George Segal lifts this "war is hell" saga out of the ordinary with a suitably world-weary performance as a die-hard platoon leader who's trying to reach the bridge of the title before the Germans can destroy it. Filming in Czechoslovakia and interrupted by the actual Russian invasion, big-budget director John Guillermin was clearly trying something different here by adding sober measures of cynical disenchantment to the conventional Second World War melodramatic mix. Epic explosions and razzle-dazzle camerawork ultimately win out over such grandiose "thinking action man" ideas, however. An A for effort, though.

In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.