Bridge Movies

                                                                        Part 2

     I couldn’t get all the good bridge movies into one column. So herewith another handful of movies about bridges. Are there any more? Probably, but these are all I could actually write about.     

    One of the best bridge movies connected to warfare is not about World War II. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) is set in the Korean war. A rare screen appearance by Princess (okay, later on) Grace Kelly helps a lot. William Holden, Mickey Rooney and Frederick March are also on board. American pilots are asked to undertake a perilous mission to knock out the bridges at Toko-Ri. They are stiffly defended by the communist forces as they connect North Korea and China. Their initial attack is a success but then they try a second target and disaster follows. 

Ice Bridge: The Impossible Journey (2018) is about an entirely different kind of bridge. In this made for TV documentary two archeologists set about to prove that Ice Age people crossed the frozen Atlantic from Europe to North America in a time before the Vikings or Columbus. Their discovery of an artifact on the Maryland Eastern Shore buttesses their somewhat novel claim. You can watch this and decide for yourself- I was sold!

The Bridges of Madison County (2015) provide the backdrop of a romantic encounter between Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood)  and Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep) He is a photographer on assignment to photograph the covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa. His chance encounter with Francesca provide the sparks in a romantic film that was exremely popular. It also became a Broadway Musical. She is an Iowa housewife just okay in a marriage become almost platonic. Their brief affair almost bursts into flame and they nearly run away together, but she cannot abandon her teen-age children and faithful husband. Her kids discover her romantic story after her death. 

The Cassandra Crossing (1976) is a real nail biter with really big stars. Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner are the eye candy. Richard Harris, Martin Sheen and Burt Lancaster provide the testosterone level. Fearing the passengers on a train are infected with a deadly virus and should be quarantined, their train is changed to a perilous route that must cross the old and doubtful bridge to Poland. There are many conflicts among the scientists and soldiers and the ending is edge of your seat stuff. 

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (1962) is a French film of an American Civil War story. A southern Confederacy sympathizer and saboteur is captured by the Union forces and sentenced to be hanged from Owl Creek bridge. As he prepares himself for death, he has visions of his home, his wife and his children. When he is pushed off the bridge, the rope breaks, he falls into the river and swims to safety. I will not reveal the ending here. It astounded me!

All of the movies in this article are available for streaming somewhere. All are for grown-ups.