The Bridge on the River Kwai

After years of more intimate British films and just discovering the joys of location shooting with 1955's "Summertime", master director David Lean made his first actual widescreen epic with 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai", an acknowledged classic that deserves... Full review

This film is long (161 minutes), is almost 40 years old, and yet still is terrific, still holds up and will forever, I suspect, be considered one of the greatest war movies ever made.'Kwai' is particularly amazing in that there... Full review

About as Oscar-worthy as any film made in the '50s is David Lean's gripping BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. Based loosely on a real-life incident, it tells the story of an imprisoned British officer (Alec Guinness) who loses sight of... Full review

Without belittling `Kwai,' it does seem, looking backwards at David Lean's career, to be a dress rehearsal for the more operatic, tightly controlled (and better written) `Lawrence of Arabia.' Alec Guiness's passionate, detailed performance as Colonel Nicholson, above all other... Full review

I am normally an admirer of David Lean. But it is difficult to understand why he chose to base this film on a real event at the River Kwai, as it grossly misrepresents the real "Colonel Nicholson" and caused considerable... Full review

Within the Conflict that was World War II, there were many more smaller, more personal conflicts which, when added up, made a significant impact on the outcome of the War; though trying to explain them, or war in general, is... Full review

David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" like Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion" is an anti-heroic war film, set in a prisoner of war camp environment... But there, the point of resemblance came to an end... "The Bridge on the... Full review

I heard a film critic once say that there really aren't "war movies"; there are only "anti-war" movies. I'm still not sure what I think of that claim, but having seen - The Bridge on the River Kwai- enough times... Full review

Of all war movies this is the one with the best idea behind it. Think how easy it is to make a bad war movie. A group of people must blow up a bridge, and this is the story of... Full review

I recently saw The Bridge on the River Kwai at the Cinerama Dome, and it was quite spectacular. Unlike some of today's grand adventure films, you get to know the characters along with seeing great scenes of acting and cinematography.... Full review

The Bridge On the River Kwai, flawed or not, remains a genuinely great film, one of the best war films and one of the best character films ever made. David Lean, king of the epics, coughed up the first of his bona fide classic latter day epic films in 1957 with the grand-scale The Bridge On the River Kwai. ... Full Review

David Lean once again proves his firm command of epic tales, directing The Bridge on the River Kwai with a vision of extreme clarity and real feeling for the titanic psychological struggles. This really is a totally excellent and gripping movie, important but never preachy. ... Full Review

Most of The Bridge on the River Kwai uses medium tracking shots and a number of close-ups, but the camera does some outstanding long tracking shots. The fact that I remember any of The Bridge on the River Kwai from my first viewing (at age 9) is remarkable in itself. ... Full Review

(A) The Counterfeiters is in its own smart, trim fashion The Bridge on the River Kwai of concentration-camp sagas. Also based (like Kwai) on a real-life story, this movie starts small but becomes a miniature epic of overreach and moral drift. ... Full Review

Although David Lean (1908-1991) won his reputation and perhaps even his knighthood on the basis of the epic films he directed, starting with ``The Bridge on the River Kwai'' in 1957, there's a contrarian argument that his best work was done before the Oscars started to pile up. ... Full Review

(A) The Counterfeiters is in its own smart, trim fashion The Bridge on the River Kwai of concentration-camp sagas. Also based (like Kwai) on a real-life story, this movie starts small but becomes a miniature epic of overreach and moral... ... Full Article

Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI might be one of the finest war films of all time. ... Full Article

When Saito manages to give in while also saving face, Nicholson and his officers take over the management of the bridge construction -- if the British soldiers are to be forced to build a bridge, they're gonna show up the... ... Full Article

The true story of the superhuman efforts of Allied POWs, who amid inhuman conditions must build a bridge to aid the Japanese war effort - but what comes first, the bridge or Allied interests? ... Full Article