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BRIDGES
it was released American audiences
were shocked by the ending, in
which the heroes of the story with
whom they had identified end up
dead in a muddy ditch in North
Korea, with an admiral musing in the
final frames, “Where do we get such
men?” While the movie was a critical
success, it was not the commercial
AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2019 CINEMA CLASSICS The Bridges at Toko-ri triumph Paramount expected, as
word-of-mouth spread about the
downbeat ending. At the time the
rights to the novel were first bought
for the production, thought had
been given to changing the climax to
something more upbeat. However,
star William Holden committed to
doing the movie only if the original
ending was kept. Holden’s younger
brother, Robert Beedle, had been
a naval aviator during World War
Two and was killed in action. After
the film was released, many of his
squadron-mates remarked on how
much his portrayal of the character
Harry Brubaker resembled Holden’s
brother.
L
at the height of his popularity for
having written Tales of the South
egendary New York Times thing excitingly alive. No wonder. Pacific — which had been turned
film reviewer Bosley Crowther The best stuff in this picture […] into one of the most popular and
wrote at the time The Bridges are the accounts of aircraft carrier beloved Broadway musicals of all
at Toko-ri was released in operations and of Navy men afloat time — the prospect of making a film
1955, “It is easy to see why James A. and ashore. They are the details of about a hero who doesn’t want to be
Michener has publicly proclaimed ready-room briefings, of shooting there, hates the war he is fighting,
that he is pleased with Paramount’s jet planes off cold flight decks, of and is afraid of the job in front
motion picture version of his ‘The crackling communications among of him, was seen in a Hollywood
Bridges at Toko-ri.’ For this color- the planes in the air, of bombing thoroughly cowed by McCarthyism
film representation of the part runs on Korean targets, of nerve- and the blacklist as potentially risky.
ABOVE: of Navy fliers in the Korean war racking landings back on the deck Speaking about his work on the film
One of the in-cockpit — and especially of one jet pilot and of hasty, heroic maneuvers years later, Mickey Rooney recalled,
scenes from The
Bridges at Toko-ri, who commits himself to his duty by the helicopter fellows to fish “My friends told me at the time
featuring Charles gallantly — not only is true to the downed pilots out of the sea… The that if I made the movie, I wouldn’t
McGraw as Panther original, almost to the word, but consequence is that the conception have a career. However, at the time,
pilot Cdr Wayne Lee. also succeeds in bringing the whole of how the Navy performed in the I didn’t have a career!” Indeed, the
28/07/2019 21:26
character of Chief Naval Aviation
Pilot Mike Forney gave Rooney a
new lease of life as a Hollywood
actor, stepping up to adult roles after
his long run as Andy Hardy in the
1940s. He was fondly remembered
by the crew of USS Oriskany, where
much of the film was shot, for going
down to the hangar deck after the
day’s shooting was done and putting
on a show for the men, which did
much to make the crew think well of
the actors and film-makers during
the process.
It was only in the late 1960s,
when ‘Bridges’ began playing on
late-night television and sleepless,
newly returned veterans of the
EVERETT COLLECTION/ALAMY
war in Vietnam saw a story they
could personally relate to, one that
dealt seriously with the real traits
of heroism in combat, that the
film was finally recognised for the
masterpiece it is.
Audiences in 1955 might have felt
better about the ending had they
known the real men the characters
were based on had not died in a
ditch in North Korea, but had instead
walked across the Freedom Bridge
at Panmunjom, having survived 19
months of communist captivity as
PoWs, a month after the film rights
to the novel had been purchased by
Paramount Pictures. Indeed, fans
today may also be relieved to learn
that fact, since the real story is still
little-known, 65 years later.
The novel and film were based on
actual missions flown by pilots from
the USS Essex (CV-9) and the USS
Valley Forge (CV-45) against bridges
at Majon-ni and Changnim‑ni,
North Korea, between December
1951 and February 1952, when
James Michener visited Task Force
77 to write articles for Reader’s
Digest and the Saturday Evening
Post magazine.
28/07/2019 21:27
RIGHT: Ettinger had been retrieved and they
William Holden and crashed. Throughout the day, aircraft
Mickey Rooney, as Lt from Valley Forge flew air cover
Harry Brubaker and
Chief Naval Aviation
while two other helicopters tried
Pilot Mike Forney unsuccessfully to get in and pick up
respectively. Behind the survivors. Finally, surrounded
is a US Navy Sikorsky by North Korean troops, the men
HO3S-1 helicopter. surrendered. The next morning, a
EVERETT COLLECTION/ALAMY
flight sent in to determine what had
happened saw what appeared to be
blood on the snow (but was actually
dye marker from the life vests) and
they were listed as missing, likely
killed. Michener wrote about the
actual event for an article in the July
1952 issue of Reader’s Digest, ‘Heroes
Fail to Save Pal’, which ended, “The
enemy had a field day and we had
nothing. Nothing, that is, except
another curious demonstration
[that] sometimes defeat does
actually mean more to democracy
than victory.”
rear admiral, were the VF-52 pilots impossible to tell which is which. viewing. Fulton’s work beat The Dam
who did most of the aerial work The ‘bridges’ were built on a set in Busters to win that year’s special
since both were scheduled to depart Mint Canyon, 10 miles north-east effects Oscar.
the squadron on new assignments of Los Angeles in the Santa Susana Among American naval aviators,
soon. Smith was the pilot flying Mountains, by veteran special effects the film is considered the best thing
Brubaker’s Panther in the sequence expert John P. Fulton. He had been ever done by Hollywood on the
in which Brubaker and the air group involved with motion picture special topic of their profession. When Capt
commander are searching out a effects for more than 30 years, his Thomas J. Hudner Jr, the only naval
spot for Brubaker to crash-land. The credits including Frankenstein, The aviator awarded the Medal of Honor BELOW:
Panther was supposed to be leaving Invisible Man and Son of Dracula. in the Korean War, was once asked Lt Cdr James L.
a spray of fuel, which was difficult to His first credit had been on Air what it was like to fly off the carriers Holloway III — later
achieve on film. At first, the aircraft Mail, in which he created a crash then, he replied, “Have you ever seen a rear admiral — on
an F9F-5 during
was rigged to dump JP-4 from the using models. He was very aware the movie The Bridges At Toko-ri? It 1953, when he was
wing tanks through hosing on the of aeronautical accuracy, since he was exactly like that”. High executive officer of
underside, but when the footage was an active pilot who had taken praise indeed, of the kind few VF-52 and took part
was developed the actual fuel spray instruction for his pilot’s licence war movies ever achieve. in the filming. US NAVY
was too light and didn’t show up from Mantz and their mutual friend,
well. A second attempt was made Amelia Earhart.
using brown-tinted water-soluble
paint, which was too dark. The third
attempt saw them use 240 gallons The set was 200ft on a side,
of cow’s milk in the tanks, which containing the bridges, rail lines,
looked too light. Finally, the cow’s outbuildings and terrain. The
milk was replaced with 240 gallons attacking aircraft were models
of chocolate milk, which was “just hanging from wires, which Fulton
right”. Holloway and Smith recalled photographed from a Bell 47
being impressed by Mantz, who helicopter with a special camera
was able to get the desired footage mounted on its belly. The bridges
with a minimum of actual flying were built to a scale of 1:12, and
involved. were 8ft tall, while the railroad was
The Bridges at Toko-ri is still O-scale. Small rooms were built into
noted for its use of footage of the ‘hillsides’ where technicians
aircraft flying against the target could set off the pyrotechnic flak as
bridges and the models flying over the Panthers swooped down along
a miniature bridge, which are so the wires. While the effects sound
skilfully interwoven that it is almost primitive today, they still stand up on