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In Reply to: You can't be serious... posted by klaus on January 03, 2004 at 10:07:52:
which is unusual for Hollywood in itself. It's a movie about an Allied defeat, which is even more unusual.
And its more historically accurate than most war movies. The only real problem with the movie, as I see it, is the same as always--actors who play regular soldiers are about 20 years too old to be regular soldiers.
And the Irish Guards are using the correct Shermans with the 17-pounder cannon.
Follow Ups:
As I recall, it was the German vehicles that looked wrong in "Bridge". An excellent war flick. Yes, the fact that it was about an Allied defeat was most unusual and the film was more dramatic for it."Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" had the most accurate vehicles and equipment I've ever seen in a WWII movie.
But "Kelly's Heroes" with it's short-body Tiger tank sequence at the end was the most enjoyable.
its actually a good war movie. The German armoured cars didn't look right, but at least the Allied tanks were correct.
I think the big problem folks have with Bridge is that it's hard to follow if you don't already know about Operation Market-Garden, and, since it was a Allied defeat, most people never heard of it.
Worst war movie for accuracy is the ridiculous The Battle of the Bulge . The climactic tank battle was filmed on plain in Spain (sorry about that) because the director wanted as much of action as possible visible to the viewers. Never mind that the battle was fought in the dead of winter, in the Ardennes Forest.
The names of the towns were changed, the names of the generals were changed, the objective of the offensive was changed. The actors who played the Germans (with the exception of the always excellent Robert Shaw) had excrutiatingly bad accents...another Hollywood mess.
Defeat? Montgomery didn't secure the objective at Arnhem. It's a failure, not defeat. I'm not sure that the very word 'defeat' or 'debacle' can be applicable for a minor tactical operation like Market Garden - with the enemy unable to reverse tables. Dunkirk in 1940 - that was a defeat, and a success for the British as well.
The Allies shifted all of their dwindling fuel resources to Market-Garden and all they ended up with was useless salient that had to be defended trench-warfare style.
The US First Army was then directed to support Monty's right flank. This led to the disastrous engagments in the Huertgen Forest and stalemate on the western front.
The breathing spell gave the Germans the space they needed to execute the Ardennes Offensive.
Market-Garden was no "minor tactical operation," either. It involved the entire Allied Airborne Army, and the British 30 Corps. It was a bold, if poorly thought-out, plan to turn the Siegfried Line and end the war in the fall of 1944.
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