Bridges at Toko-Ri [VHS]

I found this movie enjoyable to watch. It starts off well with an aircraft in trouble and the rescue of one pilot. In some places it tends to sway from the story line but this is more beneficial than handicapping.
The caste is good and Mickey Rooney plays his part exceptionally well as a helicopter pilot.
The film overall is good and draws you into the story geographically. The visual effects are real and not computer generated and if you are an aviation buff or into realism,it is well worth seeing.

Great film from start to finish. On top of the action you get brilliant footage of Grumman Panthers jets and Sikorski Dragonfly helicopters. All in all a top notch movie with an important sub plot of 'wifely' patriotism in supporting their aviator husbands returning to fight (soon after WW2) in the non too popular Korean war. Well played by all the actors and a great story line. 5 stars !

1954's The Bridges at Toko-Ri is pretty thin stuff - and seemed even thinner still when it was reworked without acknowledgement and updated to the Vietnam war in Flight of the Intruder - but what little it does, it does surprisingly well. There's not much plot as William Holden's jet bomber pilot starts to suffer a mild attack of nerves in the run-up to a dangerous mission, and, like his resentment over losing his career as a lawyer when drafted to fight in what he sees as a pointless war no-one cares about, it tends to skirt around anything that might cast too controversial a light on the Korean War while Frederic March's admiral who takes a paternal interest in him reassures him of the Truman Doctrine (if they don't stop the Commies here, they'll be fighting them in Mississippi). Even Grace Kelly as his long separated wife doesn't get much of a part, simply there as part of the kind of loving family the commies obviously don't have and who is the real reason the fight has to go on. Her biggest scene is having to listen to March's party pooper telling her how his daughter in law became an alcoholic nymphomaniac and his wife a basket case after his sons were killed in action, which is his way of preparing her for the possibility that Holden may not make it to the end credits, but otherwise she's just there to smile and be supportive.

But, in return for beating the drum for American involvement and pushing the pipe dream that all it would take to win the war is one spectacular bombing mission to sap the enemy's morale, the producers get two aircraft carriers, a rescue helicopter, numerous real jets and 17 other ships to play with, and director Mark Robson makes sure that Paramount gets their money's worth by showcasing them in genuinely spectacular fashion. The special effects are remarkably effective even today, for the most part so seamlessly integrated with the real footage that it's hard to tell what shots, if any, are models, and the raid on the bridges through heavy barrages of flak is an incredibly vivid bit of filmmaking.

Although he doesn't have as much to work with as he could, Holden is in good form, possibly because his own brother was a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in WW2 giving the film a personal relevance (he apparently insisted on keeping the darker ending of James Michener's novel rather than the happier one the studio wanted). Charles McGraw and Earl Holliman offer decent support while Mickey Rooney manages to make more of his role as a rescue pilot than is on the page by effectively underplaying the role. For the most part the film takes a similar approach, managing to avoid rah-rah patriotism to create a more sober mood - the film's message is ultimately more pragmatic than rabble rousing: these people fight just because they're there. It's not a great or enduring classic for the ages, but it is a surprisingly high quality bit of filmmaking that, at its best, holds up remarkably well more than 50 years and several wars later.

Like most of their back-catalogue titles, Paramount's DVD is extras-free but has a good transfer.