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7
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10
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Ja,
ja — I know... Another review of a film that
isn't really a cult movie, right? Besides genre
flicks, military history (especially the European
Theater in World War II) has been my abiding passion/hobby
for decades now. I enjoy a well-crafted war film
as much as any other form of cinema; 1969's The
Bridge At Remagen fits that bill handily.
It's a prime example of how the Vietnam experience
inexorably led to a more cynical, realistic outlook
in American war movies regardless of their historical
setting. The "rah rah" cheerleading
of Patriotic Correctness just wouldn't cut it
anymore. Better, more honest filmmaking was often
the result.
This
particular film, ably directed by John Guillermin
(The Blue Max, The
Towering Inferno) concerns a key battle
on the Western Front in March 1945. World War
II in Europe is drawing rapidly to a close as
Nazi Germany disintegrates. In the east, Soviet
tank armies are smashing the last organized units
of the Wehrmacht on the approaches to Berlin;
in the west the Allies under Eisenhower have advanced
their broad front to the final barrier shielding
the heart of the Reich, the Rhine River. The Germans
have demolished every crossing over the Rhine
save one: the Ludendorff railway bridge at Remagen,
a picturesque town located between Bonn and Koblenz.
Despite Hitler's order that all bridges be destroyed
the local commander is keen to leave it standing
until the last possible moment — the shattered
remnants of the German 15th Army are in full retreat
towards the bridge and will be hopelessly trapped
on the west bank the moment it's blown. Hoping
to save as many men as possible, General von Brock
(Peter Van Eyck) calls in a reliable officer of
a similar mind to take command at Remagen. The
experienced Major Krueger (Robert Vaughn - Teenage
Caveman (1958), The Man From UNCLE)
is hastily dispatched to assess the situation
and prepare defenses.
Meanwhile,
the U.S. 9th Army is rapidly approaching the Rhine.
At the tip of the spearhead is Company A, 27th
Mech Infantry, a hard-luck outfit driven mercilessly
onwards by battalion commander Major Barnes (Piranha's
Bradford Dillman), an obsequious glory hound who
lets his men do the dying while he earns brownie
points with his superiors back at HQ. The company
has been in combat and on the move without pause
for weeks and the troops are nearing the limits
of endurance. Exhausted, their morale flagging,
the men are again called upon to make a sprint
towards Meckenheim and the Rhine not far beyond.
Carelessness results in the death of the company
commander in an ambush, so platoon leader Lt.
Hartman (George Segal) is tapped to take his place.
As is succinctly put in the theatrical trailer,
Hartman "has the guts for war but not the stomach
for it." Embittered by Barnes' cavalier treatment
of the company, he's the one left to deal with
the rising tensions among the men. Naturally,
the soldiers are angry and fearful at the prospect
of being killed with the war so close to being
over. Hartman must motivate and hold them together
as they make a near-suicidal bid to capture the
Remagen bridge before the Germans can destroy
it.
Telling
the story of real-life events through fictionalized
characters, The
Bridge At Remagen
does a commendable job where similar attempts
have failed miserably. (1965's appallingly bad
Battle Of The Bulge
being the prime example.) The film provides a
generally accurate overview and depiction of the
Remagen battle without wallowing in details that
would go over the head of the average viewer,
one not well-versed in World War II history. The
Czech and Italian locations used for the film
(see below) lend marvelous authenticity. Aside
from the American tanks —
where are the Shermans? — great
attention to detail and realism is evident in
the accuracy of weapons and equipment, particularly
on the German side. (Real WWII German half-tracks
are shown; we get to see panzerfausts and 88mm
flak guns in action.) The battle scenes are well-choreographed
without any reliance on "Rambo moments"; though
not a bloody film, war is depicted as a grim and
dirty business, not an adventure. Real buildings,
as opposed to models, are spectacularly demolished
to simulate artillery/air strikes on the town.
(The only combat scene that rings false is the
sequence in which a company of American tanks
line up smartly atop
a ridge, as if in
a parking lot, to duke it out with a battery of
German 88s on the opposite side of the river.
No tanker who wanted to live past the next minute
would do such a thing —
an 88 shell could slice through frontal tank armor
like butter at very long ranges.) The film is
also notable in that it shows the plight of German
civilians, refugees caught in the crossfire of
the opposing armies.
Refreshingly, nearly equal
time is given to both sides. The Germans aren't
all portrayed as ruthless Nazis nor are the Americans
righteous paladins of democracy on a crusade to
liberate Europe. Heroism, cowardice, pettiness
and empathy are seen in those wearing field gray
as well as olive drab. None of the main characters
are sketched in black and white terms. Segal,
typically known as a leading man in light comedic
fare, effectively conveys the war-weary American
officer who truly cares about his men but is not
necessarily beloved by them; Ben Gazzara is very
good as the corpse-robbing Sgt. "Angel"
Angelo, a seemingly callous G.I. who isn't quite
the in-it-for-himself mercenary the disgusted
Hartman thinks he is. But it's Robert Vaughn,
the only American actor cast as a German in the
film, who's the real standout here. He has one
of the best roles of his career as Krueger, with
a particularly powerful final scene.
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| Presented
in 2:35:1 widescreen, the MGM DVD is an excellent
buy at a bargain price. There's a bit of speckling
and sporadic, minor print damage here and there
but nothing that detracts from the film. The mono
audio track is surprisingly strong, with exceptionally
low frequency rumblings from the tanks. The bare-bones
disc features only the theatrical trailer as an
extra but a brief liner notes booklet provides some
intriguing factoids about the production. (Filming
in Czechoslovakia was shut down by the 1968 Soviet
invasion; the producers then had to engage in a
mad five-week scramble to find alternate locations
in Italy and transfer the entire production there
to complete the shoot. Looking at the seamless finished
product one wouldn't have the slightest inkling
that such a chaotic disruption took place.) As all
the main participants — Segal, Vaughn, Gazzara,
Dillman — are still living, I feel the opportunity
for a potentially fascinating commentary track was
squandered.
7/15/03 |
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