Bought a copy of the movie yesterday.

As I was watching William Holden and his team hack their way through the jungle with machetes, I wondered why some enterprising soul never invented a tactical whipper snipper.

Just sayin'. 😃

I thought the machete was the "tactical whipper-snipper"?

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

Something like this?

Oh, and the movie theme rivals the one from 'A bridge too far.'

I have been there several times and it used to be fun watching the Brits and Japanese having punch ups in the cemetery but I think they're mostly dead now.. Over 5000 Indians and other nationalities were just thrown into an unmarked hole somewhere.

I think I dated her a few times in college.

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Oh well, what the hell.

William Holden is awesome. I never get tired of watching him in Stalag 17, one of the best movies ever IMHO.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

The Wild Bunch best Western ever

I recommend you read "Through the Valley of the Kwai" by Ernest Gordon to really get an understanding of how really horribly these men suffered at the hands of the Japanese.It was much worse than depicted in the movie.

I visited the area in the mid 80's and visited the memorial and cemetery at Kanchanaburi . As I understand it ,all Allied prisoners were buried in 3 cemetery's after the war. The natives from Thailand, Burma ,Malaysia etc. were just dumped along the rail line and left to rot

Not the best but, certainly up there. Also--im very biased on the subject of westerns.

Oh, good thread drift and early on.

I think Burt Lancaster Westerns are often overlooked or forgotten about but among the best----

The Unforgiven (flip side of the coin for Alan LeMay's other oater The Searchers)

Ulzana's Raid (pretty near dead on about Apache wars)

The Professionals (just darn good fun!)

OK, back to the Kwai.

Looked at this post this morning and have not been able to get that River Kwai theme out of my head ,,,,
Good picture along with the,
Wild Bunch
Stalag 17
A Bridge too Far

Who was Colonel Bogey?

OK, just googled it.
Should have posted on a different thread, maybe?

Well, I know MY luck. I'd be sitting in my tree stand, waiting for Mr Big Buck to come along, when they whip that puppy out to trim the exact tree Im sitting in!

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

Shave AND a haircut!

I cant help it.Im sitting in a public place using wifi and a pretty gal walks by.

the only Kwai thing I can contribute to--besides loving the movie-is months ago I posted the one and only original still I have for this movie. I cant repost it using a tablet but--it shows Alex Guiness standing on the bridge after completion and next to the sign saying it was built by British soldiers.

The Smothers Brothers had a joke that the reason they whistled the song in the Bridge Over the River Kwai was that the words were dirty. I thought it was a joke.

Colonel Bogey March Sheet Music And Tin Whistle Notes - Irish folk songs

Another one of my faves:

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	The-Bridges-of-Toko-Ri-1955-3.jpg (19.6 KB, 28 views)

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

The book "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" was based on was written by a Frenchman named Pierre Boulle. Boulle was a young engineer working for a French tire company in Indochina when WW2 started. He worked with French resistance fighters and at one point was captured by the Japs.
After the war ended he returned to France, refused to go back to work for Michelin and lived with his sister for many years. I have often wondered what his sister thought of Pierre living in her little home in Paris seemingly doing nothing.
All of a sudden he presents his masterpiece to a publisher. It is an instant best seller and a movie that will never be forgotten. Pierre is sort of forgotten as no one seems to know his name.
So, after the fame and fortune of his hit book and movie he tries to settle down to as normal a life as possible. During the rest of his lifetime he did write one more book-------Planet Of The Apes.
If you're just going to write two books in your life, well...

My father used to tell me a story of a man living in Vancouver Wa.who during the war, owned a sawmill in SE Asia and was considered a traitor for selling lumber to the Japanese for building rail lines. What was not common knowledge, is that this gentleman always got word of these rail lines to the British and Americans so that they could be bombed as soon as they were completed.Dang it, I forgot his name.

It looked like today's, except it was painted green and had prongs for attaching to a web belt.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Well, I'll get off track for a moment.

Bridge On The River Kwai..................been there and here is the photo as proof!!!!

The train used by the Japanese.................

The actual bridge is in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.
When I was stationed at Utapao Air Base, Thailand, in 1974-1975 I lived off base in a hootch and my landlord invited me to go on a trip to Kanchanaburi.
In those days I was more interested in heading to Bangkok on my days off to chase fast liquor and strong women, so I declined.
Sometimes it hurts to remember the opportunities I missed in my younger days...

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John

In some situations 'cooperating' is more productive.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

"Where do we get such men?"...one of the great movie lines.

By coincidence, I just bought a DVD copy of The Bridges at Toko-Ri...haven't seen it in years, looking forward to watching it again.