and informal, as if he were in a Las Vegas lounge. Ben Gazzara is miscast. He's good at roles in which he's quiet, thoughtful, and guarded. But here his character hides absolutely nothing, because there's nothing there. Bradford Dillman has been okay elsewhere, as in "Compulsion," but his self-aggrandizing major is so overdrawn that nobody could fill the demands of the role.Worst of all is Robert Vaughan. He was just right as the slime ball politician in "Bullitt". The reason he was right in that film and wrong in this one is his voice. The guy has the sharpest sibilants known to man or beast. He doesn't lisp but the poor guy's "s" ends in a high-pitched whistle and the terminal contour is still going up as it exceeds human hearing. For all we know, bats may love it. I don't mean to make fun of him, because that voice can be nicely joined to certain roles, only not this one -- a determined, principled, brave, humane, guilt-ridden German officer. In fact, he and Guillerman have given us the movie's best scene: Vaughan's execution, which he accepts with dignified aplomb while staring distractedly at some airplanes passing overhead. Nothing is made of the scene but it's quietly effective.The story leaves out the context. The British Field Marshall Montgomery was trying to force a crossing of the Rhine about fifty miles to the north and the Americans were determined to beat him. Both attempts succeeded. The wider story, with its political and national implications, is missing. It wasn't missing in "The Longest Day" or "Patton." At any rate, this is strictly a formulaic and routine effort. Not as abyssal as, say, "Anzio" or "The Battle of the Bulge," but still only barely clearing the bar as entertainment.

meritcoba "Once more over the bridge, my dear friends." Henry waved a stick around and was wearing a bucket for a helmet. Kristl had noted that this bucket was quite versatile as it functioned as helmet from any time period and place and universe, including ancient roman times, fantasy worlds like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Sometimes Henry would add something to make it fit the mood. Like adding a plume to it to signify it being a knights helmet. However today the bucket was sprayed over for the occasion with army green and was a Second World War helmet. It would function like that for some days to come."I thought that it was Shakespeare who had some king say that." Kristl mused."I made it up, although it was inspired by Shakespeare. King Henry the Fifth said something like, once more unto the breach, my dear friends..""Shakespeare.. I never took you much for a lover of the arts.""I saw the movie.""Ah..""So over the bridge, my dear friends." Henry waved his hand."Yes?""And they took it. Right up the fritzes asses.""Uhm..Lucky for them. I think they tried to blow it up. It must have been painful to push a plunger and nothing happens. Or it went boom but not boom enough. Like in the movie. Here is an interesting notion. Should a movie about the historical taking of a bridge be historically accurate or not?""What do you mean. Was the movie not historically correct?""Not everything. I read that the movie actions displayed in the movie were not although the background was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remagen#The_capture_of_the_bridge""Wadda you know. The whole fighting was made up.""More or less.""But it was an exciting movie. A bit cynical. Very sixties and seventies. It reminded me a bit of Kelly's Heroes, but more serious.""I think Vietnam was already having an effect. Like it shows the enemy, Germans, as normal people. In fact this is something I haven't seen for a while. I recall the Longest Day and Bridge too Far being the same way. And of course Gettysburg, but that is probably because the opponents were American. So here Germans are not crazy creeps that shave their heads bald and seem to take pleasure from killing other people by stabbing them to death slowly.. These are normal people; just opponents. Of course such movies are very disturbing, for what is a movie without a proper loathsome enemy?""Well, it makes it less justified to kill them. It is less troubling to kill someone when he deserves it.""There is even this scene where Gazarra kills that German boy who is shooting at them. When Gazarra finds out it is a boy he killed, Segal tells him to plunder the corpse another day. assuming Gazarra is again robbing the dead for souvenirs. Sort of: war is not fun idea.""Hmm.. I rather have them as heroes, then as these disgruntled figures." Henry frowned."You know. I always find that typical Hollywood or even American. The idea that the enemy has to be loathsome so we don't feel bad when we kill them. I realize now that it's not typical for Hollywood or America to do so. Many nations cast their enemies into the role of despicable repulsive beings. I recall an Indonesian movie where the Dutch are cast in the roles of dumb greedy foreign oppressors. An interesting aspect is how these roles change over time.. In the old days for instance Arabians were cast in the role of noble warriors, remember Lawrence of Arabia? The Turks were the enemy, so they were revolting individuals. I think there is even one scene where Turks rape Lawrence.. or at least it is suggested. Now the roles are probably reversed.""Well.. in the end it has to be an exciting movie. Where people fight each other and the good side wins.""Even if it is all silly and unhistorical." Kristl said."The problem with most people is that they take movies far too serious. They start to think that the nonsense that is seen is the truth." Henry said, "My rule is simple. Whatever is on a screen, big or small, is entertainment or opinion and therefore not true. Let is just be good at entertaining for it will never be good at telling the truth.""The power of imagery. One false image says more than thousand lines of historically documented, investigated and checked information. Historians must be pulling their hairs when they see nonsense become fact, because history has become democratic. When the majority believes something to be the truth.. it becomes the truth because wikipedia makes it the truth." Kristl said."Whatever.. I like this movie. It had some guys bickering with each other, but finally working together to capture the bridge.""Well, I find the matter of fact almost cynical attitude better than the hopelessly over romanticized mood displayed in....." Kristl mumbled. Henry put a hand on her mouth thus stopping the last words and then he put an outstretched finger on his lips, "We will not compare this one to another one." Henry said. "Kapish?"Kristl shook her head in acknowledgment