Bridges at Toko-Ri, The

Novel by James Michener, 1953 Film directed by Mark Robson, 1955

James Michener's The Bridges at Toko-Ri examines U.S. involvement in the Korean War through the experiences of a Navy combat pilot. The novel was quickly made into a movie. Imaginatively filmed by cinematographer Loyal Griggs and created with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, the movie featured a notable cast, a realistic and plausible plot, and spectacular aerial special effects for which the film won an Academy Award. Released just over a year after the cessation of hostilities in Korea, the film joined other interpretations of that war such as One Minute to Zero (1952), Retreat, Hell! (1952), and The McConnell Story (1955). Its thoughtful depiction of this war from the personal and humanized perspective of “loyal doubters” stood in contrast to these contemporary films touting the “good fight” against the fearsome hordes of the Red Menace. While The Bridges at Toko-Ri explored the “domino theory” (which maintained that if one country fell to communist expansion several others would follow), it also [Page 91]invited audiences to consider more closely the lives of some of the American warriors who were sent forth as a wall of resistance to the seemingly ever-present communist threat.

Veteran World War II pilot Harry Brubaker (William Holden), settling into a comfortable postwar life as an attorney and family man in Denver, is called up to fly perilous missions from the fictional aircraft carrier USS Savo Island over heavily defended targets in Korea. Lieutenant Brubaker, a member of the inactive Reserves, is surprised and resentful that his number has come up considerably ahead of many active Reserve pilots, but he also realizes that he finds himself in this situation because of his high caliber and experience: the greatly reduced post–World War II U.S. armed forces struggled considerably to return to sufficient strength in late 1950 to carry out their mission in Korea. Despite his personal disappointment and his expressed doubts about the utility of the present conflict, Brubaker focuses his attention and professional skills on the missions he must fly over Korea.

During his ship's liberty port call in Japan, Brubaker is briefly reunited with his wife Nancy (Grace Kelly) and his two small daughters, while sea rescue helicopter pilot Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney) wreaks havoc in the bars of Yokosuka. Brubaker's Tokyo idyll is overshadowed by the treacherous mission over Toko-Ri that awaits upon his return to sea. Nancy has learned of this mission from Admiral Tarrant (Fredric March), who encourages her to consider the possibility of her husband's death despite Brubaker's attempts to shield her from that very possibility. The couple quietly comes to terms, and they devote their attention to each other on this short vacation together. On the eve of the attack on the bridges at Toko-Ri, Brubaker agonizes yet resolves to fly the mission, which he executes expertly and survives handily, but in the subsequent action against a secondary target his plane is hit, forcing him down on Korean soil. Mike Forney nonetheless brings his rescue helicopter in for a landing under enemy fire, but it is disabled, forcing Brubaker and Forney to defend themselves against approaching troops from a shallow ditch, where both are killed within minutes. This grim scene dissolves into an epilogue featuring the dispirited yet resolute admiral, who mourns Brubaker nearly as a surrogate son, yet marvels at the courage and sacrifice of “such men” even as they (and he) question their country's involvement in Korea.

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