A Bridge Too Far

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. Fourteen Oscar-winners were involved in the making of A Bridge Too Far. Seven of those winners were actors. None of these winners won an Academy Award for this picture. So I guess you could also say, 14 Oscar-losers were involved in the making of A Bridge Too Far.
2. A Bridge to Far originally received an "R" rating by the MPAA, the body responsible for rating films in the United States. The filmmakers were successful in their appeal to the baffling organization and the film's rating was lowered to "PG."
3. By the time filming on A Bridge Too Far was over, they had 2.7 million feet of film. If laid out end to end, that amount of film could stretch to the moon. Ok not really, but it's still a lot.
4. Critics jumped on the filmmakers for casting 36 year old Ryan O'Neil to play Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin because they felt he was way too young. They probably should have done their research - Gavin was promoted to Major General when he was 37, and holds the honor of being the youngest man to ever be a Major General. Way to fact-check yourselves, critics.
5. Steve McQueen dropped out of A Bridge Too Far because of financial issues - the filmmakers would not meet his salary demands. I guess Sean Connery is pretty cheap then, because they managed to get him. Good to know... I wonder if I could rent him for a day.
6. Actress Audrey Hepburn was originally cast in A Bridge Too Far but was dropped when she asked for too much money. She probably was trying to just cover all those breakfasts at Tiffany's.
7. The real Col. John Frost was on set to help the actors portray the characters accurately. This ended up being bad for Anthony Hopkins, who was playing Frost in the film. Hopkins was yelled at by real-life Frost for running between houses during the battle for Arnhem just because he was being shot at. Frost said that a British officer would have held his head high and walked calmly as a snub to the enemy to tell them he wasn't frightened. Apparently Hopkins tried his hardest to stay calm, but the second the shooting started, he couldn't help but run. That's pretty understandable.
8. Col. John Frost wasn't the only real person from the actual battle on set - he was joined as a consultant by his former war-buddies Brian Horrocks, James M. Gavin, R.E. Urquhart, James M. Gavin, and J.O.E. Vandeleur. I wonder if it's helpful or just plain intimidating to act when the person you're portraying is standing right next to the camera...
9. The real Gen. R.E. Urquhart's daughters were elated when they found out that 007 himself, Sean Connery, was going to be playing their father. Urquhart had never seen any of the Bond films and didn't know who Sean Connery was, so he was considerably less enthused.
10. Richard Attenborough was basically bribed into directing A Bridge Too Far. He wanted to make Gandhi so badly he agreed to direct a war movie in exchange for funding for a movie about a pacifist.

Cast

Crew