kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Hidden gem of a movie with Rod Steiger as unscrupulous heel and multi million dollar embezzler, of his own brokerage firm, Carl Schaffner who after stealing someone's identity, by getting him drunk and throwing him off a moving train, tries to escape justice. It's then that Schaffner finds that the person who's identity he stole is on the lamb murderer Mr. Cooper, Alan Gifford,who's wanted by the Mexican police. With the choice of staying in Mexico to prevent himself from being arrested in the US for grand larceny Schaffner, after proving that he isn't in fact Mr. Cooper, faces a catch-22 situation.: Spend the rest of his life in total poverty without access to the millions he has stashed away in Mexico; Or going back in the US to spend 5 to 10 years behind bars and then be free to live off his vast amount of his hidden, in numbered bank accounts, ill gotten gains.As it turned out it was the badly injured Cooper who was later killed in a police shoot-out in his motel room on the US side of the border and then had his stranded and owner-less pet dog Dolores become attach to Schaffner whom he at first wanted no part of. It was Dolores' dog like loyalty to Schaffner who despite all the mental abuse she took from him that in the end won him over to her side. A the time the movie was about to end Schaffner forgot about freedom or money but only wanted to be together with his new found friend or dog Dolores. So much so to when the authorities in both the US and Mexico used the pooch by tying her up on the bridge yards on the USA side of the border in order to get him to go get her and expose himself to arrest! ***SPOILERS**** Tear and gut crunching final with a by now not at all caring about himself Schaffner risking his both freedom as well as life to get the only friend he has in the world Dolores back with, for him, disastrous results. The final scene with Schaffner while trying to get Dolores back to the Mexcian side of the bridge was almost too painful to watch. He in fact risked and lost his life for a dog he at first wanted no part of. But later found out that Dolores was by far more important to him then his freedom as well as money and the only one in the world, with everyone who ended up jumping ship on him, who ever really cared about him.

Spikeopath Across the Bridge is directed by Ken Annakin and adapted to screenplay by Guy Elmes and Dennis Freeman for a Graham Greene story. It stars Rod Steiger, David Knight, Marla Landi, Noel Willman, Bernard Lee and Eric Pohlmann. Music is by James Bernard and cinematography by Reginald Wyer.High powered business man Carl Schaffner (Steiger) is crooked and the net is finally closing in on him. Fleeing to Mexico he initiates a sequence of events that finds him taking on the identity of another man. If he thought this was going to be his way out of a jam? He has no idea...The implosion of a morally corrupt shyster drives this excellent and under seen Brit noir production. Fronted by Steiger turning in one of his greatest performances, he himself called it the second best work he ever did after The Pawnbroker, pic unfolds slowly but grips like a vice until the final third thrusts Schaffner into a world of desperation and solitude. A world inhabited by people not beyond fracturing laws and regulations themselves, and where it dawns on him that the vagaries of fate has stared him in the eyes and laughed at him.Annakin, himself proclaiming this to be up with his best work, creates a grubby and sweaty Mexican border town to act as the backdrop to Schaffner's mental decay, and with Bernard's ferociously aware musical score pounding on Schaffner's shoulders, atmosphere is set at the high end of Bleakville. Dolores the dog is also a star of the piece, and the most integral of characters as well, putting one in mind immediately of the great Bogart picture High Sierra. Once tale reaches the culmination, where man and dog are to have their respective futures decided on the bridge of the title, suspense is at breaking point and Annakin gives us the coup de grace. Excellent movie. 8.5/10

J. M. Verville I was impressed with the originality of the film and story, and the effectiveness of the portrayal. Rod Steiger does a tremendous job of performing in this film, from start to finish, showing us a dramatic performance in a very interesting story. Ken Annakin is very adept at controlling your emotions, with ease making you feel estranged from the main character when he feels, and at other times making you feel extremely intimate. The symbolism used is also impressive with the use of the dog representing what he traditionally does (loyalty, fidelity). With the extensive use of symbolism and vivid, personal capturing of the downfall of a business tycoon, we have our emotions beautifully twisted and find ourselves with one of the better endings that one can have to a film. Although at times throughout the film I sometimes felt lost and that it dragged on, overall it was still a good film that I would recommend to anyone. A very worthwhile film from Ken Annakin.

RalphRobertMoore Like other reviewers here, I saw Across the Bridge decades ago, but have never forgotten it.Rod Steiger plays a powerful, self-centered financier whose business empire, at the beginning of the film, is starting to crumble under charges of illegalities. He flees for Mexico on a train with a suitcase full of money.His disregard for others is confirmed when he casually murders a fellow train passenger in order to assume his identity and pass across the border.Once in Mexico, the authorities, under pressure from U.S. officials, put pressure on him to return "across the bridge" to the United States, so that he can be arrested. Most of the film is concerned with the slow stripping away of this once-powerful man's options, to where he is left sleeping on the streets, befriended only by a dog. The ending of the film is emotionally powerful, and probably the main reason why so many of us have never forgotten this movie.Since I wrote this review, I've seen the film again, on DVD (in 2005). It does not hold up that well. There's a subplot I had completely forgotten about. I realize now what I remembered about the film was highly selective. In truth, the movie has some interesting parts, but it's not the classic I remembered it being. By all means see it, but it's rather dated.