The Mountain Road (1960)
June 15, 1960Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently The Mountain Road is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: The Roku Channel
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
James Stewart
Maj. Baldwin
Lisa Lu
Madame Sue-Mei Hung
Glenn Corbett
Collins
Harry Morgan
Sgt. 'Mike' Michaelson
Frank Silvera
Col. Kwan
James Best
Niergaard
Rudy Bond
Sgt. Miller
Mike Kellin
Prince
Frank Maxwell
Sgt. Ballo
Leo Chen
Colonel Li
Eddie Firestone
Maj. Lewis
Peter Chong
Chinese Colonel
Daniel Mann
Director
P.C. Lee
Chinese General
Alfred Hayes
Writer
Theodore H. White
Writer
Media.
Details.
Release DateJune 15, 1960
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 42m
Content RatingNR
Genres
Last updated:
Wiki.
The Mountain Road is a 1960 war film starring James Stewart and directed by Daniel Mann. Set in China and based on the 1958 novel of the same name by journalist-historian Theodore H. White, the film follows the attempts of a U.S. Army major to destroy bridges and roads potentially useful to the Japanese during World War II. White's time covering China for Time magazine during the war led to an interview with former OSS Major Frank Gleason Jr., who served as head of a demolition crew that inspired the story and film. Gleason was later hired as an uncredited technical adviser for the film.The film is a rather somber treatment of World War II and includes themes that were taboo for Hollywood during the war years, such as tensions between allies and racism among American troops. The protagonist is a frustrated and morally conflicted U.S. officer unsure about the value of his mission. For these reasons, The Mountain Road is often labeled as anti-war, but it was made with the cooperation of the Pentagon, and it is much more respectful of the military as an institution than are the well-known anti-war films of the 1960s and 1970s.
As a World War II combat veteran, Stewart had vowed never to make a war film, concerned they were rarely realistic. The Mountain Road was the only war movie set during World War II in which he starred as a combatant. Stewart, however, had been featured in a wartime short, Winning Your Wings (1942) and in a civilian role in Malaya (1949). Harry Morgan, another cast member in The Mountain Road, later said he believed that Stewart made an "exception for this film because it was definitely anti-war."