THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI is a traditional Hollywood war movie, this time utilising the Korean War as a backdrop for the usual gung-ho heroics from the square-jawed cast members. The heroes are Navy pilots tasked with the impossible mission of blowing up some crucial bridges in Korea, so it's a little like an American version of THE DAM BUSTERS although not as good. William Holden does well as the dependable lead and Grace Kelly always brightens up the screen as his love interest. I found Mickey Rooney a big asset as well in a typically likable performance as the airforce buddy. The film meanders a little early on but it picks up with an intense and highly realistic climax that doesn't skimp on the drama and pathos.

The famous Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, must have had a grimly ironic appreciation of The Bridges at Toko-Ri when this film came out. After serving in the Marines in World War II, Williams was called back to the Marines for the Korean War and for the better part of two years flew the jets that you see Bill Holden flying here in the Navy.

Just as the Korean War interrupted one of the best baseball careers of the last century in real life, in this film William Holden is recalled from a thriving law practice in Denver, Colorado, not to mention from his lovely wife Grace Kelly and their two children. He flies carrier based jets bombing targets in the Korean War wondering like Ted Williams what he did in life to get called for two wars.

A few years earlier Warner Brothers did a fine film called Task Force which depicted the history of naval aviation through the eyes of its protagonist, Gary Cooper. The history went as far as the end of World War II and we were still flying propeller planes.

Maybe today's viewer can identify with a film like Top Gun where the skills are now a learned routine. But the Korean War was the first fought with jet aircraft and pilots had to really learn and develop new skills to take off and land on an aircraft at supersonic speed. Everyone, even the Russians, were all new at this in 1950 when the Korean War started.

Some critics have said Grace Kelly was wasted in this part, basically doing a role June Allyson perfected. Actually if you pay close attention, she's not terribly different from her role as housewife and mother in The Country Girl where she got her Oscar. She's just married to someone different is all. She has a very effective scene with her husband's commander Admiral Fredric March when she flies to Japan to be with Holden, taking along their two children.

My favorite in this film however is Mickey Rooney. He plays a helicopter rescue pilot and we first meet him and his co-pilot Earl Holliman rescuing Holden from the deep blue sea. Rooney is an irreverent sort, on duty with a green scarf and green top hat, looking like one of the little craitures from Ireland. Quick to brawl, but a real friend when you need one, I love his philosophy that you can say anything to officers as long as you put a sir on the end of it. There weren't going to be too many promotions in his future.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri is filled with a lot of Cold War nostrums and dated in that respect for today's audience. But it is a great tribute to those jet pilots, the crews that supported them, and the families that loved them, trying out those new skills in a brand new kind of war.

It's 1952 off the coast of Korea. Harry Brubaker (William Holden) is a Naval Reserve pilot on active duty. He crashes into sea and rescued by helicopter crew Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney) and Nestor Gamidge (Earl Holliman). Rear Admiral Tarrant (Fredric March) is in charge of the aircraft carrier USS Savo Island. They return to Japan where Brubaker has shore leave in Tokyo with his wife Nancy (Grace Kelly) and children. The bridges at Toko-Ri is an important and dangerous target.

The action is impressive with the marrying of real naval assets and impressive looking miniatures. It is the best parts of the movie for me. The story follows various characters and is rather traditional. The family story and other background stories get a little tedious. However the real ships and planes make the action very compelling. Even with the miniatures, it is probably the Top Gun of its day.