Has no one else found it highly peculiar that damn near everybody's choice for the best movie of (let's say) the decade should be dedicated, inferentially but absolutely, to the proposition that Courage is Madness and Cowardice is Best?
The Bridge on the River Kwai
It spans a whole new world of entertainment!
1957 · 2h 41m · PG
Drama, History, War
Directed by
David Lean
Overview
The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
Director and cast
- David Lean Director
- William Holden as Cmdr. Shears
- Alec Guinness as Col. Nicholson
- Jack Hawkins as Maj. Warden
- Sessue Hayakawa as Col. Saito
- James Donald as Maj. Clipton
- Geoffrey Horne as Lt. Joyce
- André Morell as Col. Green
- Peter Williams as Capt. Reeves
- John Boxer as Major Hughes
- Percy Herbert as Grogan
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Part of the success of The Bridge is that its courageous hero is shown from all angles, in all kinds of mirrors. He is strong, stubborn, fallible, maniacal, silly, and wise; and in the end he is pathetic, noble, and foolish.
From sky to ground in two shots, and it already feels like we've traversed a great distance, with two and a half hours of skillful, suspenseful WWII adventure to go.
A gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments.
For what it is, it ain't bad, though it serves mainly as an illustration of the ancient quandary of revisionist moviemakers: if all you do is systematically invert cliches, you simply end up creating new ones.
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