The Bridge at Remagen (1969)

Director: John Guillermin

Starring: George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara, Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Peter van Eyck, Bo Hopkins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Thus ended the last great German stand in the West.

Plot: In the last days of World War II, the Allied Army desperatly searched for a bridgehead across the impenetrable Rhein River, in order to launch a major assault into the center of Germany. "Bridge at Remagen" tells the true story of the battle for this last bridgehead, from both the German and American perspective.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.


I love these big 1960s/early 70s WWII pictures. It's one genre Hollywood often did right. I'm not talking about historical accuracy but in terms of sheer spectacle, most of them are great fun. The first time I saw this one George Segal's performance bugged me a little. Maybe it was because he was so cynical and anti-war that it seemed to smack of the Vietnam war. That's probably true but now that I've seen it again, I like him more this time out.


The performance I still don't care for is Robert Vaughn's. He seems to play the same type over and over. Is he limited as an actor? Beats me. I haven't seen an awful lot of his pictures but he does seem to be.


What I really dug in this film were the battle scenes. They're as huge as can be considering the location. There's lots of tanks and shit blowing up! And the explosions! OH, BOY, are they beautiful!


BRIDGE is action-packed from start to finish and that's the real selling point. I would rather see someone else in the Vaughan role (like Curd Jurgens) but it's not that big of a deal. It would be so much fun seeing flicks like this on the big screen as they were intended.