MovieChat Forums > The Bridge at Remagen (1969) Discussion > Not as exciting as it *could* have been

Not as exciting as it could have been

posted 16 years ago by straker-1
2 replies | jump to latest

This film could have been a lot more thrilling, if they'd actually shown some of the real-life events that happened during the Remagen Bridge Incident. The Luftwaffe, for example, mounted ceaseless attacks on the bridge with Arado Ar 234 'Blitz' jet bombers...the Blitzes were escorted by Me 262 jet fighters, which attacked US flak positions around the bridge while the 234s dropped 500 kg bombs on the structure itself. V-2 missiles were also fired at the bridge. Not a single one came close to hitting it, but the nearby impacts caused massive problems for the Americans holding the area. The jet bomber attacks also failed to collapse the bridge, but that's not the point. The point is that this battle showcased almost all of Germany's late-war secret weapons, in use for more or less the last time...and none of them were shown in the movie. Had they depicted the jet and missile attacks, the film could have had some splendid action sequences that actually reflected the futuristic reality of the combat!

[–] martinjlane2003 15 years ago

Whilst that is all very true, how exactly would they get hold of an Me262 to use given the fact that in 1969 there were none airworthy?? Only one replica exists in flying condition and that was launched about 3 years ago. Only one Ar 234 still exists and that is not airworthy either. Models of the V-2s MIGHT have worked but the planes would've looked awful. Plus the budget would've gone sky high.
Maybe these days with CGI it would work but in the late 60s films were sensibly more concenred with characterisation that flashy SFX

[–] RbSnedlap 15 years ago

About the only way they could have done the jet attacks back when this was made would be to do it as a big, complicated in-studio model shot, I doubt if it was possible to even build a convincing `sub-scale` R/C WWII jet model aircraft at that time though "The Battle of Britain" also made round about then used some R/C models of piston engined types reasonably well.

At that time film makers tried to avoid using models as much as possible anyway as the average film audience had got very good at spotting model work and tended to run down any film that used it. So since the main focus in the film is on the ground action they didnt try to include that aspect of the story.

"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan.""