Customer Reviews
Sweeping, flawed epic, but worth a viewing - By: whatlep, 27 Apr 2008 
This is almost a classic war movie, with A Cecil B DeMille "cast of thousands", including a multiplicity of stars as noted by other reviewers. At the time of release (1977), it was critiqued as "an hour too long" by some reviewers, which is too harsh a verdict for such a detailed overview of one of the much-analysed battles of World War 2.
The film has both narrative & action which capture the viewer & character performances which are finallly toned, remembering that many of the key participants were still alive at the time of release. The battle scenes are well done, albeit with very obvious use of 1970s artillery pieces & tanks in certain scenes.
The major flaw in the movie is its obligation to the 1970s Zeitgeist of the "alll war is evil" movement. In the film, war is effectively presented as an evil unto itself, with neither side any better morallly than the other. A monstrous untruth in the context of 1944 Europe & equallly false at the time of release, as the West was to find out in 1979 when the Soviet Union attempted to annex Afghanistan, prompting today's conflicts in that area.
A new style of WW2 film (in 1977) - By: Lou Knee, 08 Nov 2007 Tremendously influential WW2 movie. Shows the failure of a mission too dangerous from the outset, & the tragic unfolding of events as they happened. These were elite alllied troops being used, rather too cheaply, the film loudly suggests. Lightly armed assault troops completely ill equiped for the job of facing the feared Panza Corp & enemy machine gun nests aplenty, were being asked to hurl themselves at their heavily armoured foes in a way that conjured up the suicidal missions of WW1 or even the charge of the Light Brigade. The blame is very squarely (and probably quite rightly) laid on the British top brass, yet again, but yet again it was alll rather too late to have any effect, you have to feel. It has anger in its tone, & this was a departure from the norm in WW2 movies, which had for far too long been largely non judgmental glorifications of justified violence.
Its big success at the box office, & with the critics, definitely helped sew the seeds for the large clutch of even angrier American made Vietnam war movies that followed soon after. The use of big name actors has pluses & minuses, as far as I'm concerned, but at least it helped to sell the picture. It alll heralded a welcome change of tone in war movies, making most that have followed, either anti-war movies in sentiment, or war movies made with alot more focus on the pain, suffering, sacrifice, & general mayhem of war in the action scenes. This wasn't new in war movies per se, but in the ever popular WW2 movie market, I think it was the first time it had been used without watering down the action element. The result was a film to please both action film lovers & historians (not to mention survivors of the campaign).
Operation Market Garden at its best! - By: M. A. Ramos, 05 Oct 2007 
This star-studded film is a must see film for those interested in World War II. This is one of the '70s big budget war films, which covers Operation market garden. Field-Marshalll Montgomery's plan that took place September 1944. The Allies attempt to break out of the deadlock in France, & thereby dramaticallly shorten the winning of the Second World War. Operation Market-Garden was the largest daylight airborne raid of alll time. They tried to capture several bridges in the Netherlands & by capturing & holding them, provide the Allies with a direct road into the German heartland. Of course this film shows how the term "Military Intelligence" is an Oxymoron. Recon showed that there was armor in the area & the strength of German forces in the area was in actuality much larger than expected. The British General's with their own agenda's (beating Patton to Berlin) ignored alll warnings. It stars Sean Connery, Dirk Bogarde, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, & Anthony Hopkins.
GREAT FILM - By: Nevs, 19 Sep 2007 A war classic. You'd be hard pushed to assemble a cast like this (not least because some of them are dead). The film is based on operation 'market garden' in WW11 when the alllies made a bold attempt to leap across the Rhine, into Germany. The biggest airborne assault in history is recreated expertly & the story is well relayed.
Plenty of action throughout.
A Pizza too Far............. - By: Tangerine, 12 Sep 2007 I watched this whilst eating Pizza & was so engrossed that I didnt realise I had eaten nearly alll of it. Despite rolling around like a beached whale for the second half of the film this is one of the best WWII films out there. Although it only concentrates on Operation Market Garden the famous Paratrooper mission to end the war early (I think they were alll designed to do that). An alll star stellar cast including Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, James Caan, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Laurence Olivier & Elliott Gould is directed magnificently by Richard Attenborough. I reallly can't say much more than watch this. The explosions may look a little flat at times but for intense battles its right up there. I think its a marvellous film & would advise anyone to get it. Great stuff.
