MovieChat Forums > A Bridge Too Far (1977) Discussion > It took 14 superstars....

It took 14 superstars....

posted 12 years ago by Blakefield
20 replies | jump to latest

I remember when this was advertised in our local paper... "It took fourteen superstars and a cast of thousands to make this once in a lifetime film"...

At that time I was ten or eleven, and living in a country with only one TV channel in most parts.

Access to the Cinema wasn't easy, so usually had to watch what was shown on the box and therefore John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark etc. were household names (in our house anyway)

So when I read the article in the paper, the only "Superstar" I recognized was Robert Redford (I had recently seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

I went to see it in the cinema anyway and ten years later when I rented the video, it was great to be able to recognize the other 13 "superstars" that I had seen since in other movies.

Just thought I'd share that with some of you...

[–] xenopharb 11 years ago

Robert Redford got a big paycheck for his limited time on screen.

Steve McQueen turned down the role, so they brought in Redford to provide a well know American face and name.

[–] Blakefield 11 years ago

Well it worked, because he was the only one I recognized...

But I can't help wondering if Hackman and Caan were also well known at that time to most people.

I mean, after all "The French Connection", and "The Godfather" were huge when they came out (at least I'm guessing they were)

So why did they feel the need to have Redford and give him so much? I would have thought his popularity would have been dwindling at that time of the 70's.

I was in Ireland back then and was only ten or eleven, so I'm not familiar with who would have been on the front covers of the big magazines.

I'm also wondering was Redford's part really good enough to justify the big cheque. I reckon the guy from "Cheers" could have done Redford's part, seeing as he was in the locality at the time...

All the best.

[–] Ironman54 11 years ago

And don't forget '007' ... "Bond, James Bond".

[–] DD-931 11 years ago

How did you not know who Sean Connery was, OP?

[–] Blakefield 11 years ago

Hi DD-931

Back then Roger Moore was the current James Bond. His name I would have known. I remember seeing cinemas advertising The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first time I heard of James Bond. I didnt know then about the Sean Connery connection.

I first saw the Great Escape on TV around 1976, the only actors I knew then were Garner, Attenborough, McCallum and Jackson.

As I said earlier, it was a single station area where I lived at the time. The second TV channel arrived around '79.

Sheltered life............

[–] DD-931 11 years ago

So you knew Jim Garner from the Rockford Files? How did you know who Attenborough, McCallum and Jackson were?

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to get my head around this.

[–] Blakefield 11 years ago

I understand.

Gordon Jackson used to be in "Upstairs Downstairs", Attenborough in plenty of movies on TV, Brighton Rock, Morning Departure etc, and McCallum was in The Invisible Man series (or something like that)

[–] Hotrodder 11 years ago

David McCallum was probably best known for The Man From Uncle at the time, playing Ilya Kuryakin.

Trust me. I know what I'm doing.

[–] DD-931 11 years ago

Glad you brought that up, Hotrodder. Man From U.N.C.L.E., one of my all-time favorites. Loved Robert Vaughn, loved David McCallum, loved Leo G. Carroll. An all-American show...and two out of the three stars were British. Not to mention the role Ian Fleming played in creating that series.

[–] Buddy-Love63 10 years ago

Back then Roger Moore was the current James Bond. His name I would have known.

Sean Connery as James Bond was all over British t.v since Dr No was first shown on British t.v in October 1975.

The next three Bond movies, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball and (all Connery) made their t.v debuts in Britain in 1976/77.....leading up to The Spy Whole Loved Me being released at the cinema in summer 1977.

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_bond_on_tv.php3

I don't know how anyone in Britain of the right age and gender couldn't know who Connery was. T.V has as much, if not more, of an impact than the cinema. But....you are living proof that it's a strange world hehe.

[–] Blakefield 10 years ago

I'm Irish Buddy, not British, and as I said previously, back then, there was only one Irish TV channel.

Some parts of the country like Dublin and some Northern counties could get BBC channels, but not where I lived.

Take care.

[–] Buddy-Love63 10 years ago

Ok fair enough I must have overlooked that in all the replies. Cheers. That explains it.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] jh66 11 years ago

Many of the 14 were very well known at the time, or they wouldn't have been cast? As a kid watching this in the cinema in '77, I knew Connery, Caine, Redford and had seen most of the rest before.

Redford commanded so much money because of the strength of films like 'The Sting' (1973) and 'Three days of the Condor' (1975) before this film.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] lkpp 10 years ago

Don`t think any of them died in the film.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Blakefield 10 years ago

Hey I think you're right there Ikpp. I never realised that before.

[–] Paul J 10 years ago

I'm about a year late to this party but here's my 2 cents. Of the 14 "superstars", at this point in my movie-loving life I've heard of all of them. As a teenager in 1977 I would have been familiar with Caan, Caine, Connery, Gould, Hackman, Olivier, O'Neal, and Redford. Hopkins didn't get famous in the US until long after this and the others don't qualify as superstars.

[–] Blakefield 9 years ago

Welcome to the party Paul.

I think it all depends what country you're from. Dirk Bogarde would have been a big name in England at that time. Not sure if he would have been well known outside.
Edward Fox had done Day of the Jackal and I'm sure plenty of TV work.

It's only when I look back now and see that they were all pretty well known