The Bridge on the River Kwai: An Appreciation by Filmmaker John Milius (2000 Video) User Reviews

The ugly American

[thomas-rothschild · 3/10 · 7 September 2022]

This short film makes it clear, why there may be a bridge over the Kwai, but not between someone who grew up with Hollywood and someone who grew up with "Battleship Potemkin", "La strada", "Jules et Jim" or "Stalker". Wim Wenders once mentioned, that the Americans have colonized our subconscious. How true. It is the great misfortune of the ruling understanding of film. And it is the result of the sheer fact that USA is where the big money is. That is bad enough. But the expression in the faces of people like Milius makes it even worse. Compared with them, Fellinis Zampano is a likeable person.

Okay, for eight minutes of adoration

[charlytully · 7/10 · 11 July 2009]

Not being some sort of Hollywood trivia expert, the name John Milius did not ring any bells for me when I rented the two-disk THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI set released in 2000. Fortunately, the editors of this brief tribute to the 1958 Best Picture Oscar winner must have anticipated such a knowledge gap would pertain to a large segment of the people willing to not only sit through a 2 1/2-hour 1950s movie, but also peruse another disk of extras. Therefore, an opening title card points out Mr. Milius was the writer\director of BIG WEDNES.DAY and CONAN THE BARBARIAN, as well as a co-writer on APOCALYPSE NOW. Since the latter tidbit of info probably makes him more qualified to laud KWAI than, say, myself, I can report that his comments--putting KWAI in the "CITIZEN KANE class" of films, probably will not disappoint the younger fans of KWAI. Milius first saw David Lean's WWII epic as a child, and it was love at first sight. And for all the IMDb commentators and message-boarders who ripped the vultures circling in the sky for the film's final shot, Milius submits a case in Lean's defense.