Unlike it The Longest Day or Midway or Patton and MacArthur, The Bridge At
Remagen will not give you any insights into the high command decisions involving the bridge left standing. The closest you will see to a general on the
American side is E.G. Marshall and he's using an alias for a character based on
J. Lawton Collins.
No this is about the GIs and the Wehrmacht soldiers who slugged it out on the ground. The bridge was the only one left standing on the Rhine an oversight because Hitler ordered them all to be blown.
But some on the scene wanted it left open so that several thousand German troops needed to defend The Fatherland could not be trapped in France. Then the Americans seeing it still not blown because of bad explosives used then wanted to capture it intact. The seesaw priorities provide a lot of drama.
Robert Vaughn plays the German major left in command of the 'troops' that are ill equipped and understaffed for their mission. The saddest sight to see is a Hitler youth firing on and killing a GI from a hotel window. Of course the squad led by Lt. George Segal finds and kills him. It was truly heartbreaking.
Segal and his men are those actually on the bridge trying to take and hold it and the battle scenes are intense. He's ably assisted by Segeant Ben Gazzara. He's also supervised by an officious major whom the audience I guaranteed wanted to punch out and he's played by Bradford Dillman.
For the story the GI story of our first troops into Nazi Germany, despite historical errors you can't go wrong with The Bridge At Remagen.
No this is about the GIs and the Wehrmacht soldiers who slugged it out on the ground. The bridge was the only one left standing on the Rhine an oversight because Hitler ordered them all to be blown.
But some on the scene wanted it left open so that several thousand German troops needed to defend The Fatherland could not be trapped in France. Then the Americans seeing it still not blown because of bad explosives used then wanted to capture it intact. The seesaw priorities provide a lot of drama.
Robert Vaughn plays the German major left in command of the 'troops' that are ill equipped and understaffed for their mission. The saddest sight to see is a Hitler youth firing on and killing a GI from a hotel window. Of course the squad led by Lt. George Segal finds and kills him. It was truly heartbreaking.
Segal and his men are those actually on the bridge trying to take and hold it and the battle scenes are intense. He's ably assisted by Segeant Ben Gazzara. He's also supervised by an officious major whom the audience I guaranteed wanted to punch out and he's played by Bradford Dillman.
For the story the GI story of our first troops into Nazi Germany, despite historical errors you can't go wrong with The Bridge At Remagen.