The Bridges at Toko-Ri

“All through history, men have had to fight the wrong war in the wrong place,” explains the admiral to his naval pilot. “But that’s the one they’re stuck with."Pilot William Holden is unsettled by this statement. He resents being forced back into the Korean War. He’s already fought in the South Pacific during World War II. Called in as a reservist, he asks Frederic March, “Why me again?” The admiral answers “Nobody ever knows why he gets the dirty job.” Then he explains, “If we pull out, they (the Commies ) will take Japan, Indochina, the Philippines.” His words are a synopsis of American policy in the 1950s. We all were absorbed with Communism and the Cold War. I remember growing up on a base during this era and, yes, hearing air raid drills, Red Scare stories, and talks of spies everywhere.This national fixation filtered from the top down. All of the military and the politicians thought this way. When Holden criticizes the war effort, he appears to be the lone voice of dissent. But he wouldn’t have been alone. Others too must have wavered between duty and desire. This film depicts his story.Holden is a portrait of courage. When he attempts to write his wife about his premonition of death, his hand shakes and his body crumples. When he listens to the ship’s radio broadcast of a stateside football game, he shakes his head in bewilderment, unable to resolve the discrepancy between his dangerous mission and the carefree life led by Americans back home. When he stands at the end of the carrier looking into the endless sea, his face breaks into a sweat, as he realizes how much he values staying alive. No other actor of his time showed moral pain the way Holden did. His handsome face and deep rolling voice are unusually expressive, reflecting love, anger, and fear.In this story, penned by James Michener, Holden is portrayed clearly as a regular guy. His buddies include enlisted men, in particular his CPO Mickey Rooney, whose drunken brawls and obsession with a bar girl, contradict the dignity that Holden attributes to him. The pilot is also very much in love with his beautiful wife, Grace Kelly. During a short leave in Japan, they meet, and he tries to deflect her concerns about war by urging piano lessons for the daughters.Eventually, the truth spills out. “The [Toko Ri] bridges span a gap between two mountains….Every kind of gun imaginable is hidden in those mountainsides. They’re just sitting there waiting for us.” The danger he faces explains his bitterness about being sent into battle. In a contrasting comic scene, the family takes a communal Japanese onsen (bath), and another family barges in to bathe with them. Holden’s and Kelly’s responses are quite funny.The aerial and carrier sequences alone are worth viewing this film. At the beginning, a helicopter rescues Holden who is freezing in the sea. In another scene, sailors set up hooks, catapults, and cables for the jets on the flight deck. Several sailors manually push the F9F Panther into place before take-off. Later the jets soar across sky and over mountains in perfect formation. This is the real stuff, not CGI, and I found it more thrilling than Star Wars.Regardless of whether or not this was a just war, our armed forces were protecting us and putting themselves in harm’s way. They did this, so we could continue living with freedoms that the enemy did not have, and this included the freedom to criticize the very men who were defending us. That is the essence of heroism.

"Where do we get such men?" An excellent, relatively unknown film.

The flying sequences are great. The acting is stellar. The ending is all that you'll walk away with...sadly.

I see that some regard the film as anti-war, or, at least, anti-Korean War. I didn't see it that way. The justification for the war is challenged in dialogue briefly, and then just as briefly defended. I don't think the film is taking a stand one way or the other on that particular question. Still, it's a different sort of war movie with a much different sort of war hero. He's realistically ambivalent. He's not a young hotshot, eager to fight. He's not a "Hurt Locker"-style adrenaline junkie who doesn't know how to live a normal life (a character type with which I think we have a bit of a perverse fascination these days). He's not a steely-eyed warrior type of the "strong, silent" mold. He's not even really the ordinary Tom Hanks sort who, though reasonably scared, carries out his duty with quiet courage and affability.The fact is, when Holden's called up, he's resentful. Unlike Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker, he desperately wants to return to his family. (Married to Grace Kelly with two young daughters, it's easy to understand why.) He's highly skilled, to be sure, but he's not a fighter pilot anymore, or so he thought. He's a Denver lawyer and family man who, right up to the end, isn't convinced why he's got to be in Korea, and he's angry that instead of getting on with his life, he has to face death, something for which he increasingly lacks the energy. With each scrape, he seems to lose more and more patience. He does his duty with great competence and professionalism -- he almost never loses his cool -- and we might also say great courage. But his courage comes by way of reluctant resignation and bitterness. He can't stand listening to indifferent civilians cheer a football game, a mocking of war. He can't stand the racket of the jets on the deck of the carrier as he tries to write a letter to his wife if he dies. He can't stand watching the video from the photo mission through the heavily defended Toko-Ri valley, suggesting that it will be a miracle to make it through the real mission (to destroy the bridges) without being brought down. The movie consists of this good man being drastically, and, we begin to feel, outrageously put upon, suffocated by the war and his own unshakeable dedication. For example, he sacrifices a rare night with his family to bail Mickey Rooney out of a Tokyo military jail. Rooney, a helicopter pilot, had rescued Holden from the ocean after Holden "ditched" his plane, and, Holden says, he'd do just about anything for Rooney in return. The switch in this different sort of war movie is that Rooney, unlikeable away from his chopper, doesn't really deserve the benefit of Holden's fraternal devotion. Rooney was in jail because he incited a brawl over a girl, and, being an incurable hothead, he seems prone to start another one at every opportunity. But Holden does what he feels he must. Likewise, he flies the incredibly dangerous mission to take out the bridges of Toko-Ri.Of the ending, I'll only say that I didn't expect it, that it makes perfect sense of all that has come before, that it leaves you feeling sapped, and that it sticks with you. This is a wonderful, serious movie.

Mickey Ronnie is funny in this movie

Kino Lorber Studio Classics releases on Blu-ray this Parmount studios film from 1955 based on the James Michner novel directed by Mark Robson and starring William Holden as Naval reserve officer and pilot Harry Brubaker called up for service in the Korean war to fly a dangerous but vital mission over enemy territory to destroy the titular bridges, and fuel reserves, which may come at a high cost indeed. Grace Kelly plays his loving wife visiting him in Japan. Costars Frederic March, Mickey Rooney, and Earl Holliman.Looking quite good in HD, a big upgrade over the Parmount DVD of 2001, porting over the theatrical trailer but now including an audio commentary and other Holden trailers that Kino has. First rate film well-acted and filmed on authentic locations has a bit too much comedy with Rooney, but otherwise offers a starkly realistic view of war, especially with the grim ending. Comes with a slipcover.

Outstanding classic movie! If you like war movies, especially those involving classic fighter aircraft, you'll love this one!

It shows the unpleasantness of war. No glory in where one man begins to question the reason when he is there. It has a sad ending, all 3 three people are killed. The goods guys don't always win.

Excellent film

This is a review of the 2021 All Region Limited Edition Blu-ray from Imprint. It plays in the original Widescreen 1.33:1 and LPCM 2.0 Mono, but also in 1080p. The result is a very good looking film, with lovely colour, a fairly clear, clean picture and excellent sound. There are a few extras.There are far fewer films about the Korean War than about WW2, even just the fighting in the Pacific. And films about Vietnam are both more plentiful, and generally better known. So finding a really good one, that takes a cool, hard, look, and strips out all the gung-ho razzmatazz and over-the-top political rationalisation, is rare and welcome. ‘M.A.S.H’(1970) is THE famous film, which went on to generate a much-loved and long-running TV spin-off. There are others, but this film is certainly one of the very best. It has top drawer credentials, being based on a 1953 novella by James A Michener, who had enlisted as a Naval Officer in WW2, despite being a Quaker. During the Korean War, he was an embedded reporter, serving on Naval carriers and writing about the Naval air war. He was also a Pulitzer Prize winner for his first novel, about WW2 in the Pacific.Michener’s book, about the destruction of heavily defended bridges, also drew in part on the exploits of the first US helicopter pilot to win the Medal of Honor. It was viewed by many of the men who’d actually participated, as one of the most accurate portrayals of their experience, both in the air and on the ground. Mark Robson, the Canadian-born director, was originally an editor, assisting with ’Citizen Kane’(1941). He was not prolific as a director, but had several notable successes, including ‘Champion’(1949) and ‘Inn of the Sixth Happiness’(1958). His WW2 film ‘Von Ryan's Express’(1965), with Frank Sinatra, is a gem.Robson had considerable co-operation from the US Navy, and filmed aboard 2 carriers, using their Grumman ‘Panthers’ and a Sikorsky ‘Dragonfly’, a very early rescue helicopter ~ this is especially fascinating. They also filmed on US bases in Japan. This co-operation allowed the most spectacular sequences of bombing raids, landing on carriers and other exciting flying scenes. Models were intercut with actual naval combat footage, to produce amazingly authentic and scary action. The result was an OSCAR for Special Effects and a nomination for Editing, both of which were well-deserved.Mirroring Michener’s own position, and in an interesting foreshadowing of later Vietnam War films, ‘Toko-Ri’ is not unequivocally in favour of the War. It is made very clear that a small minority of American men had drawn something of a short straw, requiring them to serve, dutifully, in a nasty, dangerous action largely ignored and forgotten ~ and discounted ~ at home. There is also equivocation about it’s actual usefulness and value. William Holden, the lead character, actively questions his service. Holden is excellent, as the bright, brave but reluctant pilot, with every reason to resent his call-up. Frederic March, as the Admiral, fair-minded and committed, is also very good.This is no flag waver, but a story of mature service and duty, and of unexpected heroes. And the action sequences are second to none. A 5 Star war film, exciting, compelling and moving.

Très beau film de bonne facture, issu de l'écrasante production hollywoodienne de l'après guerre, qui nous a abreuvé de films de guerre et de westerns. Outre l'hymne à la patrie, au sens du devoir et à la valeur sacrée, voire puritaine, qui s'attache à la famille.....américaine, le film restitue à merveille le "climat" à bord d'un porte avion US avec le Pédro en stationnaire en proue bâbord, l'OA et ses raquettes, et le mythique Grumman F5F Panther dans sa superbe livrée bleu marine et ses cocardes, bien voyantes, à l'inverse de celles plus que discrètes, qui identifient les avions d'armes d'aujourd'hui. Film à recommander à tous les fanas d'aviation.

If you like older movies, you will enjoy this one.

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