The Bridge on the River Kwai | William Holden, Jack Hawkins

The Bridge on the River Kwai | William Holden, Jack Hawkins | Indelible Imagery, Sights and Sounds

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The Bridge on the ...

	The Bridge on the River Kwai William Holden, Jack Hawkins Sony Pictures, 2000 average customer review:based on 165 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"Be Happy in your Work"

This is one of those movies worth re-watching. All the things you expect from the British when they are captured by the Japanese and forced to build a bridge.

This movie was shot in Sri Lanka as it best fit the story. However the real river was not the Kwai. That just happened to be a better name for the river. And the real bridge was not wooden.

My favorite character was William Holden as Shears, The only pragmatic charter in the movie. Shears did not have to keep a stiff upper lip or save face or any of that sort of stuff. Where as Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson and Sessue Hayakawa as Colonel Saito, had to go face to face with each other's interpretation of honor.

This is best depicted in one statement from Shears:

"You make me sick with your heroics. There's a stench of death about you. You carry it in your pack like the plague. Explosives and L-pills -- they go well together, don't they? And with you it's just one thing or the other: destroy a bridge or destroy yourself. This is just a game, this war! You and Colonel Nicholson, you're two of a kind, crazy with courage. For what? How to die like a gentleman... how to die by the rules... when the only important thing is how to live like a human being."

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Indelible Imagery, Sights and Sounds

William Holden may be the star of the film but Alec Guinness leaves an indelible image as British Colonel Nicholson. William Holden's character and predicament almost seem secondary to the central plot. The true substance of the story lies in the conflict between Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa as Japanese Colonel Saito and the morality of British soldiers building a bridge for the enemy to the best of their abilities. The bridge is central to the plot and it takes on symbolic meaning as both a monument to British ingenuity and the inept weakness of their Japanese captors. Malcolm Arnold's score is most memorable for his use of Kenneth Alford's "Colonel Bogey March." This full is full of indelible sights and sounds. The unique look of the bridge structure over the River Kwai, the "Colonel Bogey March" and the scene where Alec Guinness falls on the plunger of the detonator box rigged to blow up the bridge have lived with me ever since I saw this film as a kid. That was a longtime ago, a time well remembered that only exists in my memory now.

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Memorable

This is the classic based-on-real-life war movie. The cinematography is stunning providing many scenes that will live in your memory and continue to thrill you long after the movie is over. The acting is superb, especially Alec Guiness as the commander torn between individual honor and inhibiting the efforts of the enemy. It is, hands down, one of the most memorable war movies of all time and will be a favorite for sometime to come.

Tour de Force for William Holden

This is movie is an excellent WWII prisoner of war film. I was enamored immediately and for the entire length of this film. William Holden is perfect as an American POW caught in the middle between a mission dreamed up by his British companions and desire to sit the war out. Director David Lean is the master.

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Unforgettable Imagery, Sights and Sounds

William Holden may be the star of the film but Alec Guinness leaves an indelible image as the inimitable British Colonel Nicholson and Sessue Hayakawa as the powerfully weak Colonel Saito. William Holden's character and predicament almost seem secondary to the central plot. The true substance of the story lies in the conflict and irony between Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa and the morality of British soldiers building a bridge for the enemy to the best of their abilities. The bridge is central to the plot and it takes on symbolic meaning as both a monument to British ingenuity and the inept weakness of their Japanese captors. Malcolm Arnold's score is most memorable for his use of Kenneth Alford's "Colonel Bogey March." This full is full of indelible sights and sounds. The unique look of the bridge structure over the River Kwai, the "Colonel Bogey March" and the scene where Alec Guinness falls on the plunger of the detonator box rigged to blow up the bridge have lived with me ever since I saw this film as a kid. That was a longtime ago, a time well remembered that only exists in my memory now. Adapted from Pierre Boulle's novel the screenplay (credited to Boulle) was written by the blacklisted Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, who received their Academy Awards, posthumously, in 1985.

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