TopGun Retro / Bridges at Toko Ri 

"The bridges at Toko-ri" is a great movie, and one of the most beautifully "shot" war movies of all times! A must watch!😉

As a fan of both movies, I had the biggest foolish grin on my face the whole time. Thank you for this gem!

That’s my ship. USS Oriskany CVA-34!

There is a link to the Bridges at Toko-Ri and Topgun. The movie is filmed and set onboard the USS Oriskany In the 1st Topgun movie When Maverick is at Vipers house and is in the living room he sees the photo of Viper and Duke (Mavericks dad) together and viper sees that maverick notices the photo he tells maverick that both he and his dad served together onboard the USS Oriskany. Oriskany was part Task force 11 during the Vietnam war and operated in designated area Yankee Station which from 64-66 operated about 100 miles east of Da Nang in south Vietnam. Maverick's dad was shot down on November 5th 1965 as part of VF-51 who flew secret combat missions between 1964 and 1965 over Laos and Cambodia. A week after the events mentioned Oriskany received orders to depart for Subic bay which it arrived at on November 30th before returning to san Diego. Task force 77 was also the designated taskforce that the USS Oriskany served with during the Korean war and is mentioned in the movie

The straight-wing F9F Panthers were beautiful planes.

Tomcat: "That's my grandpa." 🥺

This is well done. Better film than Top Gun. Where do we get such men?

Absolutely love this! The Bridges at Toko-Ri was the Top Gun of the 1950s. Love the mash up!

Fantastic. Bridges of Toko-Ri was the impetus of my father's going in to the USAF in 1954 - until '84. I've always thought of Top Gun as the modern-day Toko-Ri picture - incidentally, William Holden's absolute favorite of all his performances (i.e., over Bridge over the River Kwai, Wild Bunch, Sunset Boulevard, S.O.B, Stalag 17, etc...). - Excellent mash-up. Thanks for making it!

It was only 20 years from Panthers to Tomcats. It's been 50 years since the Tomcat entered service. Ouch! .... Where did we get such men?

It was made in 1954. The Navy background extras were in the war the year before! they are playing themselves.

I used to do that same walk out to the bow that Bill Holden did when I was an Aviation Ordnanceman (Red Shirt) on board the U.S.S. Oriskany CVA-34 in the Tonkin Gulf in Vietnam in 1970...

Awesome parody and excellently done. This is one of my favourite military aviation films, and the music from Top Gun is one of the few things I liked about it, so a terrific combination as far as I'm concerned. Massive fan of the early jets, and the F9F's in this were so beautifully photographed, always a pleasure to watch. Great stuff!

Apologies my ass, this is real navy everyone else is a computer systems operator, with mode 1 capability to land using magic carpet and AI to see through the bottom of the aircraft. This was real seat of the pants down in the weeds, having a knife fight in a telephone booth, and fly by wire then was cables to your flight controls, not to mention no GPS no no INS, no Sat comm no HUD no HOTAS, no link 16, no network management, no radar and dead reckoning back to the boat. God bless Korean war vets.

The F9F Panther: the original X-Wing fighter in the original Death Star "canyon run"! Must have been very impresive to a teenaged George Lucas! Thanks for the great video!

Amazing retro combination. Thank you fot this footage

Thank you for this! Great tribute to one of the most underrated films of all time. I almost wish you had included the flak storm they flew through….twice if I remember it correctly. Thank you!

Make sure you see the actual film. Some great actors - William Holden, Grace Kelly, and Mickey Rooney in a great role.

lOVE IT, 70 years ago as of today!

This is a great presentation. There was a light show in Texas in 2001 featuring an F-4 Phantom flown by Gen Steve Ritchie USAF Ace retired. His F-4 flow by to this song at the moment of the Tomcat being launched he flow by. Something else as this is a superb intro.

Hey Don, That was Cool Beans!!! A GREAT work on mixing the song of a Great movie with the OUTSTANDING movie of Bridges at Toko-Ri!

I really like take .Musically and Visually.Really fine work.

I gotta watch this! Without the annoyance of Kenny Logins

WELL DONE BRAVO ZULU

Dennis Weaver flew Wildcats in ww2

The Bridges at Toko Ri is a classic and stands alone as one of William Holden's best films!..It didn't need Kenny Loggins to make it better!..Just sayin'!

I have always wanted to see something less. Nice to find out it existed. In fact, I think a remake of this move would not go amiss. Of course, it would be the same war and the same time period, but maybe use Banshees instead of Panthers, like they did in the book. I would cast Mel Gibson, Julianne Moore, Gene Hackman, and Joe Pantoliano.

That is one beautiful plane

Great re-mix. Gotta watch that movie again.

didnt remember Dennis Weaver

Damn, this is impressive! A clever comparison. I watched this movie as a boy on tv. About time to watch it again.

The water looks cold every time I see this movie!

Wow very well done! Bravo Zulu!! Brought to you by Grumman Ironworks, Philadelphia Naval Ship Yards, Douglas Aircraft Co and Piseki Helicopters!!

" Highway " should've STARTED when Holden LAUNCHED ......otherwise, BETTER than Top Whatever , One or Two ....... This and Flight of the Intruder , A-Ok in my book 😁👍❤🇺🇸

Thats cool the Tomcats grandfather

Lt. Harry Brubaker, lawyer from Denver, Colorado, recalled Navy pilot, ends up dead in a stinking ditch in Korea.

This was the Top Gun of my dads era

Top Gun was the dumbest movie ever, except for Top Gun Maverick

Wow, those shooters sure look casual compared to today. This is the first of the four great jet-war films (followed by "Flight of the Intruder," and the two Top Gun flicks).

The Original movie is my favorite aviation movie, and one of my favorite war flicks of all times. Top Gun did nothing for me at all, to over the top, very unrealistic, Toko-Ri is 100% realism, t When I was in the USAF for 10 years I loved to talk to old time retired or served as Aircrew .And when Top Gun came out and I would ask if they liked it, and if they had ever seen The Bridges at Toko-Ri most by far would say Toko-Ri was reality, no over hype on the flight or action scenes, solid realism, good movie. And say it's for those who never flew, Top Gun is how you imagined it would be, ok or fun film . I agree with the old vets. This Mash-up or Editing or whatever it is called improves the original, even with the credits, Please do the whole movie. That would be amazing in my 61 year old war flick mind!

Director Mark Robson made an excellent film from what is mostly a disappointing, downer novel by James Mishener. The film won the Academy Award for a well-deserved effort at special effects along with 2 other nominations.

WOW! There's something timeless about that opening music and flight ops aboard an aircraft carrier. ❤️😎🫡👍

War movies seldom end well for William Holden . . . Horse Soliders, Bridges at Toko Ri, Bridge on the River Kwi, Stalag 17

Well done Sir.

Nice but we need the YANKEE STATION version

Excellent, video, an idea of approaching, the 1st top gun A (Bridges at Toko Ri) was strong. Very often with 2nd top gun thinking about the past time it was natural for me to think about the temporal distance, it is certainly a pity that in the film the main character died. It would have been nice if in making introduction to the course there had been the interpretation of one of these actors remembering the events of the Korea war ....

Well done McLean.

William Holden would not have taken thieir call or opened the envelope had he been there. What an absurd comparison. Mucho Class vs the pretender cult guy.

Sensacional! pena que faltou a cena do ataque, numa época que o Dogfight ainda era a regra... Parabéns pelo vídeo e obrigado!

GRUMMAN

This represents nearly the oldest phase of the Jet War. These pilots are actually wearing the old pre-composit metal crash helmets! ✈️

This was a realistic, gut wrenching view of the limitations of technology and the ultimate human cost of war. His plane was taken down by relatively primitive AA gunfire, a lucky hit that caused a fuel leak. Once on the ground he became the hunted on a primal level. Just brutal, the fear and anguish. Great film, great performances all around. Great cinematography.

Lee transonic, will be over tokori in 45 seconds....

This is great - thanks for doing it.

Top Gun was a joke with the most cartoonish dogfights in movie history. Comparing Toko-Ri with the "movie made for kids" that Top Gun was is an insult to Toko-Ri.

How the heck I only found this today, two of my favourite movies combined! You are a legend!

Jolly Good Show👌

I just KNEW someone would've done this!

I've always those fighter jets.

I was just about to do this. Yours is much better than I imagined. Awesome!

So you're telling me they launched from catapult with canopy opened !!??? Heavy cojones !!

Maravillosa.Carlos Avila.Venezuela.

Outstanding!

If you live in Orange county, Southern California, there are two Grumman Panthers that you can go sit in and play on if you like. They are real Panthers, but covered in gunite. They are in public parks, one in Costa Mesa and the other in Anaheim

Very poor use of music. It's chopped up seemingly by a 4yr old with ADD and you can barely hear it.

The ironic thing is that at the time William Holden played in several war movies as a soldier who hated war and couldn't wait to be out of it. Here, in Bridge Over River Kwai and Stalag 17 off the top of my head.

LMFAO OMG 💀💀💀💀 Love it. Respect. 👍👍

No apologies dude. This is an awesome movie and it really paved the way in Hollywood and the public for great movies like Top Gun. My mom used to sit in the movie theatre watching this movie and praying her fiancé would come home alive from the Korean War, which he did and why I am alive today.

Top Gun meets Star Wars

Very good! Very good indeed : )

More like "Top Muskets"

They're all the same breed.

Good Movie, Bad Ending.

The west was awesome wasn't it?

The real top guns

Much better film tbh 😮

a much much better movie than that romance/bromance top gun.

Lana Lana LANAAAAA!!!!! “Danger Zone!”

Very cool LOL... good fun

OUTSTANDING!!!

Bridges at Toko Ri- More planes, more flying, No sweaty guys with out shirts. Much better acting.

Operating from a pitching carrier deck in frigid seas to make bombing runs against intense AAA fire in hostile, rugged mountainous terrain…where do we get such men, indeed!!! True heroes! RIP!!!

Henry Bumstead. Great designer!

Wow, the Oriskany. Just like Viper served on later. This is fantastic. The early days of jets were dangerous times to fly. The jet engine simply wouldn't spool up fast for you. Pilots found this out only when....they needed to spool it up fast. Usually on a go-around or aborting a landing. I can only imagine how tough it was to do this as a Naval Aviator where you're dealing with the old straight deck carriers that were years behind the planes they were carrying. The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a great flick too.

Creo que argentina su porciones tuvo eso panthers

Beautifully done Sir!

Wowww

That this doesn't have three squillion views is criminal. Thanks for this, stay well.

More like the original Flight of the Intruder movie since both films are similar. Bombers make history!

Where's Ted Williams?

Remarkable!!! This is amazing!! Well done!

👍👍👍👍👍👍

Sweet!

❤

Why apologize? That was real footage of people flying into a real war.

Keeping up foreign relations...

You watch deck operations on a carrier today and it’s a tightly knit dance on the edge of death. You watch this movie and you wonder how ANYONE survived. Everything seems so… rough. Crude. But it worked and kept working. I love the Panther but it’s so underpowered! As were most jets in those times. Great movie. And a well done video here! 👍

This was the Top Gun of its era…

Loved it! Bravissimo!

Really good, well done.