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Description
An all-star castincluding George Segal, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara and E.G. Marshallbrings all the glory and agony of war to stunning life in this intense and exhilarating, but uniquely human, look at a struggle widely regarded as the most strategic coup of World War II. "Excellent special effects, spectacular photography and fine action sequences" (Motion Picture Exhibitor) put you on the front lines of the battle and with the courageous soldiers who fought it. 1945: The Allies are making their final advance into German territory, and only one strategic bridge on the Rhine River remains in Nazi hands. Both sides have much to gain: the Germans, the lives of 50,000 soldiers stationed on the wrong side of the bridge; and the Allies, a quicker end to the war with fewer lives lost. Though both armies would fight valiantly, only one could win the heart-rending battle for The Bridge at Remagen.Amazon.com
Fine casting, rugged characters, and authentic military detail make The Bridge at Remagen one of the best World War II action films of the 1960s. Based on actual incidents during the final Allied advance on Germany in March 1945, the story focuses on the U.S. Army's exhausted 27th Armored Infantry, assigned to seize the bridge at Remagen, on the Rhine River, to prevent 50,000 German troops from retreating to safety. Lieutenant Hartman (George Segal) leads the mission, while a Nazi major (Robert Vaughan) defies orders by attempting to hold the bridge instead of blowing it up. With strong emphasis on war's harsher realities, the film features compelling characters who illustrate the camaraderie of survivors and the heroism of mavericks in the thick of battle. Segal and Ben Gazzara effectively convey a hard-won friendship, and the film's dynamic action (filmed in Czechoslovakia and Italy) never overwhelms the story's emotional impact. Highly recommended. --Jeff ShannonSimilarProduct
Customer reviews
One of the great war films of the 1960's 
by .. T O'Brien (Chicago, Il United States)
The Bridge at Remagen is an excellent World War II movie based on a true story. Set in the closing days of the war, the story is about a battle for the last remaining bridge over the Rhine river. The Americans want it intact so they can cross over into the heart of Germany while the Germans want to blow it up to prevent the Allies a foothold. However, the Major placed in command of the bridge won't blow it up because there are still 50,000 German troops on the other side that will be captured if the bridge is destroyed. This is an excellent movie that shows the battle from both the American and German side. Excellent action sequences and great characters make this a must have. As well, the movie succeeds in showing the chaos on the German side as the Allied forces began to close in late in the war.
George Segal stars as(get this) Lt. Phil Hartman, the leader of the American troops trying to take the bridge intact. He plays the role perfectly as the officer who refuses to see his men massacred in a pointless attack. Ben Gazzara is great as Sergeant Angelo, the soldier who picks valuable items off of dead soldiers for his own profit. Robert Vaughan plays Major Krueger, the German major placed in command of the bridge. He does a great job as the officer trying to buy time for the trapped German divisions. Also starring Bradford Dillman, E.G. Marshall, Peter Van Eyck, and Bo Hopkins. This is an excellent war movie that doesn't shy away from showing all aspects of war. Elmer Bernstein also gives an excellent musical score that at times sounds like The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape. The DVD is a great buy with a collectible booklet, theatrical trailer, and widescreen presentation all included. Check out this great and true war tale set late in WWII!
The evolution of great war pictures. by .. (Livonia, Michigan USA)
You can see the breakings of the old style war pictures the gee golly happy to be here fighting the war types. This is a great picture you can really believe the characters in the movie are real, their all tired and weary and want the war over, and don't want to die in its last days on either side. George Segal who is known best for his comedy plays a war weary company commander and does the role justice. The basis of the movie is that the germans are trying to get whats left of their devastated army across the Rhine , and the Americans are trying to secure a crossing to get into the heart of germany and end the war. There are alot of very realistic scenes, one that impressed upon me is the german civilians with all there worldy posessions trying to get across the remagen bridge while american b-25,s are bombing it to soften it up for the advancing ground troops. For a world war two picture wide in scope and believable buy this movie.
Thoughtful, Well-Made WWII Film by .. Barron Laycock (Temple, New Hampshire United States)
Sticklers for accurate portrayals of history on screen may find elements to grumble about in this terrific fact-based yarn about the taking of a key bridge into Germany over the Rhine River in early 1945. The cast is a stellar one, with George Segal and Ben Gazzara acting as the dogface principals given the assignment, along with Robert Vaughn as a valiant German officer determined to try to hold the bridge as long as possible to help save thousands of retreating German soldiers, planning to then blow the bridge up rather than letting it fall into Allied hands. Bradford Dillman plays the morally amusical American Army commander so interested in furthering his own ambitions that he routinely and recklessly endangers the welfare and safety of his men. E.G. Marshall plays the commanding general who recognizes the strategic importance of the bridge and tries to do all he can to ensure the Allies succeed in taking it.
For those of us interested in such things, the film does take considerable pains to replicate both the look and the atmosphere of the events that transpired during the final Allied push into Germany, when the 27th Armored infantry attempted to seize and hold the bridge in order to cut off more than 50,000 retreating German troops over the Rhine where they could then regroup to prepare for the battle of Germany in the following months. The Allies knew the taking of the bridge could shorten the war by allowing rapid crossing of the Rhine by large number of Allied troops more forcefully than could be repelled by the retreating Germans. Time was of the essence.
All that said, this is an excellent dramatization of the actual events, although one is left at the end not understanding the bridge eventually collapsed only a few weeks after being taken. Yet by then it had been replaced for both tactical and strategic purposes by many more temporary structures hauled into place by the Army Corps of Engineers. The film is very well done, and provides a quite realistic, gritty and sympathetic portrayal of life as a soldier in the final frantic days, when millions of young Allied soldiers forced their way through the portals into the "Fatherland" to finally end the greatest armed struggle of the 20th century. Enjoy!
Best war film of the 1960s by .. Michael A Dorosh (Calgary, AB, CANADA)
A reviewer below rates this as a 5 but for the music; I disagree, I thought the soundtrack was absolutely appropriate for this film.
But to start from the beginning; this is a fictionalized version of the true story set out by Ken Heckler in his book of the same name. The story does manage to stick close to the established facts: in March 1945, a small group of men from the 27th Armored Infantry, part of 9th Armored Division, managed to seize by fluke the last standing bridge over the River Rhine. This movie focusses on the fighting leading up to the bridge seizure, the initial German counter-attacks, and the aftermath for the German commanders on the scene.
The film does a wonderful job of exploring both sides of the issue; the main US characters are the battalion commander, a weary company commander played by Segal in a very good performance, one of his sergeants played by Ben Gazzara, and a trio of German field-grade officers charged with defending the bridge, against the wishes of the supreme command who wants the bridge destroyed. There are other minor characters sprinkled throughout the story as well.
Technically, everything on the screen is vintage World War Two with very, very minor exceptions as far as uniforms go, that are so minor as to not be worth telling. The real battle saw a somewhat different mix of equipment - M26 Pershing tanks, for example, rather than the M24s shown on screen - but again, what was actually on hand is photographed very effectively and realistically.
The pace of the movie is brisk, the dialogue is gritty and realistic without being offensive to sensitive ears; the single use of the "f" word is notably toned down on the audio track and is only mouthed by Gazzara. This does not detract from the realism either, but does make the movie appropriate for family viewing, or would do if not for the obligatory bare breast scene, though this is very brief and should not deter most parents.
Every scene in the movie builds character and there is no phony use of jargon or situations solely for their own sake. There are only two extraneous scenes; the scene mentioned above with a female refugee, and a highly unlikely assault on a river barge.
The film leaves the viewer with many questions about duty and war, and is an excellent tool for discussion of these themes. There are no heroics in the film, though almost all of the characters on both sides display their own forms of bravery and devotion to duty.
All in all, this film captures very well the "feel" of the closing days of the war - the weariness of the Allies and the desperation of the Germans.
Music is typical 1960s fare but well suited, with a strong German-sounding march that effectively announces the 'bad guys'.
As outstanding as Segal is Robert Vaughn, with a nice aristocratic German officers' accent, but none of the other usual stereotypical trappings - monocle, fake arm, etc.
Quite possibly one of the best - and least well known - WW II movies ever filmed.
Exceptional cast, excellent plot by .. (Austin, TX United States)
Unlike most WW2 movies, this movie gave exceptional portrays of personalities of the characters. This movie is also very well-balanced on both the US and the German sides.
Captain Hartman, Major Kreuger and Captain Schmidt were very well portrayed as heroic and intelligent officers; during combat, they stood at the front with their men; they cared about their responsibilities and the needs of their men instead of their careers.
Captain Barnes and the nazi SS general were also well-portrayed as career-minded officers, who are yes-men to their superiors, they always avoided combat, they cared nothing about their subordinates, but only focused on blaming and demanding them instead.
This movies have done a great job in telling the tensions and politics amongst the ranks in an army (both the US and German), and the emotional aspects during a war as well, e.g. the short story of the war-torn French girl, the story inside the apartment of Mr Holzgang, Captain Hartman lost nearly all his comrades, Jeligo shot a young fanatical nazi boy, great courages of soldiers on both sides in dangerous missions.
Perhaps the most exceptional feature of this movie is that, it brought to the stage the untold humanistic stories of the war-weary German civilians and soldiers, e.g. helpless civilians under air bombardment, purges on officers by the nazi, boys and old men being deployed for city defense, trains of wounded soldiers waiting for crossing the bridge before it was demolished, exhausted soldiers trying to desert etc,
This is one of the very few movies that truly tell WW2 stories and battles.