#A Bridge Too Far

[theworldatwar]

British troops, under fire try to advance along ruined a street in Arnheim during Operation Market Garden - Sept 1944

[mrsfoone]

Y'all, I think things might have gone too far.

First I saw this:

Then I got the following email and I sincerely think pumpkin spice is getting out of hand, no pun intended.

I'll keep my toes unflavored, thanks.

[pedroam-bang]

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

[audiemurphy1945]

A Bridge Too Far(1977)

[victusinveritas]

Anthony Hopkins in "A Bridge Too Far" (1977)

Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.

[tnyhpknslvr]

he’s so pretty o m g 😭🩷

[silviakundera]

today's random snippets of strangely established relationship moments in the Story of Kunning Palace novel. wherein our girl is grieving for You Fangyin.

//

But today, she didn't say or do anything, yet Xie Wei seemed to know what she was thinking.

She did want to talk to someone.

It's just that after realizing that he knew everything, she kept in silence, and it seemed that there was no need to say any more.

Jiang Xuening sat down quietly on the small wooden bench next to the stove, watched Xie Wei put the chopped diced into the ready-to-cook porridge, took a spoon to stir it slowly, and finally said: "I haven't really killed people."

Xie Wei stirred it well, and put the lid on the pot again.

He also sat down by the stove, next to her. His eyes fell on the red-hot coals, and he was extremely calm: "There is always a first time."

Jiang Xuening slowly hugged her knees, leaned down, blinked, seemed to be thinking more, and did not speak.

Xie Wei was beside her.

After waiting for a while, when the outside was completely quiet, he poured some porridge into a bowl and served it to her. The two of them didn't bother to move an extra table, they just sat by the stove and ate a half-hot bowl in this slightly cold frosty night.

Xie Wei sent her back to the house, knowing that she was not in a very good mood. He tucked her into the bed, kissed her on the lips, and said: "We won't practice the qin tomorrow morning, you can sleep late."

[... Some Time Later...]

Zhou Yinzhi gritted his teeth, stared at her, and his voice came out of his throat like dripping blood: "The girl promised! That letter! You clearly promised, as long as I am willing to help the insider, you will forget the past, forgive me."

Jiang Xuening looked at him with pity: "So you actually believed it?"

At this moment, Zhou Yinzhi's face turned ashen.

But Jiang Xuening just raised her head, looked at the city gate that had been opened wide, thinking that the world is ridiculous, and said slowly: "That's right, in the eyes of Mr. Zhou, a person like me is considered good and easy to deceive."

She thought, it's getting late, and it's better not to delay the army from entering the city.

So she stretched out her hand to the swordsman beside her.

Jianshu handed the sword to her.

She has almost never held a sword. The sharp long sword was pulled out of the sheath, as if the weight of human life was pressed on the blade, and it fell heavily on the human wrist. When the sky shone, the cold light glistened!

Zhou Yinzhi was struggling.

But there were soldiers on the left and right who came up and held him down.

Jiang Xuening was struggling to hold the sword.

Xie Wei stepped up, covered hers with his palm, helped her hold the sword tightly, only directed it towards Zhou Yinzhi's neck, and smiled softly: "I'll teach you."

[drkbogarde]

Dirk Bogarde photographed on the set of A Bridge Too Far (1976)

[freetheshit-outofyou]

The most Monty Python moment in a War Drama goes to.....

[wallacepolsom]

Wallace Polsom, Life During Wartime: Like Father, Like Son (2023), paper collage, 20.4 x 29.6 cm.

[nelc]

I've got nothing else planned for this afternoon.

[acerothstein]

Robert Redford in A Bridge Too Far (1977)

[theworldatwar]

A group of unhappy looking but well trained German Panzer Grenadiers are guarded by British glider pilots - Holland, Sept 1944. British glider pilots were equally well trained so they could contribute to any battle they were dropped in to. This photo was taken during Operation Market Garden.

[cherrydarling]

Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far (1977)

[sundanceandhubbellanddenys]

Robert Redford, A Bridge Too Far, 1977.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | A Bridge Too Far (Attenborough, 1977)

I was feeling under the weather and decided to throw this on to half zone out to. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I grew up watching things like The Guns of Navarone thanks to my dad, so I find old war movies like this to be a kind of comfort food. And I’ve definitely mentioned this before, but any of these big budget epics from earlier decades I find offer an intrinsic entertainment value in that you can actually see on screen where the expense went, what with the countless extras and vehicles and production design and potentially difficult shooting locations. I’d wager this plays better than it did in 1977 when it released to lukewarm reviews, as this kind of movie likely seemed a decade past its expiry date at the time but now seems like a valuable archaeological find for those very qualities.

Interestingly, I think the production realities of the movie very much play into its text. Certainly other war movies have been mounted at this scale, and with this kind of structure (The Longest Day is an obvious example), but of the ones I’ve seen, this seems most interested in depicting war as simultaneously a strategic, logistical and communal effort, and in depicting the ways those three dimensions are in tension with each other. The operation seems doomed from the start when one of the Allied generals chooses to ignore a piece of inconvenient evidence that the Germans have a stronger presence than expected and opts to go ahead with the operation as planned. “As planned” grows increasingly divorced from reality, as it becomes increasingly difficult to move materiel and reinforcements to where they’re needed thanks to bad road and drop zones falling into German hands.

And the movie never loses sight of the man on the ground, with the many impressively mounted battle scenes frequently framing the action from over the combatants’ shoulders, placing you in their shoes as things grow increasingly tense, like a scene where a German advance across a bridge is thwarted thanks to some well timed defensive fire, or when stranded soldiers seek the help of the Dutch locals while shooting a German soldier from the living room and glimpsing the enemy fortifying the otherwise postcard-like neighbourhood. All three dimensions are most thrillingly conflated during the initial drops, showing us first a mass of bodies slowly descending through the sky, and then cutting to the viewpoint of one of the paratroopers as his breathing can be heard on the soundtrack.

And even more so than most of these big budget epics, this one has a truly bananas cast, featuring seemingly every single actor from the ‘70s. Naturally, when you have that many stars in the cast, it’s unlikely that they can all shine, but I’m a simple man and easily impressed by the sight of famous faces filling nearly every inch of the frame, getting a kick out of even the likes of John Ratzenberger and Nicholas Campbell showing up in minor roles. I will say that on average, the British actors fare better than the Americans, as many of them bring a certain wry humour to keep their characters’ spirits up as the situation goes south. It’s not a surprise that director Richard Attenborough chose to collaborate again with Anthony Hopkins the following year with Magic, as Hopkins very likely gives the best performance here.

And while there are better performances in the movie, I did like how Hardy Kruger was able to sketch out his German general as a real person without actually making him sympathetic (Kruger’s real life experience as a Hitler Youth and his staunch antifascist beliefs likely coloured his approach to the character). From the Americans, I do think James Caan and Robert Redford fare best, the former bringing some unexpected vulnerability and the latter tapping into his movie star magnetism to evoke the kind of charisma needed to lead troops into a less than optimistic situation. Pretty much the only bad performances here are by Ryan O’Neal and, shockingly, Gene Hackman. Hackman is tasked with playing a Polish general and is saddled with an awful accent. One suspects his agent was less forceful than O’Neal’s, otherwise the roles could have been swapped and we could have had a typically reliable Hackman performance and a potentially amusing one from O’Neal, who normally isn’t very good but might have provided some laughs by bungling the accent.