Lean achieves a fine balance of creating complex characters from a fine cast, while keeping the pace up throughout this long movie.
Comment
04/17/01
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
95
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:39
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.8/10
Consensus: This complex war epic asks hard questions, resists easy answers, and boasts career-defining work from star Alec Guinness and director David Lean.
Runtime: 2 hrs 47 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: One of the all-time great war films, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI is yet another classic from the marvelous David Lean (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR. ZHIVAGO). The film is an outstanding, psychologically... [More]
Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Director: David Lean
Reviews for The Bridge on the River Kwai
Top CriticA towering work.
02/19/08
Top CriticGuinness, Lean and British war cinema have never been better.
02/19/08
Top CriticA classic example of a film that fudges the issues it raises.
02/09/06
Top CriticOne of the best anti-war films ever made.
01/01/00
In my opinion, it is one of the two best films to emerge from a very strong decade of cinema.
07/03/03
Brilliant is the word, and no other, to describe the quality of skills that have gone into the making of this picture.
05/20/03
Top Criticsomehow elevates what begins as a...tiresomely chest-beating Patriotism picture into one of the most gripping and unsimplified statements the cinema has ever made about war.
01/10/03
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), the memorable, epic World War II adventure/action, anti-war drama, was the first of director David Lean's major
01/01/00
Most war movies are either for or against their wars. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is one of the few that focuses not on larger rights and wrongs but on individuals.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe film has great themes ... fascinating characters expertly acted, a compelling plot and brilliant direction by one of the masters of the epic, David Lean.
01/01/00
A tense, terrifying, absolutely riveting film about the ironies of war and the deadly psychological games enemy soldiers play with each other.
01/01/00
A gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments.
02/19/08
Top CriticFor what it is, it ain't bad, though it serves mainly as an illustration of the ancient quandary of revisionist moviemakers: if all you do is systematically invert cliches, you simply end up creating new ones.
12/13/06
Still one of the most rousing war films, Lean's epic is rich in characters and marked by an ironic and ambiguous POV in the way that it depicts the conflict between Guinness, Hayakawa, and Holden, as individuals and symbols of their national cultures.
07/15/06
Alec Guinness' outstanding performance is one of the many things that work in David Lean's intriguing epic.
11/08/06
Hitler has only got one ball! Goering has two but very small
02/13/01
Alec Guinness won his only non-honorary Oscar for this film (did you know he'd be nominated for writing the following year?), and boy is it deserved.
02/23/06
...stirring drama in a timeless setting.
01/01/00
World War II classic receives brilliant presentation and provides fascinating perspective on DVD.
11/07/02
Latest News for The Bridge on the River Kwai
October 25, 2007:
How Many Movies Have You Seen In Your Entire Life?
Newsweek critic David Ansen has courageously revealed the more quietly kept secret of every cinephile: his lifelong, bordering-on-eccentric, meticulous obsession with movies.... More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
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