The Bridge at Remagen is a 1969 DeLuxe Color war film in Panavision starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara, and Robert Vaughn.

It is based on the nonfiction book The Bridge at Remagen: The Amazing Story of March 7, 1945 by writer and U.S. Representative Ken Hechler.

[3] The film is a highly fictionalized version of actual events during the last months of World War II, when the U.S. 9th Armored Division approached Remagen and captured the intact Ludendorff Bridge.

While the real battle ran for a week and involved several artillery duels between the U.S. troops and German defenders, the film focuses more specifically on the heroism and human cost in gaining the bridgehead across the Rhine before the Allies' final advance into Germany.

The film opens with the United States Army failing to capture the still-intact Oberkassel railway bridge.

Lieutenant Hartman (George Segal) is an experienced combat team leader who is becoming weary of the war in Europe.

After he is promoted to company commander following the reckless death of the previous officer, Hartman is ordered to advance to the Rhine River at Remagen, where he is promised a rest for his men.

At the same time, Major Paul Kreuger (Robert Vaughn) of the German Army is assigned to destroy the Remagen bridge by his friend and superior, Colonel General von Brock (Peter van Eyck), who has been given a written order to do it immediately.

The general appeals to Kreuger's sense of honor, giving him a verbal command to defend the bridge for as long as possible, to allow the German 15th Army, trapped on the west bank of the river, to escape.

After capturing the undefended town of Meckenheim, 12 miles (20 km) from Remagen, Hartman is ordered by his battalion commander, Major Barnes (Bradford Dillman), to continue the advance until encountering resistance.

Kreuger tours the defenses above the town of Remagen and assures the local contingent of defending German troops, many of whom are older men and boys, that the tank reserves personally guaranteed by the general are on the way.

Barnes agrees to commit Hartman's company and orders them to assault the German defenses on the bridge to gain a foothold across the Rhine.

Realizing the futility of the situation, Kreuger returns to headquarters to make a personal appeal to the general for more reinforcements, but on arrival finds that the HQ building has been seized by the SS, and Von Brock has been arrested for "defeatism".

At Remagen, Hartman leads a raid against a machine-gun nest installed by Kreuger on board a barge moored to the bridge, but while killing its crew, Angelo is hit and falls into the river.

A screen message (or chyron) informs the viewer that the actual bridge collapsed into the Rhine ten days after its capture.

"[21] Robert Blake was cast in a role but departed in order to spend more time with his family, while Alex Cord declined to be in the film.

[18] West German officials would not allow the film to be made in Germany because of shipping traffic on the Rhine.

Correspondingly, after six months of location scouting, The Bridge at Remagen became the first American film to be shot in Communist Czechoslovakia.

[22] Wolper paid $750,000 and Czech distribution rights to Barrandov Studios in exchange for their facilities and local labor.

[23] The U.S. World War II equipment was borrowed from the government of Austria, which had originally obtained it from the Americans.

Czechoslovak People's Army soldiers served as extras in the film, and were even trained to use U.S. military equipment.

The film crew was accused by the Soviet and East German presses of smuggling weapons into the country and serving as a cover for the CIA.

[26] The old town was being demolished and rebuilt at a new location at the time so that the lignite deposits under its soil would become accessible for mining.

[29] On 20 August 1968, when the film was two-thirds complete, the Soviet Army invaded Czechoslovakia to reinstall a hardline Communist government.

Contrary to Wolper's expectations, the Soviet occupation force allowed the U.S. military equipment lent by the Austrian government to be returned.

"[5] Hechler also says the names of the participants were changed, "I imagine to avoid lawsuits",[5] and he was "very happy with" the film, "because it brought attention to one of the great examples of the initiative and training of the American soldiers.