Review: Bridge at Remagen

WWII film has Hitler ordering that the Germans destroy all bridges across the Rhine, as the Allies advance rapidly, but General Peter Van Eyck wants the title bridge to stand for as long as possible, as destroying it would trap thousands of German soldiers heading towards the bridge. He calls in Major Robert Vaughn to lead an unfortunately small group in holding the fort for as long as they can. Meanwhile, the approaching Americans are originally intent on blowing the bridge, but General E.G. Marshall and his snooty foot soldier Bradford Dillman decide to take it instead. George Segal is the weary and bitter platoon leader who has just about had enough, while Ben Gazzara is the seemingly heartless, thieving Sergeant, and other soldiers are played by fine character actors like Matt Clark and Bo Hopkins, and everyone’s favourite portrayer of Nazis, Gunter Meisner turns up as an SS man at the end.

Solidly made 1969 John Guillermin (“The Towering Inferno”, “The Blue Max”) war film offers very little originality, and lacks the colourful characters of the better films in the genre (“The Great Escape”, “The Dirty Dozen”, “Kelly’s Heroes”). It is, however, one of the more realistic-looking entries, and certainly one of the least optimistic WWII films I’ve seen. The underrated Vaughn (as a less evil Nazi than you may expect) acquits himself very well indeed in the film’s most fully realised characterisation (Gazzara comes a close second but no one else is in their league), and has a particularly memorable final scene. There’s also some fine action, particularly towards the end, but with only a couple of interesting characters, it doesn’t quite engage one as it should. Shame, there’s a lot to like here, but not quite enough to get it over the line. So close. Fine score by Elmer Bernstein (“The Magnificent Seven”, “The Great Escape”, “Sweet Smell of Success”).

Rating: C+