Plot

During a commencement gala at the newly opened Los Angeles headquarters of Nakamoto, a Japanese keiretsu, call girl Cheryl Lynn Austin is found dead, apparently after a violent sexual encounter. LAPD Lieutenant Webster "Web" Smith and John Connor, a former police captain and expert on Japanese affairs, are sent to act as liaison between the Japanese executives and the investigating officer, Smith's former partner Tom Graham. During the initial investigation, Connor and Smith review surveillance camera footage, and realize that one of the discs is missing.

Smith and Connor suspect Eddie Sakamura, Cheryl's boyfriend and agent of a Nakamoto rival, of killing her, and interrogate him at a house party. Sakamura promises to bring Connor something, and Connor reluctantly lets him go after confiscating his passport. Ishihara, a Nakamoto employee whom Connor had previously interrogated, delivers the missing disc, which clearly shows Sakamura killing Cheryl. Graham and Smith lead a SWAT raid on Sakamura's house. He tries to flee in a Vector W8 sports car, but crashes and is killed.

Smith learns that Sakamura had attempted to contact him about the missing disc, so he and Connor take the disc to an expert, Jingo Asakuma, who reveals that the disc has been digitally altered to implicate Sakamura.

Nakamoto is in the midst of sensitive negotiations for the acquisition of an American semiconductor company, with Senator John Morton, a guest at the party, abruptly changing his stance on a bill that would prevent the merger from going through. Suspecting his sudden shift is somehow related to the murder, Connor and Smith attempt to interview him at his campaign office, but without success. Upon returning to Smith's apartment, the duo find Sakamura alive and well. He reveals that he was being tailed that day by Tanaka, a Nakamoto security agent attempting to locate the original disc. Not wanting to be seen with Sakamura, Tanaka stole his sports car and committed suicide by crashing it. Sakamura gives Connor the original disc, but before he can leave, Lt. Graham arrives with Ishihara. Sakamura is killed fighting off Ishihara's men, and Smith is shot and left for dead, surviving only thanks to a bulletproof vest.

After being interrogated, Smith is put on paid leave due to an ongoing investigation of an earlier corruption charge. Regrouping with Connor and Jingo, the three view the original surveillance footage, which shows Senator Morton performing erotic asphyxiation on Cheryl. Falsely believing he killed her, Morton changes his position on the regulation bill to stay in Nakamoto's good graces. After leaving the boardroom, the footage shows another figure approaching and killing Cheryl by strangulation.

Hoping to draw the killer out, Connor and Smith fax Morton stills of the footage showing his involvement in the murder. Morton contacts Ishihara, revealing the executive to be in on the cover-up, and then Morton commits suicide. Connor, Smith, and Jingo interrupt the merger negotiations to show Nakamoto President Yoshida the surveillance footage. Bob Richmond, an American lawyer working for Nakamoto, reveals that he is the real killer and tries to run away, only to be killed by Eddie Sakamura's yakuza friends.

Yoshida maintains his and his colleagues' innocence, quietly exiling Ishihara to a desk job back in Japan. Smith drives Jingo home, where she casts doubt on whether Richmond was really the murderer, or if he was simply taking the fall to protect someone higher up in the company.
Cast

    Sean Connery as Captain John Connor-san
    Wesley Snipes as Lieutenant Webster "Web" Smith
    Harvey Keitel as Lieutenant Tom Graham
    Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Eddie Sakamura
    Kevin Anderson as Bob Richmond
    Mako as Mr. Yoshida-san
    Ray Wise as Senator John Morton
    Stan Egi as Masao Ishihara
    Stan Shaw as Phillips
    Tia Carrere as Jingo Asakuma
    Steve Buscemi as Willy "The Weasel" Wilhelm
    Tatjana Patitz as Cheryl Lynn Austin
    Tylyn John as Redhead Mistress of Eddie Sakamura
    Peter Crombie as Greg
    Sam Lloyd as Rick
    Alexandra Powers as Julia
    Daniel Von Bargen as Chief Olson / Interrogator
    Lauren Robinson as Zelly Smith
    Amy Hill as Hsieh
    Tom Dahlgren as Jim Donaldson
    Clyde Kusatsu as Shoji Tanaka
    Michael Chapman as Fred Hoffman
    Joey Miyashima and Nelson Mashita as Young Japanese Negotiators
    Tamara Tunie as Lauren
    Tony Ganios as Perry, The Doorman Guard




Untouchables
Plot

In 1930, during Prohibition, the notorious gangland kingpin Al Capone supplies illegal liquor and nearly controls all of Chicago. Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness has been tasked with halting Capone's activities, but his first attempt at a liquor raid fails due to corrupt policemen alerting Capone. He then encounters veteran Irish-American officer James Malone, who opposes the rampant corruption and offers to help Ness, suggesting they find a man from the police academy who has not yet come under Capone's influence and still believes in the idealistic aspects of law enforcement. They recruit Italian-American trainee George Stone (birth name Giuseppe Petri) for his superior marksmanship and integrity. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace, assigned to Ness from Washington, D.C., they successfully raid a Capone liquor warehouse and start gaining positive publicity, with the press dubbing them "The Untouchables". Capone later kills the warehouse manager with a baseball bat to warn his other subordinates.

Discovering that Capone has not filed an income tax return for four years, Wallace suggests trying to build a tax evasion case against him, as Capone's network keeps him well-insulated from his other crimes. A crooked alderman offers Ness a bribe to drop his investigation, but Ness refuses. After Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti threatens to kill Ness's wife Catherine and their daughter, Ness immediately moves them to a safe house. In a subsequent raid on the Canadian border, Ness and his team intercept an incoming liquor shipment, killing several gangsters and capturing a Capone bookkeeper named George, whom they eventually persuade to testify against his employer. Back in Chicago, Nitti, dressed as a policeman, murders Wallace and George in the elevator of the police station and leaves a taunting message for Ness. Ness confronts Capone at the Lexington Hotel after the murders, but Malone intervenes, urging Ness to focus on persuading the district attorney not to dismiss the charges against Capone.

Realizing that police chief Mike Dorsett sold out Wallace and George, Malone forces Dorsett to reveal where Capone's accountant, Walter Payne, is hiding. That evening, one of Capone's men breaks into Malone's apartment; Malone chases him out with a shotgun, but Nitti ambushes him with a Thompson submachine gun. Shortly afterwards, Ness and Stone arrive to find Malone mortally wounded; before he dies, Malone shows them which train Payne will take out of town. As the duo await Payne's arrival at Union Station, Ness sees a young mother with two suitcases and her child in a carriage laboriously climbing the lobby steps. Ness ultimately decides to assist her, but the gangsters guarding Payne appear as Ness and the woman reach the top of the stairs, and a bloody shootout occurs. Though outnumbered, Ness and Stone manage to capture Payne alive and kill all his escorts, keeping both the mother and child unharmed.

Later, when Payne testifies at Capone's trial, Ness observes that Capone appears strangely calm, and that Nitti is wearing a gun in the courtroom. The bailiff removes Nitti and searches him, finding a note from Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson which effectively permits him to carry the weapon. However, noticing Nitti possesses a matchbook with Malone's address written inside, Ness realizes that Nitti killed Malone. Panicked, Nitti shoots the bailiff before fleeing to the courthouse roof, where Ness captures him. After Nitti insults the memory of Malone and gloats that he will escape conviction for the murder, an enraged Ness pushes Nitti off the roof to his death, avenging Wallace and Malone.

Stone gives Ness a list, taken from Nitti's coat, which shows that the jurors in the trial are all on Capone's payroll. Behind closed doors, Ness persuades the judge to switch Capone's jury with one hearing an unrelated divorce case by telling the judge that he is on Capone's payroll, and they can prove it. This prompts Capone's lawyer to enter a guilty plea, although an outraged Capone violently objects. Capone is later convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. On the day Capone begins serving his sentence, Ness closes up his office, giving Malone's St. Jude medallion and callbox key to Stone as a farewell present. As Ness leaves the police station, a reporter asks him what he will do upon the probable repeal of Prohibition, to which he replies, "I think I'll have a drink."
Cast

    Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness
    Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace
    Andy García as Giuseppe Petri / "George Stone"
    Robert De Niro as Al Capone
    Sean Connery as Jim Malone
    Richard Bradford as Police Chief Mike Dorsett
    Jack Kehoe as Walter Payne
    Billy Drago as Frank Nitti
    Brad Sullivan as George
    Patricia Clarkson as Catherine Ness, Eliot's wife

Additionally, the film's cast includes Del Close as John O'Shea; a corrupt alderman working for Capone,[4] Vito D'Ambrosio as the "Bowtie Driver"; one of Capone's henchman,[4] Steven Goldstein as "Scoop"; a reporter,[4] Robert Swan as the Mountie Captain, Peter Aylward as Chicago PD Lieutenant Anderson, Don Harvey as Officer Preseuski, Tony Mockus Sr. as Judge James H. Wilkerson; who oversees Capone's tax evasion trial, and Patrick Billingsley as a court baliff. An uncredited Clifton James portrays District Attorney George E. Q. Johnson, who prosecutes Capone



In the Name of the Rose
Plot

Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and his novice, Adso of Melk, arrive at an early 14th century Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. A mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference—a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. William, known for his deductive and analytical mind, confronts the worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur.

William and Adso make the acquaintance of Salvatore, a hunchback who speaks gibberish in various languages, and his handler and protector, Remigio da Varagine. William deduces from Salvatore's penitenziagite that he had once been a member of a heretical sect and infers that Salvatore and Remigio may have been involved in the killings. Meanwhile, Adso encounters a peasant girl who snuck into the abbey to trade sexual favors for food, and has sex with her.

Investigating and keen to head off accusations of demonic possession, the protagonists discover and explore a labyrinthine library in the abbey's forbidden principal tower. William finds that it is "one of the greatest libraries in all Christendom," containing dozens of works by Classical masters such as Aristotle, thought to have been lost for centuries. William deduces that the library is kept hidden because such advanced knowledge, coming from pagan philosophers, is difficult to reconcile with Christianity. William further deduces that all of those who died had read the only remaining copy of Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics.

His investigations are curtailed by the arrival of Bernardo Gui of the Inquisition, summoned for the conference and keen to prosecute those he deems responsible for the deaths. The two men clashed in the past, and the zealous inquisitor has no time for theories outside his own. Salvatore and the girl are found fighting over a black cockerel while in the presence of a black cat. Gui presents this as irrefutable proof that they are in league with Satan and tortures Salvatore into a false confession. Salvatore, Remigio, and the girl are dragged before a tribunal, where Gui intimidates the Abbot into concurring with his judgment of heresy. But William, also "invited" by Gui to serve on the panel of judges, refuses to confirm the accusations of murder, pointing out that the murderer could read Greek, a skill that Remigio doesn't possess. Gui resorts to extracting a confession from Remigio by the threat of torture, and clearly plans to take care of William for good.

When the head Librarian succumbs like the others, William and Adso ascend the forbidden library, and come face to face with the Venerable Jorge, the most ancient denizen of the abbey, with the book, which describes comedy and how it may be used to teach. Believing laughter and jocularity to be instruments of the Devil, Jorge has poisoned the pages to stop the spread of what he considers dangerous ideas: those reading it would ingest the poison as they licked their fingers to aid in turning pages. Confronted, Jorge throws over a candle, starting a blaze that quickly engulfs the library. William insists that Adso flee, as he manages to collect an inadequate armload of invaluable books to save; the volume of Poetics, Jorge, and the rest of the library are lost.

Meanwhile, Salvatore and Remigio have been burned at the stake. The girl has been slated for the same fate but local peasants take advantage of the chaos of the library fire to free her and turn on Gui. Gui attempts to flee but they throw his wagon off a cliff, to his death. William and Adso later take their leave of the Abbey. On the road, Adso is stopped by the girl, silently appealing for him to stay with her, but Adso continues on with William. In his closing narration, a much older Adso reflects that he never regretted his decision, as he learned many more things from William. Adso also states that the girl was the only earthly love of his life, yet he never learned her name.
Cast

    Sean Connery as William of Baskerville
    F. Murray Abraham as Bernardo Gui
    Christian Slater as Adso of Melk
        Dwight Weist as older Adso (voice)
    Helmut Qualtinger as Remigio de Varagine
    Elya Baskin as Severinus
    Michael Lonsdale as The Abbot
    Volker Prechtel as Malachia
    Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as Jorge de Burgos
    William Hickey as Ubertino of Casale
    Michael Habeck as Berengar
    Valentina Vargas as The Girl
    Ron Perlman as Salvatore
    Leopoldo Trieste as Michele da Cesena
    Franco Valobra as Jerome of Kaffa
    Vernon Dobtcheff as Hugh of Newcastle
    Donal O'Brian as Pietro d'Assisi
    Andrew Birkin as Cuthbert of Winchester
    Lucien Bodard as Cardinal Bertrand
    Peter Berling as Jean d'Anneaux
    Pete Lancaster as Bishop of Alborea
    Urs Althaus as Venantius
    Lars Bodin-Jorgensen as Adelmo of Otranto
    Kim Rossi Stuart as a novice




The Rock
Plot

Disillusioned Brigadier General Francis Hummel and his second-in-command Major Tom Baxter lead a rogue group of U.S. Force Recon Marines against a heavily guarded naval weapons depot to steal a stockpile of VX gas-loaded M55 rockets. The next day, Hummel and his men seize control of Alcatraz Island, taking the tourists and guards hostages. Hummel contacts the FBI and the Pentagon, threatening to launch the rockets against San Francisco unless the U.S. government pays him $100 million from a military slush fund, which he will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who died on covert missions under his command, but whose deaths were not compensated.

The Department of Defense and the FBI develop a plan to retake the island using a U.S. Navy SEAL team led by Commander Anderson; the FBI's top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed; and the only inmate ever to escape Alcatraz, John Mason. FBI Director James Womack bribes Mason with a pardon, and Mason reluctantly agrees. Still, Womack subsequently destroys the pardon, and Mason is set up in a hotel. He escapes, resulting in a car chase with Goodspeed through the streets of San Francisco as Mason reunites with his estranged daughter, Jade.

The team successfully infiltrates Alcatraz, but Hummel's men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in a shower room. Anderson and all of the SEALs are killed, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Goodspeed wants to finish the mission and attempts to strong-arm Mason into helping. Mason, seeing his chance to escape custody, disarms Goodspeed, but changes his mind for the safety of his daughter.

Mason and Goodspeed eliminate several teams of Marines and disable twelve of the fifteen rockets by removing their guidance chips. Hummel threatens to execute a hostage if they do not surrender and return the chips; Mason destroys them before submitting to Hummel to try reasoning with him and stall for time. Goodspeed disables another rocket but then gets captured. With the incursion team lost, the backup plan is initiated: an airstrike by F/A-18Cs with thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas but also kill everyone on the island.

Mason and Goodspeed escape, and Mason explains why he was held prisoner: he was a former British SAS captain and MI6 operative who was captured after stealing a microfilm containing details of the United States' most closely guarded secrets. Knowing he would be "suicided" if he returned it, he was imprisoned without trial for refusing to hand it over.

When Hummel's deadline for the ransom passes, he is urged by his men to fire a rocket. Although he does, he redirects it to detonate at sea. When confronted by Captains Darrow and Frye, Hummel explains the rocket threat was an elaborate bluff, as he had never intended to harm innocent civilians. He declares the mission over and orders the Marines to leave Alcatraz with some hostages and the remaining rocket to cover their retreat while he assumes the blame. Darrow and Frye, realizing they will not be getting paid, mutiny against him. A firefight ensues; Baxter is killed defending Hummel, who is mortally wounded. The general manages to tell Goodspeed where the last rocket is before dying.

Darrow and Frye proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. Goodspeed seeks out the rocket while Mason deals with the remaining Marines. As the jets approach, Goodspeed disables the rocket before killing Darrow and Frye. Though he signals that the threat is over, one bomb had already been dropped. The blast throws Goodspeed into the bay, but Mason rescues him.

Goodspeed reports a successful mission with no hostage casualties but lies that Mason died during the blast. He admits to Mason that Womack tore up the pardon and offers him a way off the island and where to find cash in his hotel room. Grateful, Mason reveals the location of the microfilm as he and Goodspeed part ways. Sometime later, Goodspeed and his newlywed pregnant wife Carla hastily drive away from a church in Kansas after retrieving the microfilm.
Cast
Cast member Michael Biehn signing the cover of the film on DVD in 2012

    Sean Connery as Captain (retired) John Patrick Mason SAS/MI6
    Nicolas Cage as Stanley Goodspeed, FBI
    Ed Harris as General Francis X. Hummel, USMC
    Michael Biehn as Commander Anderson, USN
    William Forsythe as Ernest Paxton, FBI
    David Morse as Major Tom Baxter, USMC
    John Spencer as FBI Director James Womack
    John C. McGinley as Captain Hendrix, USMC
    Tony Todd as Captain Darrow, USMC
    Bokeem Woodbine as Sergeant Crisp, USMC
    Danny Nucci as Lieutenant Shepard, USN
    Claire Forlani as Jade Angelou, Mason's daughter
    Vanessa Marcil as Carla Pestalozzi, Goodspeed's fiancee
    Gregory Sporleder as Captain Frye, USMC

In addition, Stuart Wilson appears as General Al Kramer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with David Marshall Grant as White House Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair.




Medicine Man
Plot

The pharmaceutical company Aston Laboratories sends biochemist Dr. Rae Crane into the Amazonian rainforest to locate researcher Robert Campbell, after his wife and research partner abandons him. Crane is bringing equipment and supplies, but Campbell is upset the research partner is not forthcoming. He tries to send Crane home, but she demurs, as she has been assigned to determine whether Campbell's research deserves continued funding.

Campbell has found a "cure for cancer", but attempts to synthesize the compound have failed. With supplies of the successful serum running low, Campbell isolates a derivative of a species of flower from which the formula can be synthesized and with Crane's help is determined to find its source. Campbell earns the title "medicine man" of the village by giving a boy with a stomach ache Alka Seltzer, insulting the real medicine man and driving him deep into the forest. A logging company is building a road headed straight for the village, threatening to expose the native population to potentially lethal foreign pathogens, as has happened before. In fact, Campbell's wife left him because he could not forgive himself for the tragedy.

A small boy appears with malignant neoplasms and Campbell, Crane, the boy, and his father set out in search of Campbell's predecessor, a medicine man from whom Campbell once acquired his knowledge of flowers. Upon encountering Campbell's entourage, the medicine man flees in fear. Though he is reluctant to pursue the man further, Crane convinces him circumstances demand that he must. Campbell rescues Crane from a fall, then locates the medicine man, whom he is compelled to fight in order to heal the medicine man's wounded pride and gain further necessary information. Unfortunately, the medicine man reveals that the flowers have no "juju"—power to heal. Father and son agree to return another time. Back at the village, Crane initially refuses to allow Campbell to inoculate the boy with the last of the serum until more can be synthesized. But when the boy's condition worsens, she gives in and the boy is inoculated.

The next morning, the boy is better but the village is in tumult. The logging road is nearly finished. Campbell appeals to the company's workers to halt construction until he can conclude his research, but it refuses. In desperation and after new samples fail to contain the missing compound, Crane runs the chromatograph one more time and accidentally discovers that the source of the cure is not the flower but a species of rare ant indigenous to the rainforest. Campbell demands the construction stop. A fight results and a bulldozer catches fire, destroying the village and the research station along with many acres of rainforest.

The next day, Crane promises to send Campbell new equipment and the research assistant he'd originally requested. She is about to return home when she meets the medicine man. He symbolically passes on his mantle to Campbell. Crane accepts an invitation to continue working with Campbell in exchange for recognition for co-discovering the source of the compound.
Cast

    Sean Connery as Dr. Robert Campbell
    Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Rae Crane
    José Wilker as Dr. Miguel Ornega
    José Lavat as Government Man




A Bridge Too Far
Plot

Operation Market Garden envisages 35,000 men being flown 300 miles (480 km) from air bases in England and dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands. Two divisions of US paratroopers are responsible for securing the road and bridges as far as Nijmegen. A British division, under Major-General Roy Urquhart, is to land near Arnhem and hold both sides of the bridge there, backed by a brigade of Polish paratroopers under General Stanisław Sosabowski. XXX Armoured Corps are to push up the road over the bridges captured by the American paratroopers and reach Arnhem two days after the drop.

As General Urquhart briefs his officers, some of them are surprised they are going to attempt a landing so far from their objective since the distance from their landing zone to the bridge will render their portable radios useless. Although the consensus is that resistance will consist entirely of inexperienced old men and Hitler Youth, reconnaissance photos show the presence of German tanks at Arnhem. General Browning nevertheless dismisses the photos and also ignores reports from the Dutch underground, believing the operation will be successful regardless.

The Arnhem bridge is the prime target, since it serves as the last means of escape for the German forces in the Netherlands and a direct route to Germany for the Allies. However the road to it is only a single lane linking the various key bridges and vehicles have to squeeze onto the verge to pass. The road is also elevated, causing anything moving along it to stand out.

Though the airborne drops catch the enemy by surprise and encounter little resistance, the Son bridge is demolished by the Germans just before it can be secured. Furthermore, troubles beset Urquhart's division, since many of the jeeps either do not arrive or are destroyed in an ambush, in addition to their nonfunctional radio sets.

Meanwhile, XXX Corps' progress is slowed by German resistance, the narrowness of the road and the need to construct a Bailey bridge to replace the one destroyed at Son. They are then halted at Nijmegen, where soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division perform a dangerous daylight river crossing to capture the Nijmegen bridge and XXX Corps is further delayed waiting for infantry to secure the town.

The Germans close in on the isolated British paratroopers occupying part of Arnhem at the bridge, and although Sosabowski's troops finally arrive after being delayed in England they are ultimately too late to reinforce the British. After days of intense fighting against SS infantry and panzers the outgunned troops are eventually either captured or forced to withdraw to Oosterbeek. Urquhart receives orders to retreat, while the other Allied commanders blame the various difficulties encountered for their failure to provide the needed support.

Urquhart escapes with less than a fifth of his original 10,000 troops while those who are too badly injured to flee stay behind to cover the withdrawal. On arrival at British headquarters Urquhart confronts Browning about his personal sentiments regarding the operation and the latter contradicts his earlier optimism regarding it.

Back in Oosterbeek Kate ter Horst, whose home has been converted into a makeshift hospital by the British, abandons its ruins. Passing through the front yard, now a graveyard for fallen troops, she and her children leave with an elderly doctor, pulling a few possessions in a cart, while wounded British troops sing "Abide with Me" as they await capture.
Cast and roles

Note: Characters ordered by rank
British
Actor     Character     Based on     Notes
Dirk Bogarde     Lieutenant-General Frederick 'Boy' Browning     —     GOC I British Airborne Corps, and at HQ First Allied Airborne Army as its deputy commander, British Army at Nijmegen.
Edward Fox     Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks     —     GOC, XXX Corps,[a] British Second Army.[9]
Sean Connery     Major-General Roy Urquhart     —     GOC, 1st British Airborne Division, Arnhem
Donald Douglas     Brigadier Gerald Lathbury     —     Brigade Commander, 1st Parachute Brigade, British Army in Arnhem.
Gerald Sim     Colonel Sims     Arthur Austin Eagger[10]     Senior Medical Officer, 1st Airborne Corps, RAMC, British Army.
Richard Kane     Colonel Weaver     Graeme Warrack     Senior Medical Officer, Headquarters RAMC, 1st British Airborne Division, at the Main Dressing Station in the Schoonoord Hotel of the Oosterbeek Perimeter.
Philip Raymond     Colonel McEwan     Edward H. Goulburn     C.O. 2nd Armoured Grenadier Guards Battalion.
Michael Caine     Lieutenant-Colonel J.O.E. Vandeleur     —     CO, 3rd Battalion (Infantry), the Irish Guards, the Guards Armoured Division, XXX Corps, British Army
Anthony Hopkins     Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost     —     Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division at Arnhem road bridge
Michael Byrne     Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Vandeleur     —     Acting CO, 2nd Battalion (Armoured), the Irish Guards, the British Guards Armoured Division. Cousin to 'Joe'.
Donald Pickering     Lieutenant-Colonel C.B. MacKenzie     —     Principal General Staff Officer (Chief of Staff), Headquarters, 1st Airborne Division, British Army, Divisional HQ at the Hartenstein Hotel
Christopher Good     Major Harry Carlyle     Allison Digby Tatham-Warter.     Officer Commanding, A Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 1st Parachute Brigade, Arnhem.[11]
Frank Grimes     Major Fuller     Brian Urquhart     G-2 (Intelligence Officer) for the 1st Airborne Corps,[12] British Army stationed at the HQ located in Moor Park Golf Club, Hertfordshire, England.
Stephen Moore     Major Robert Steele     Anthony Deane–Drummond     Second–in–command of the divisional signals for 1st Airborne Division, later attached to 1st Parachute Brigade.
John Stride     Grenadier Guards Major     Captain Lord Carrington     British Grenadier Guards Commander who argues with Major Cook after 82nd capture Nijmegen Bridge.
Michael Graham Cox     Captain Jimmy Cleminson     —     T/Capt., 5 Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, British Army, Arnhem
Keith Drinkel     Lieutenant Cornish     Eric MacKay     9th Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers, 1st Airborne Division.
Denholm Elliott     RAF Meteorology Officer     —     
Jeremy Kemp     RAF Briefing Officer     —     RAF, although the briefing probably took place at the 1st Airborne Corps HQ in Moor Park Golf Club, Hertfordshire, England
Mark Sheridan     Sergeant Tomblin     —     2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division
George Innes     Sergeant MacDonald     —     British 1st Airborne Division radio operator at the Hartenstein Hotel
Alun Armstrong     Corporal Davies     —     2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division
Paul Copley     Private Wicks     Dennis Wicks     Batman to Lieutenant Colonel Frost, CO, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, British Army
Ben Cross     Trooper Binns     —     2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st British Airborne Division
David Auker     'Taffy' Brace     —     Medic, 1st British Airborne Division
Americans
Actor     Role     Based on     Notes
Paul Maxwell     Major General Maxwell Taylor     —     CG, 101st Airborne Division, US Army at the Son bridge and later St-Oedenrode
Ryan O'Neal     Brigadier General James Gavin     —     Division Commander, US 82nd Airborne Division, US Army at the bridge across the River Maas in Grave, later at the Maas-Waal canal and the bridge across the River Waal in Nijmegen
Elliott Gould     Colonel Robert Stout     Robert Sink     CO, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Arthur Hill     US Army Surgeon Colonel     David Gold     Chief Division Surgeon, 101st Airborne Division Clearing Station.
Robert Redford     Major Julian Cook     —     Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne, US Army seizing key bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal and the river assault crossing of the Waal.
Nicholas Campbell     Captain Glass     LeGrand King Johnson[13]     CO, F Company, 2nd Battalion, 502PIR.
Garrick Hagon     Lieutenant Rafferty     —     Lieutenant, 101st Military Police Platoon, 101st Airborne Division, Division Field Hospital, US Army
John Ratzenberger     Lieutenant Wall     1Lt. James Megellas     Lieutenant, Company H, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, US Army, at River Waal crossing.
James Caan     Staff Sergeant Eddie Dohun     Charles Dohun[13]     First Sergeant of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division U.S. Army (attacking Best).
Other Allies
Actor     Role     Notes
Gene Hackman     Major General Stanisław Sosabowski     Brigade Commander, Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, Polish Armed Forces
Peter Faber     Captain Arie Bestebreurtje     Liaison officer with the 82nd Airborne Division, Office of Strategic Services,[14] Royal Dutch Army[b]
Siem Vroom     Dutch underground leader     
Erik van 't Wout     Underground leader's son     
Marlies van Alcmaer     Underground leader's wife     
Germans
Actor     Role     Based on     Notes
Wolfgang Preiss     Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt     —     Commander, OB West
Walter Kohut     Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model     —     Commander, Army Group B
Hardy Krüger     Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl Ludwig     Heinz Harmel     Division Commander, 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg.
Maximilian Schell     General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich     —     Corps Commander, II SS Panzer Corps.
Hans von Borsody     General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt     —     Chief of Staff, OB West
Fred Williams     SS-Hauptsturmführer Viktor Eberhard Gräbner     —     Commander, reconnaissance battle group of 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
Lex van Delden     SS-Oberscharführer Matthias Boschmann     —     Bittrich's orderly.
Hartmut Becker     German Army Feldgendarmerie sentry     —     
Dutch civilians
Actor     Role     Notes
Laurence Olivier     Dr. Jan Spaander     
Liv Ullmann     Kate ter Horst     
Mary Smithuysen     Old Dutch lady     
Hans Croiset     Old Dutch lady's son     
Josephine Peeper     Cafe waitress     
Tom van Beek     Jan ter Horst     
Erik Chitty     Organist     
Albert van der Harst     Medic     
Richard Attenborough     Lunatic wearing glasses     Uncredited cameo