The Mountain Road

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Shane C Harry Morgan is the best thing in the movie, showing range that would one day be better utilzed in MASH. The great Jimmy Stewart plays unevenly against type--impatient but instrospective, war-hardened yet untested. He is always watchable, but a bit too old for the part. The pacing is slow, and as others have noted, the movie suffers from poor production values. The hazy black and white film hasn't aged well. Imagine if we had seen those explosions in color, comparable to "The Bridge on the River Kwai"? Even worse, the bouncy musical score is completely pointless and disconnected from the action or its underlying themes, as though it were lifted wholesale from another movie. The one-sided romance between the Stewart character and the Chinese widow near the end feels just as tacked-on and unnecessary as the music. Why could these two not have a meaningful conversation in the aftermath, allowing him to be humble and apologize without simultaneously turning him into a horndog in the last ten minutes? It didn't fit in the least with his no-nonsense, man-on-a-mission persona throughout the film. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 06/10/25 Full Review Steve D Not my kind of film but well made. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/24 Full Review Audience Member Another great Jimmy Stewart performance damn near wasted. This WWII drama about a demolition team in western China should have been better, and easily could have been better, yet it retains some worthwhile features. Stewart plays an engineer anxious to get into the war and hold a command. He knows how to blow things up; he doesn't understand people. He can't handle the divisions of rank and class among his soldiers, and the Chinese civilians he is attempting to help just infuriate him. The widow of a recently executed Chinese general (played wonderfully by Lisa Lu) translates for Stewart and tries to expand his understanding, but it just doesn't happen. This movie, which is structured around a series of impressive explosions, and should be awesome just for that, was inexplicably shot in black and white. And that might be the single dumbest decision in the history of cinema. The movie was made in 1960 and should have been a terse warning about getting into the war in Vietnam. No one listened. Not even Jimmy Stewart, who lost a son in that senseless conflict. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member The overall feel was futility, but it still had its poetic moments and interesting developments. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/25/17 Full Review Audience Member This is a decent WWII movie. It stars James Stewart as a Major in the US military during the war against Japan in China. His crew are demolition experts and are assigned to blow up some bridges and a supply depo before the Japanese can access them. But the real danger is never the Japanese army. In fact the real danger comes from the locals in China who are bandits or starving villages that are desperate for food. Stewart's character falls for a Chinese woman but conflicts with her and the Chinese culture. Plus they butt heads when it comes dealing with the locals. Overall this was a much more darker war film then I expected going into it. Stewart gives a solid performance as ususal. The explosions and action sequences are decent in this as well. A film worth checking out if you enjoy war movies or are a James Stewart fan. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member good stewart ahh shucks drama well now that goes down nicely Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Mountain Road

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