General Golz assigns Robert Jordan, an American volunteer and demolitions expert, to blow a bridge so that the Fascist forces cannot cross.

The group also includes the gypsy Rafael, the beautiful young Maria, and Pablo's wife Pilar.

Jordan sends Andres with a message to Gen. Golz, warning of the fascist troop movement.

An aerial bombardment from the Republican forces begins, and the guerrillas launch their assault on the bridge.

Pablo leads his men bravely into combat, as Jordan continues to plant explosives under the bridge.

The cast included performances by:[1] Fred Coe was the producer and John Frankenheimer the director.

[1][2] The program was recorded on videotape and aired on March 12 and 19, 1959, as part of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90.

Hemingway stopped at a "flea-bitten little motel" and watched Part 2 with Hotchner holding the television's "rabbit ears" to maintain the reception.

[4] At the conclusion of the program, Hemingway called Robards and Schell to tell them "how terrific he thought it was.

"[5] Frankenheimer fed scotch to Persoff and, as CBS executives arrived to watch the filming, they saw "three drunken actors staggering around a cave that reeked of booze, garbling their lines, missing their cues, getting in one another's way, but enjoying themselves as only drunks can.

[6] Nehemiah Persoff won the Sylvania Award for outstanding performance by an actor in a supporting role.

He praised the cast for developing their roles "compellingly and creatively and wrote that the final battle scene was "infused with a clarity and authenticity rarely achieved in the medium.

He singled out Maria Schell's five-minute, soft-voiced description of the horrors she experienced while a prisoner of the fascists as "one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen on the little tube.

"[10] After watching the first part, Jack Gould of The New York Times called it "one of the television medium's finer accomplishments.

"[11] After the second part, Gould described the climactic battle scenes as "a technical tour de force in experimental video production."

He also praised the graphic and moving depiction of combat and Frankenheimer's "highly imaginative" direction.

[12] After watching part one, television critic John Crosby gave a mixed review.

He praised the opening scene between Robards and Berghof as a depiction of "true Hemingway characters" in roles that were "concise, hard-bitten, masculine, tight as a fiddle string and yet with an undercurrent of rippling male humor."