They should have blown it up right after the charges were set ----
I know that it was supposedly to get the train and part of the setup for the big ending --but it does make the whole film look kind of silly in the end.
They wanted to get the train too.
share
Ah yes---they wanted to get the train too---and for that they risked the whole operation. The value of blowing up the bridge and the many months it would take the Japanese to replace it versus getting the bridge and the engine also.The blowing of the bridge would ahve made the engine all but worthless to the Japanese. My point is that real commando's in a real operation would not have hung around to get both. They would have set the charges and blown the bridge and counted themselves successful ----and lucky.
It wasn't just getting the train. The train was supposed to be carrying a bunch of Japanese muckety-mucks, probably high up in the officer corps. And they wouldn't have even known about the train if Shears hadn't kicked the radio and fixed it!
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."
yes, a) they were ordered to get the train and b) there were good reasons for it.
It is war. They are trying to kill the enemy.
... they risked the whole operation.In hindsight the risk looks considerable because we know what happened.
Ah yes---they wanted to get the train too---and for that they risked the whole operation.Yep, that's the point.
I think they believed it was going to be an easy job blowing the bridge with the train. But as we can see in the movie, it became a whole lot more complicated than they initially thought.
Another point that has always puzzled me: Why on earth did they set off the charges from the opposite side of the river, causing the escaping commando (swimming back across the river) to reveal the team's position and ensure their capture or death? Had they set it off from the NEAR side of the river, the enemy wouldn't have known if there even WAS a commando team, let alone which direction or how far away it was. A breathtaking blunder by the story's commando characters.
shareThe place where the charges were set was the easiest place to get to that provided the most cover. The Japanese were patrolling the side that they wanted to place the charges on so they had to do it from the other side. Also they didn't account for the river being low either, so that accounts for the "one more thing" that the Major always said was there.
shareOkay - and how did that work out for them? Just saying...
shareSo the Major got it right.
"It's the system, Lara. People will be different after the Revolution."
Didn't work out very well, but the bridge was blown, the train was destroyed. Mission accomplished albeit in a *beep* happens" venue..it was wartime you know.
shareI bow to your wartime jungle experiences. My own were so long ago that their relevance has diminished with time. I certainly never looked like William Holden with a knife in my teeth. Ah, well.
shareI certainly never looked like William Holden with a knife in my teeth.