The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – Encore Review 5

“I can think of a lot of things to call Saito, but “reasonable”… that’s a new one. ” – Commander Shears

Number of Times Seen – Too many to count (on video, DVD, 21 May 2013, 19 Feb 2016, 29 Mar 2017, 8 Jan 2019, 26 Jan 2020 and 13 Jul 2021)

Link to original review – Here, Here, Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – After escaping from a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, an American Naval Officer is recruited in order to go back and destroy a key bridge on the Rangoon Railroad.

My Take on it – Such an amazing film that I can watch over and over.

The story is et up so well and they find so many fascinating ways to keep things so engaging throughout the almost 3 hour runtime.

David Lean creates such a masterpiece here with this film and there is a reason it has stood the test of time and even after almost 65 years, it still stays so enthralling to watch.

The multi faceted story line is played out spectacularly and the various characters in different situations all have ample screen time which shows how essential each part of this puzzle is to the whole picture.

The cast is superb with Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and William Holden all giving spectacular performances which help make their characters come to life before us.

Sessue Hayakawa is also amazing to watch here as the sadistic prison camp commander who will do what ever it takes to get his will done.

This film’s story is a battle of wills between the four main characters because they each have a similar objective yet each and every one of them has a different idea of how they should get there.

The dialogue is exquisite and helps develop these characters and their situations on such a deeper level that it stays so poignant throughout.

The film takes this kind of story to some very realistic places and despite it not being a happy-go-lucky storyline they still manage to keep the suspense high throughout because of the way that anything can happen along the way.

As I’m now tackling my first Movie BY Minute Podcast on The Great Escape (1963), my dream is to be able to one day also cover this film… (hope, hope, hope).

This movie won a whopping 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Director (for Lean) and Actor (for Guinness).

I watched this 24 hours ago and I’m still on a high from watching it, so I can’t wait to see it again soon!

Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Director Sir David Lean initially wanted Nicholson’s soldiers to enter the camp while singing “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball”, a popular (during World War II) parody version of the “Colonel Bogey March” poking fun at Adolf Hitler and various other Nazi leaders. Sam Spiegel told him it was too vulgar, and the whistling-only version was used instead. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)