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''The Mountain Road'' is a 1960 war film starring James Stewart and directed by Daniel Mann. 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.,〔("The Burma Front (Fronts in the Pacific)." ) ''Time,'' September 1943. Retrieved: June 10, 2012.〕 who served as head of a demolition crew that inspired the story and film. Gleason was later hired as an (uncredited) technical consultant for the film.〔Evans 2000, p. 137.〕 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 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 '70s. As a World War II combat veteran, Stewart had vowed never to make a war movie, concerned they were hardly ever 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."〔Munn 2006, p. 248.〕 ==Plot== In 1944, engineer Major Baldwin (James Stewart) is ordered to blow up an airfield as well as strategic roads and bridges to help American troops in China retreat from the Japanese army. General Loomis (Alan Baxter) is reluctant to send Baldwin due to his inexperience as a commander, but relents. Baldwin, accompanied by reluctant conscripts, Sergeant Michaelson (Harry Morgan), Prince (Mike Kellin), Lewis (Eddie Firestone), Miller (Rudy Bond) and Collins (Glenn Corbett), the demolition team's translator, Baldwin finds out from Colonel Li (Leo Chen), the Chinese commander that the Japanese are about to capture a munitions dump. Colonel Kwan (Frank Silvera) is assigned to the team but before they can embark, Madame Sue-Mei Hung (Lisa Lu), the American-educated widow of a Chinese officer, joins them, with Baldwin gradually becoming attracted to the widow. Baldwin blows up a bridge and pushes a truck over a cliff to keep on pace, trying to reach the munitions dump before the Japanese. Sue-Mei and Baldwin are at odds over his cavalier treatment of the Chinese when he resorts to blowing up a mountain road, leaving thousands of local Chinese residents homeless. After stopping at a village because Miller is ill, Collins tries to give out the surplus food the team has brought, but is trampled to death by starving villagers. Baldwin is furious and resolute in trying to complete his mission, finally successful in blowing up the munitions storage, but when one of his trucks is stolen by Chinese bandits, Miller and Lewis are also killed. Baldwin exacts revenge by rolling a gas barrel into the bandits' outpost and setting the village on fire. Baldwin asks Sue-Mei to understand why he had to act that way, but there is no reconciliation between them as the gulf of two divergent cultures is too great and she leaves him. Although recognizing his retribution was fundamentally excessive and brutal, Baldwin radios his report to headquarters, and is praised for fulfilling his mission. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Mountain Road」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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