The Bridge at Remagen

1969

Action / Drama / War

16
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 20% · 5 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 59% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 11309 11.3K

world war ii bridge soldier explosion thoughtful dramatic

Plot summary

In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.

Director

John Guillermin Photo
John Guillermin

Top cast

Robert Vaughn Photo
Robert Vaughn as Maj. Paul Krueger
George Segal Photo
George Segal as Lt. Phil Hartman
Robert Logan Photo
Robert Logan as Pvt. Bissell
Bradford Dillman Photo
Bradford Dillman as Maj. Barnes
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.05 GB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 1
1.94 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

One of the most intelligent and best of the sixties war movies , well performed and finely directed

Spectacular and exciting warlike movie based on famous event about the Bridge at Remagen . This Blockbuster is one of the biggest war films ever made. It's a magnificent film, recreating the known offensive by Allied army on the German front during 1945 .What happened during those desperate days that could have changed the course of war is now history . It's well recreated by John Guillermin for United Artists, with Technicolor cinematography by Stanley Cortez. The producer, David L Wolper was well-qualified for his job as he made documentary as ¨D-Day ,6 June, 1944¨ and produced ¨The Devil's brigade¨ , among others. Stirring images accompanied with roaring battle noises it quite possible for the sound effects you heard today to be as realistic as those he heard when was listening to them whining overhead.Furthermore , it packs a moving musical score in military parade style composed by the master Elmer Berstein. The making was a logistical problem as almost that of setting up a campaign and putting a film together under any circumstances was very difficult because working under pretty bad conditions. So this whole film was put together, photographed and edited, scored and prepared for release in a matter of about various months. After a daring escape from Czechoslovakia where was shot at Davle and Most , filming was resumed near Hamburg, Germany and closely the Pope's summer house, Castelgondolfo, Italy.The film is based on real events, though the characters are fictitious, those are the following : The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen—the last standing on the Rhine was captured by soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division on 7 March 1945, during Operation Lumberjack. Although German engineers had mined the bridge before the American approach, the fuses had been cut by two Polish engineers forcibly conscripted to the Wehrmacht. On 7 March 1945, soldiers of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann,(at the movie Phil Hartman well played by George Segal) approached the bridge, and found it standing. The first American soldier across the bridge was Sergeant Alex Drabik (at the film bears similar role played by Ben Gazzara as corrupt sergeant Angelo) ; Lt. Timmermann was the first officer across. Although the bridge's capture is sometimes regarded as the "Miracle of Remagen" in U.S. histories, historians debate the strategic importance of the capture of the bridge at Remagen. General Eisenhower ( in the movie a similar character is played by E.G. Marshall as General Shinner) said that "the bridge is worth its weight in gold". However, few U.S. units were able to operate east of the Rhine ahead of the main crossings in the south, under Gens. Patton and Bradley, and in the north, under Gen. Montgomery . Ultimately, only a limited number of troops were able to cross the Rhine before the bridge's collapse. However, the psychological advantage of having crossed the Rhine in force and in pursuit of the retreating Wehrmacht, improved Allied morale while communicating disaster to the retreating Germans. Hitler ordered a flying courts-martial that condemned five officers to death. Captain Bratge, who was in American hands, was sentenced in absentia while the other four (Majors Scheller, Kraft, and Strobel, and Captain Peters , respectively played by Robert Vaughan as Major Kruger and Hans Chritian Blech as Captain Carl Schmidt ) were subsequently executed . Soldiers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked long hours to stabilize and repair the bridge . However, despite the best U.S. efforts, on 17 March 1945, ten days after its capture, the Bridge at Remagen succumbed to the cumulative damage from German bombing and collapsed, killing twenty-eight soldiers of the Army Corps of Engineers. However, because the pontoon bridges and other secured crossing points had supplanted the bridge, its loss was neither tactically nor strategically significant. Still, the Ludendorff Bridge remained important as the first point at which Allies crossed the Rhine.
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Reviewed by Theo Robertson 8 / 10

Intelligent War Movie

I remember seeing this movie in the late 1970s and liked it a lot and still watch it every time it's broadcast not infrequently on television . I was very disappointed that it didn't make the recent list of Channel 4 's 100 GREATEST WAR MOVIES list

What I like about THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN is its cynical edge . You see in these type of movies the Yanks are invincible knights in shining armour while the Jerries are invariably goose stepping Nazi dumbkopfs and while there is an element to Uncle Sam winning the war single handed it's nowhere enough to drag the movie into mediocrity . When I say " cynical " the screenplay is very even handed - The Americans loot from the bodies of the dead and come close to fragging a senior officer at one point while German civilians bleat that they're not Nazis seconds after taking down prized portraits of Adolph Hitler

Of course much of the cynicism is helped because of the period setting . It's only a few weeks from the final end of the war in Europe and everyone knows what the outcome of the war is going to be but everyone still kills and dies regardless . There is something more poignant about this than say the battle of Stalingrad in 1942 or D Day in 1944 hence the obvious war weariness from the Americans . It's different for the Germans who are fighting the enemy in their own borders . It should also be pointed out that in reality they know the Nazi death camps have been found and someone will be paying a heavy price for these crimes against humanity hence the Germans are in no hurry to surrender

Being made in 1969 I wonder if the war in Vietnam was at the back of the producers minds ? The one major German character Kreuger is portrayed as just a soldier protecting his homeland while we see scenes of American bombers dropping ordnance on innocent civilians that include young children and woman in their eighties . Maybe it's just another example of cynicism ? but one things for sure - You won't be seeing something like this coming out of a Hollywood studio today

If you like war movies you'll like THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN a lot . It's intelligent , cynical and contains a really great score from Elmer Bernstien

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