The read
Critics rate it 20 points higher than audiences do.
Synopsis
A group of German boys are ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge. The film is based on a West German anti-war novel of the same name, written by Gregor Dorfmeister.
Ratings
IMDb8/10
Rotten Tomatoes100%
Critics rate it 20 points higher than audiences do.
204 audience votes
Key crew
- Karl-Wilhelm VivierScreenplay
- Bernhard WickiScreenplay
- Bernhard WickiDirector
- Michael MansfeldScreenplay
- Hans-Martin MajewskiOriginal Music Composer
Cast
- Folker BohnetHans Scholten
- Fritz WepperAlbert Mutz
- Michael HinzWalter Forst
- Frank GlaubrechtJurgen Borchert
- Karl Michael BalzerKarl Horber
- Volker LechtenbrinkKlaus Hager
- Günther HoffmannSigi Bernhard
- Cordula TrantowFranziska
- Wolfgang StumpfStern
- Günter PfitzmannHeilmann
- Heinz SpitznerFröhlich
- Siegfried SchürenbergLieutenant Colonel
Stills
Themes
small townnazisteel helmetwar crimesfirearmbridgedead soldierus armyteenage boyamerican abroadanti warshot