The Mountain Road (1960) Movie Script
Looters?
- Yes, sir.
We're abandoning
the base anyway, sir.
We might as well let them have the stuff.
We'd only burn it.
All right,
let's go.
All set?
- Okay. No trouble.
The loaded drums of gas
are all stacked.
You want to try for
the big cigar, Major?
Okay, Prince
Collins, get the jeep
over there, will you?
There's a twist
to it, Major.
You hit the top drum
with the first shot, see.
It's got ordinary
low-octane in it.
And if it don't burn the first shot,
you give it a minute
maybe two, to leak, see.
- I see. I see.
Those fumes,
they fill up the shed.
Then, you cut loose
with your second shot
and those fumes,
they're in there and whammy!
the whole thing goes.
- Okay.
Once at Hengyang,
wasn't it, Niergaard?
We blew off the whole
roof with the second shot.
Yeah the whole roof. Wham!
That was before you came into the outfit,
Major. Uh-huh
You got it, Major?
The fumes, then the second shot.
- Yeah, yeah.
I got it, Prince.
That's a cigar, Major.
You wanna try
for the whole box?
Or a Kewpie doll
for the little lady?
Give the man
the Kewpie doll.
I'd rather see gasoline
go than anything.
Last year, in Kunming I okayed
plans for these installations.
Now, I'm blowing them up.
All right, back
to the alert shack.
We're gonna blow the field.
Then a little sleep,
then out.
Out where, Major?
Back to Kunming? - That's right.
We fly or truck back?
I'm gonna check with
General Loomis now.
Oh, I'd sure like
to fly, Major.
Well, you just be back at the
alert shack at 1600 hours.
And be careful.
The base's crawling with looters.
Come on, come on,
come on, let's go.
What do you think, Prince? You think
this Baldwin knows what the score is?
You think he'll make as good as
demolition officer as McNeil was?
It'll be tough for us
if he don't.
How close are the Japs?
I mean, from here?
About 40 miles.
Demolition's always the last guys to leave,
all the time.
How are you, sir?
Bombs all in?
- Yes, sir. 60 of them.
That ought to give us good big craters
scattered all the way across the field.
How long before the Japs make
the field operations again?
I estimate a week, sir.
Message for you.
From Kunming.
It's the last to come in.
- Read it to him.
"Direct you attempt withdrawal
westward via road stop."
"At your discretion,
repeat, at your discretion"
"achieve maximum delaying effect
on main motor supply route."
"Maximum use
available explosives"
"with due concern safety your
men at your best judgment."
"Signed, Hutcheson
for Chief of Staff."
You don't have to do it.
Sir?
- I can countermand those orders.
I'm going out off the taxi
strip in the morning.
You have until then
to make up your mind.
Is blowing this field your
first demolition job, Major?
Yes, sir.
- You were with an engineering firm
before the war,
weren't you, Baldwin?
Laury and Moody.
A bit different handling
men than handling papers.
Oh, I'm aware of that, sir.
I asked for this assignment.
Asked? Why?
Well, to have a command, sir.
Even for a few days.
Even during a retreat.
You know what
command is, Major?
Well, sir, the book says...
Command is power.
Pure, simple, unlimited.
You have until morning
to make up your mind.
Yes, sir.
When are you set
to blow the last strip?
Oh, we're all set to blow
the main strip right now.
We were gonna plan to blow the
taxiway as soon as you take off.
All right.
You pushing off
now, sir?
Yep. How about you?
Well, sir, I've decided
to go out by truck.
Now, we'll blow this
remaining strip
as soon as you
get off the ground.
Are you sure?
Yes, sir,
I'm sure.
You know, if the Japanese
come up this road
isolate our main base
at Kunming, you know...
Well, I... I'd...
I'd just like to get a crack
at cutting the road, sir.
Good luck on the road.
- Thank you, sir.
All I know is the Major
said load up and wait.
So, you're waiting.
So, I'm waiting.
That's initiative for you.
- Look, Prince.
Don't needle me.
I've been out on the
road with this circus
since last summer
so don't needle me.
Mike, you got any atabrine?
I feel lousy.
You look lousy.
- No, honest, Mike.
Well, what am I,
a drug store?
Look in the medical kit.
All right, at ease.
We had a message
last night
from our main
headquarters in Kunming.
Last night?
- That's right.
Now, what they want us to do
is to stay out on
the road for a few days
and see what we can destroy
on our way to Kweiyang.
We gonna do it, Major?
Headquarters said
after this job
we barrel right back into
Kweiyang with no stops.
Ain't that right, Prince?
- That's what they said.
I'm in command now.
Yeah.
He says that the Chinese Command Post is
up this road, sir, up there in that temple.
He doesn't know if the
CO's up there or not.
Okay. Let's go.
Hey, give me...
Give me the...
Pull over there.
Go on, go on.
I'm gonna get an okay from
Chinese Headquarters.
You wait here.
Okay, come on.
Please, sit.
- Thank you.
America
is China's best friend.
Today is sad.
Today we eat bitterness.
But the final victory
will be ours
because China and
America are friends.
Yes.
Has Major Baldwin
been long in China?
One year, Colonel.
And I want to thank
the Colonel for the tea.
I'm sorry we don't have more
time to enjoy his hospitality.
But I have something very important
to speak to the Colonel about.
What is this
important thing, Major?
Well, Colonel, we are the
American Engineers Demolition of the East China
Task Force.
Now, we've been ordered to delay the
advance of the Japanese from Liuchow.
Now, down here in the valley
there is a small bridge.
We wish to destroy
that bridge.
What does the Major
wish me to do?
Well, the Colonel
is in command here.
I can't blow up the bridge
until the Colonel agrees.
The Japanese will go
as far as Tushan.
I am Colonel Kwan.
Tushan.
Tushan?
That's where the railroad ends, isn't it?
About 120 miles from here.
- Yes, sir.
No, it is not
the railroad.
At Tushan there are
ammunition dumps.
The Japanese know this.
They will go to Tushan and they will stop.
Tushan, the dumps,
to blow them up.
That is all right.
Yes. Tushan, that's all right.
- No, no, no, no.
No, Colonel.
I'm not making myself clear here.
Now, Tushan, that's way
at the end of the line.
We'll think of that
when we get to it.
Now, how about this bridge?
This is what
I'm concerned about.
Excuse me, sir,
may I speak with you
just a moment?
Excuse me.
What's the matter?
I think Colonel Li
is afraid of us, sir.
Well, afraid of what?
Afraid we're gonna
blow everything up.
Well, what does he think I am?
Attila the Hun?
Come on, come on.
I'm sorry.
Uh, you sit over there, will you?
Now, Colonel...
Colonel, the war is sad.
The war is a bitter thing.
Uh, America and China
are friends.
But the Colonel
must understand,
we have orders
to delay the Japanese.
My men are anxious
to get to Kweiyang.
We wish only to destroy
this one little bridge.
Here, in Ishan.
Only this one little bridge
we wish to destroy.
Nothing more.
Nothing.
Only the bridge?
- Right.
The bridge is
all right to destroy.
Fine. All right.
Now, if the Colonel will... - Oh, yes, yes.
I will put my seal
on your pass.
Thanks, Colonel.
Thank you, sir.
Are you drive all
the way to Kweiyang now?
Yes, that's right.
Colonel Kwan will go down to
the bridge with you.
He will talk to
my soldiers.
He will show my order to them.
And then, he will go
to Kweiyang with you.
What? Kweiyang now?
In ten minutes.
Perhaps, Major, you like to see
the courtyard while you wait?
Well...
Now, what's
the matter here?
Major, is this
the first time
you've had to negotiate
a deal with the Chinese, sir?
Yes. Why?
Well, sir, the thing to remember
is that they're running this country.
Not that that's
so bad, mind you.
And I'm not making
a moral judgment but...
Well, sir,
that's just the way the country is
and that's the way
they have to run it.
And it's kind of interesting once
you get to know what's going on.
You like China, don't you?
Yes, sir.
After the war,
when I go back to school
I was thinking maybe I'd take a
couple of courses in Chinese history.
What school is that?
Columbia.
Majoring in Government.
I've only got
two years to go.
I wonder who she is.
Colonel Li's wife,
or daughter?
Maybe just his woman.
Well, I'll never
understand this country.
Women and temples
and TNT.
Yeah. Yeah.
Please be seated.
You must eat before you go.
Oh, well, I thank the Colonel,
but we're in a great hurry.
Now, if Colonel Kwan's ready,
we'd like to leave immediately.
But you have
not eaten today.
Colonel Kwan has
not eaten today.
China and America
are friends.
It is together, friends eat.
Yeah, yeah.
Please a little,
it is not much.
Well...
One cannot eat TNT.
Okay. All right, all right,
Colonel, just a bite. Come on.
Say, I arranged to
take Colonel Kwan only.
The lady is Madame Hung.
She is the wife
of General Hung.
General Hung was
killed this summer.
She has friends in Kweiyang.
Yeah, but...
Okay, Collins, come on,
come on, let's go.
To the end of the road,
peace and safety.
Collins.
Yes, sir?
The, uh,
lady in back...
Yes, sir?
Well, explain to her that this is
gonna be a pretty rugged trip.
Yes, sir.
Yeah, we sleep out of doors,
we're soldiers.
The Army has regulations
about women.
Ask her if she wouldn't like it
if we put her on a Chinese bus?
You know, we could
trade some gasoline
for a passenger ticket
or something.
Thank you.
Please don't
worry about me.
I know you don't
want me, Major
but I'll try
not to be a bother.
Hey!
Ain't that a dame with them, Mike?
In the back seat?
We thought they might have picked you off,
Major.
Oh,
we had a little trouble up at headquarters,
getting the bridge
cleared for the blow.
Colonel Kwan.
Yes, Major?
Tell those sentries
down there to clear the road.
What do you think the bridge
will take, Sergeant?
Half a dozen charges tied
to the beams. That'll do it.
All right,
let's get at it.
All right,
let's get moving.
Blow the bridge.
Who's the dame?
How do I know?
Is she the Major's private
stock or do we draw cards?
Shut up!
Let's get this
stuff planted.
Come on, come on!
Everybody off the bridge.
Let's go, Miller!
Come on!
Okay.
This is far enough.
Stop right up there.
Okay.
Mama!
Okay, Mike.
Fire in the hole!
Major!
Fire in the hole!
Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!
All right, I'll wait.
Do you think they'll understand, Collins?
What?
Do you think they'll
understand why I'm doing this?
Blowing the bridge.
Well, sir,
they can come through that gorge later on.
Unless they're
sick or old.
Give it again, Mike!
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Collins!
How about something to eat.
The pot's full.
Thank you.
You can use my mess kit.
You eat American food?
Yes. In Shanghai we used to
eat American all the time.
I have my own bowl,
thank you.
That's enough, Prince.
Here.
Thank you.
Is it good?
Yes.
Pork and gravy.
I know.
Miller, he... Every once in a while
he cuts up some Chinese vegetables.
Uh, that is when he can get
the Chinese vegetables.
Was he a cook?
Well, I mean, in...
In America?
Who, Miller?
No. He was an electrician.
- Really?
Yeah.
And the others were mechanics,
and students, foundry men.
Prince was
a race track bookie.
And you?
Well, before the war,
I designed bridges.
Now, I blow them up.
Madame Hung, don't you think
you'd be more comfortable
if we put you on
a Chinese bus, and...
If you want to put me
on a bus, do it.
Well, now, I don't
want to sound harsh.
But we have two or three days'
work before we get to Kweiyang and...
It just isn't
a good military idea
to have a woman
with the outfit for that long.
And we could
put you on the bus,
you could go right straight
through to Kweiyang.
Have you ever been
on a Chinese bus?
No.
After Changsha fell,
my husband's officers
put me on a bus
going to Hengyang.
We went only ten miles.
Then the driver stopped the bus
and asked everyone for more money.
I paid him.
He threw a woman
and a child off
who had no money
and made them walk.
Well, I... I thought there were
trains for officers' families.
I took a train also,
but it was not an officers' train.
It was a...
A train for refugees.
They build special platforms
on those refugee trains.
A woman had a baby on the
platform on which I was.
But it was better than
being on the roof.
There were people
on all the roofs.
And they held on
with their fingers.
Then the train
went through a tunnel.
Just before we come
to a grading.
And when the train
came out of it,
the engineer stopped the train and
everyone went out for some air.
When I looked up,
there was an old man
still lying on top
of one of the cars.
He hadn't been
completely scraped off.
Then I saw a student
lift the old man's head up
by the hair
and looked at his face.
Then he pushed
the old man off the roof
and lay down
in his place.
And then?
And then when I
arrived in Liuchow,
I sold my watch
to get food.
It was an American watch.
Then I found
Colonel Kwan.
Kwan was a student of my husband's
at the military academy.
Then he took me to
Colonel Li's regiment.
Well, I don't understand
this place.
You don't like China, do you?
- No. I...
I don't
understand it.
I don't understand
the brutality.
Why?
We're...
We're just a different people, that's all.
Anyway, you shouldn't be traveling
like this, a General's wife.
My husband was shot.
Yes. Colonel Li told me.
He was executed.
Yes.
Major Baldwin?
Yes?
The Japanese have
entered Liuchow, Major.
When?
- This afternoon.
Patrols are reported
coming up the road.
Excuse me.
Well, let's see if we
can get a few hours rest.
We're going to have to
move fast in the morning.
Oh, trouble.
Sounds like
the distributor, Mike.
Nah, I don't think
it's the distributor.
Well, get the tool kit and
maybe we can find out, huh?
Oh, Miller, will you
get this out of here?
Mike! I'm sick.
I don't think it's
the malaria, though.
I'm hot, I'm dry and hot
and my bones ache all over.
I think the doctor
ought to look at me.
I'll tell the Major.
When, Mike?
Oh, listen, for Pete's sake,
Lewis, turn it off.
Baldwin's running
this outfit, not me.
I'm a sergeant,
not a wet-nurse.
Oh, sure, Mike, only the way I feel,
the way everything hurts...
Okay, it hurts.
I'll give Baldwin a memo.
Ballo! Get the Major quick.
All China to get sick in,
you gotta pick my truck.
Now what?
Relax, Mike.
We ain't never gonna make the first race.
What's holding this up?
Where's the Major?
Hey, Santa Claus,
you finished?
I like their kids, Mike.
Someday one of them's
gonna knife you.
Well, suppose we
get invaded, Mike?
Illinois could
look like this.
Oh, save the big-picture stuff.
What's holding us up?
Well, it's a truck up there that
belongs to a gent who picked some
cotton out of Guilin
or Liuchow.
Anyway, he's trying
to get it up north.
If he does, he'll make
a small fortune,
provided he gets it there.
His truck conked out.
All right, let's
shove him off the road.
We can't!
The guy's got a gun!
He says you'll push his truck up the hill,
or no one will go past.
Okay. Mike, come here.
Come here.
Now, this is a fast one.
Now, listen.
We're going to push this
fella's truck off the road,
but it's going to have to look
like an accident, you understand?
Well, then,
nod like you understood and smile.
Mike, we don't
want any shooting.
Now here's what
we're going to do.
He says that his truck
will go or no one will go.
All right. Now, explain to him
that this fellow's my mechanic
and he's going to see
if he can fix the engine.
No dice, Major.
All right. Now tell him we're
going to push his load up the hill
with one of our trucks,
try and get the engine started.
And tell him,
I'll get in there and drive the truck.
I'll steer his truck.
Go ahead, tell him now.
Me. Me. I... I'll get in
your truck, drive, okay?
All right, come on,
let's get this road cleared. Come on.
Hurry up! Hurry up!
Let's go. We're gonna push it.
Let's go, Miller.
Come on, come on,
come on, come on.
All right, easy there, easy.
All right, come on, come on, come on.
Let's go. Here we go.
Get in fast!
All right, come on,
let's go.
What's the trouble, Miller?
I think I got a flat.
Ah, it's a fine place
you picked to get a flat.
All right, pull up
around there and fix it.
Oh, Major Baldwin!
Major Baldwin!
Something I didn't tell you last night.
What's that?
Colonel Li has gone
into the hills.
Gone into the hills?
But he was... He was dug in.
I saw the machine
gun emplacements.
He had...
Why, he had orders to hold off the Japanese.
Colonel Li is
a very brave man.
He was wounded
twice in Shanghai.
But his soldiers are from this province,
and they have lost hope.
To Colonel Li, it was
better that they go now
into the hills and wait
for the next offensive.
Gone into the hills.
All right.
How long have they been
using this road, Colonel?
Since the days
of the Emperors.
Peasants build it
with their hands.
Machines could do it
just like that.
China has no machines.
After the war
you'll have them.
We'll give you the machines
to fix up roads like this.
Roads that have to be closed because
Colonel Li went into the hills.
How will you
close it, Major?
I'll close it with TNT.
Now, if I could just find a bend,
just a horseshoe bend.
Like that?
Yeah, like that.
Well? Why aren't you
and Ballo working?
We got the road holes dug,
but we can't figure out
how to get into those pockets
up there in the rock.
Mike said you were the engineer,
Major, you could figure it out.
Yeah, suppose we loosen something up there.
We could get brained.
Yeah, all that loose stuff up there,
you know, Major?
Did anybody ever call
you fellows stupid?
Like who, Major?
Like anybody.
Maybe once. On a show parlay.
Both horses won.
I'm gonna take
a look up top.
Get that truck up here.
Ballo, tie the hammer
on this line.
All right,
haul it away.
Are you into it, Major?
It works?
Yeah, it works.
That's tough
going in there, Major.
I'll take over
if you want.
I got a dull bit here.
See if there's another one
down in the kit, will ya?
Yes, sir. I'll get one
right away.
Can I get you something?
Can I get you
a drink of water?
How about I get Miller to
make you some coffee, huh?
I want a glass
of milk.
Lewis, we're in China,
there's no milk, you know that.
I want a glass of milk.
Now, come on. Listen.
Now, we're up
in the mountains
and I'm going to try and break this road,
you understand?
If I blow this road open,
we may be the ones that hold
West China together. You see?
I want a glass
of fresh milk.
Didn't you understand
what I said?
There isn't any fresh milk.
And we're going to blow this road.
I need a doctor,
a hospital.
Now, take it easy.
I don't want to
die in China.
You're not dying!
Now stop it! You're a soldier!
Act like one!
I ain't gonna die just so you can get
a lousy medal for blowing up a road.
Here...
Come on, Lewis.
Now...
I'll get... I'll get
Miller to open a can
of condensed milk when we break to eat,
huh?
Okay?
Okay, Lewis?
There you are.
Is everything all right?
Everything except Lewis.
I got tired sitting in the jeep,
and I felt so useless.
I've been sitting here
and wondering how
all this must look
to an American.
Why?
I've become
so used to it.
I was with my husband for
four years at headquarters.
And now,
watching you I...
I wondered how all this must
look to someone like you.
Because in America,
when the roads are
crowded, it's always for fun.
That's what an American road is for,
but
here, when people
are on the road, it's...
Well, this is a war.
Yes. Or a flood,
or a famine.
We have all
the natural disasters.
And I was thinking how
different this road is
from the road that goes
from Boston to New York.
It's quite a road.
You ever been on it?
Many times.
I went to school at Radcliffe.
Oh. I was born
and raised in Boston.
Are you really going
to cut this road today?
Yeah.
Is it dangerous?
I mean, demolition?
No. Not if you know
what you're doing.
We know what we're doing.
That's so American.
Well, it's just
simple efficiency.
And the people?
What do you mean?
While the road is being cut,
how will you...
How will you stop the people on
the road from getting in your way?
That's Kwan's job.
He's along to handle the Chinese.
Besides, there's just
foot traffic along here now
and we'll cordon off the road and
then we'll set out some cigarettes
and some food
and a little sugar,
and that'll hold
'em long enough for us to make the blow.
See?
- You mean,
leave some food
for them as a decoy?
As if they were animals
you were baiting.
Well, now what do you
people want me to do?
Hold back the Japanese
with a couple of
polite bows and a bowl
of chop suey?
Colonel Li quit.
That... That glorious
212th regiment,
they're up in
the hills, safe.
This road's wide open.
It's like a door,
all the way from here to Kweiyang.
Now, somebody's got to
shut it or try to shut it.
Colonel Kwan!
Colonel, I'm going
to blow up this road.
Now, how can we keep
the people off?
Off?
Well, I need them
stopped for about ten minutes.
Can you do it?
- How?
Well, uh...
How about... How about if we get
a couple of empty gasoline drums,
put 'em on either side of the road,
stretch a rope across?
They'll go
under the rope.
Well, then we get some Chinese
soldiers to explain to them.
Explain to them that we're
cutting the road. How about that?
The soldiers will want
to get through themselves.
Well, could we
give them something?
What?
- Well, money?
They cannot spend
money here.
Well, food? How about food?
We've got K-rations.
Cigarettes?
How about cigarettes?
What will they
take for the job?
Mei you ban fa.
I don't speak
Chinese, Colonel.
There is no way.
Do you also object to me trying
to bribe your people, Colonel?
Or would you rather have me
blow up the road under them,
like some
Chinese generals?
If you wish,
I will try.
How about it?
The boots convinced them.
- All right, come on.
They will warn the people
to wait ten minutes.
Come on!
You go on ahead, Collins,
keep your eye on Lewis.
Okay.
All right, come on. Come on.
All right, give it the call.
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Let her go, Major.
Boy, I wish we had
a picture, huh, Mike?
A whole summer's work, and we ain't
even got a picture to take home.
Yeah. Next war
bring your camera.
Now who's gonna
put that together?
Nobody. Never.
Hey, look at them!
Boy, if they could
steeplechase.
All right.
That's enough.
Come on,
let's get out of here.
So, listen, there I was,
I was laying there, and I was sick,
sick as a dog.
And my Aunt Esther comes
into the room and she says,
"I don't hold with
these new doctor's."
Atta boy.
How are you
feeling, Lewis?
Lousy.
The milk okay?
Yeah, thanks.
Well, maybe we'll be
in Kweiyang tomorrow.
You'll be able to
rest up in Kweiyang.
In China,
before the war,
every man had an exact relationship
to every other person.
The son to his father.
The wife to her husband.
The teacher
to his student.
The soldier to his officer.
A Prince to his people.
It's what we call
the Old Learning.
Madame Hung...
Say, I want to ask
you something.
I bought this
in a bazaar in Kunming.
And, I was going
to send it home.
Is... is that... is that anything special?
What is that, anyway?
It is KwanYin.
KwanYin is mercy.
She's the Goddess who hears
all the crying and prayers.
And she's never angry,
and she always forgives.
Oh, I see.
Well, my father
always said
that mercy was
better than justice.
No. China is too big.
There are too many
of us for mercy.
What China needs
is unity.
First, you must have unity
and then,
you can have mercy.
Madame Hung. I...
Please don't call me
Madame Hung.
My name is Sue-Mei.
Sue-Mei.
Major, can I talk to you for a minute?
Suzie!
Excuse me. Suzie!
Front and center.
She's going into
Kweiyang, too.
She says she
has a brother
that works for
an American in Kweiyang.
How about giving
Suzie a lift, Major,
when we pull out in the morning.
- Nothing doing.
Well, Suzie's
not so big.
And if nobody'd look,
you wouldn't even notice her.
The answer is no.
She's not going to get in
the way up there in the cab.
The answer's still no.
All right, Suzie,
start walking.
It's a long way
to Kweiyang.
See, baby?
Why weren't you born a General's wife.
Excuse me.
Major, you want some more coffee?
- No, thanks.
Good morning.
Morning, Major.
- Hi, Mike. The men set?
Well, they're
up and moving.
What's the deal
for today?
I don't know yet.
It depends on
the Japs and the roads.
Sure, could stand
a day of rest.
Yeah. What about Tushan?
You mean those
ammunition dumps?
We blowing 'em?
Like Colonel Kwan wants?
I'm running this outfit,
not Kwan.
Yes, sir.
That's a Chinese
job ain't it?
Tushan's their cookie,
ain't it, Major?
Well, we'll see.
Look, Major Lewis is,
uh, sick. Real sick.
We got to get him
to a hospital soon.
Lewis is a weak slob.
Okay, Major.
I'm sorry.
Sure.
Forget what I said.
No, it's true.
Lewis is a slob.
I'm a slob.
You're either
a big wheel or a slob.
I learned that when I was a
shop steward in the foundry.
Now cut it out, Mike.
You know I couldn't run
this outfit without you.
Well, that just makes me a helpful slob,
that's all, Major.
What do you want,
a public apology?
No, I don't
want nothin'.
Well, suggest something.
Slobs ain't got the brains.
I said cut it out!
Now, wait a minute,
wait a minute,
now let's uh,
let's go over this again calmly, huh?
Now what would you suggest
that I do, Sergeant?
Your orders said,
"At your discretion."
So?
So we're eight guys
and four trucks.
Is eight guys,
one of 'em sick and four trucks
gonna save China?
Somebody's kiddin'
somebody if they think so.
What we ought to save,
while we've got the chance,
is ourselves.
Because if we
don't, Major...
Major! Colonel Kwan just picked
up a Chinese infantryman, sir.
Hey, out!
Out! Out!
What outfit's he with?
He's not with
any outfit now.
He was ordered back.
The Japanese are comin'.
When?
He does not know.
He was in Liuchow.
The Japanese came there.
He was in Liuchow
and the Japanese came there.
Now they're coming
here to Hochih.
He's seen their cavalry.
How many divisions there?
He says two.
He says he heard
an officer say two.
He's only a soldier.
He knows when
he's hungry.
He knows when
he's wounded.
That's the only positive
information that he knows.
He also says Americans
are lucky.
Major, you'd better
take a look at Lewis.
He's boiling,
he's real sick.
Kwan,
give him some cigarettes.
And tell him
he's lucky, too.
Deserters are shot.
I think he has pneumonia.
Ain't there a doctor in this town someplace?
He needs a doctor.
What makes you think
it's pneumonia?
The fever and the
way he's breathing.
I saw pneumonia in
hospitals in Shanghai.
Have you any sulfa?
Yeah, I think there's some
in the medical kit there.
There ought to be
a doctor in Kweiyang
if we ever get to Kweiyang.
All right, shut up!
Shut up. Mike,
come here.
All right.
All right, we're going to move out of here.
The trucks ready?
Yeah. They're all gassed up.
All right.
Now, get... get Lewis in Niergaard's truck.
See that he has
plenty of water.
Right.
Japs, heat and pneumonia,
that's a combination for ya.
Fellas, help out
with Lewis, will ya?
Yes, sir.
Major! Are we going to take
this stuff with us, sir?
Sure. Why?
Well, I was thinking, sir.
We've got enough rations on the
trucks to last two or three weeks.
And well, the people out there
in the village are starving.
I thought maybe I could pass
some of this out to them.
Now, Collins, now,
how many...
How many bellies could
this stuff feed out there?
Only a few.
Well, I know,
sir, but...
All right,
all right. Okay.
Fine.
Well, here, here.
Thank you, sir.
Where's Collins going?
Oh, he's just giving some of our
rations to the people in town.
Collins!
What's the matter?
Call him back,
it's dangerous.
What's dangerous about
giving people food?
Well, you see...
I mean, you were talking
last night about
the Goddess of mercy.
Well, isn't that what Collins is doing?
An act of mercy?
Oh, please.
Don't you understand?
Leave the food here.
Let them take it.
Collins!
Come on, kid.
He's...
He's dead.
I don't get it.
Collins, he liked
the slopeys.
Come on, let's
get him inside.
You keep
the street covered.
This one town I'd like to burn,
with pleasure.
Right down to
the lousy ground.
Major Baldwin,
I suggest we go now and quickly.
There are bandits who are
hungry as the people outside.
And they have guns.
All right. Now...
Now, I want you to put
Collins in the ammo truck.
And I want all of you to keep your
trucks close together as we move out.
And if a Chinese
gets in between,
just keep going,
don't stop.
Mike, I want you
in the jeep with me.
All right,
now, come on.
How far is it
to Tushan?
150 li.
That's about fifty miles,
isn't it?
Yes.
How many lis is it,
from Collins to Tushan?
I'm going to have
to write his family.
They'll want to know
how he died.
What will you say?
I'll tell them he was murdered
by a bunch of Chinese
while he was doing
an act of mercy
in a dirty, filthy little town
in East China.
They'll understand.
No one will understand.
They'll understand.
I'll explain it to them, carefully.
But you can't explain
it to Americans.
Can't I?
I can try.
I can send them
a carton of C rations
and show them what
their son died for.
Now, everything
is falling apart.
Now, there has to be something
that takes care of people.
There has to be
an order somewhere.
And the invasion has left
no order anywhere in China.
They're going to die.
Everybody back there in the
village is going to die.
If any of them live,
it will be by accident.
Life shouldn't be
by accident.
Dying should be
something that
that you can avoid only by trickery,
or by being cruel.
We have law,
we have government,
but it can't function on this
road on account of the disorder.
That's what
happened to Collins.
Things were falling apart right here,
and they fell on him.
You are Americans,
so go back to where the roads are safe.
You can't help us either.
Don't you understand?
Don't you see?
But if... If we can't help
China, what am I doing here?
What...
What am I going
to do tomorrow?
At... at Tushan?
If nobody can do anything,
what difference does it make
whether I blow up the dumps or not?
What...
What, I...
I don't know.
I can't think.
I, uh, but I've
got to decide.
I've got to decide.
I've got to believe that what
I'm doing means something.
But I can't...
I can't think.
I can't...
You can leave us
here on the road.
Colonel Kwan and I will
go on to Tushan alone.
Well, Collins
is dead. You...
I'll need an interpreter.
You'd better get
some sleep now.
You talk to him, Mike?
Yeah.
Well, what's the pitch, Mike?
When are we getting
into Kweiyang?
We ain't.
We ain't? What do
you mean we ain't?
I thought the Major...
We're going into Tushan.
You volunteered for this lousy outfit,
didn't you, Ballo?
You don't
like the army,
write a letter
to your Congressman.
We're going into
Tushan, see?
You want to know why?
I'll tell you why.
I'll tell you the way
the Major told me.
He says he's paid
for the next card.
He's going to stay
for one more round
because he's
already paid to look!
So now he's playing poker?
And he's holding us for a hand.
Yeah, well what do you want me to do?
Change the deck?
Say something to me
so I can translate.
Why?
The General doesn't like
having a woman here.
Oh. I'm Major Baldwin
of the American Engineers.
Here's my pass.
All right. Now tell him that
we're on our way
from Liuchow to Kweiyang.
And we've heard that there
are ammunition dumps here,
and that the Japanese
are going to Tushan.
Now, ask him courteously
what he would like us to do.
Please sit down.
This pass carries the seal of
Wang Ta Kung of Kwangsi war zone.
Tushan is not part of
the Wang Ta Kung's command.
Well, what's that mean?
It means you have no authority
to operate in this area.
Fine. Tell him
it was nice meeting him.
Oh, please sit down.
Will you have some tea?
Oh, now, let's cut
the formalities.
If he doesn't want our help,
then he doesn't want our...
He said he would be
very pleased
to have the honorable
American General instruct him.
I'm a Major.
He knows it. He means he wants
your views on the situation.
Well, you tell him he's the
General. I want his views.
The Japanese
have no trucks.
And it takes them about two days
of hard march to approach Tushan,
so there's no
immediate danger.
Chungking ordered him to wait and
the Americans want him to fall back.
This is his difficulty.
Yeah well, that's a helluva
way to run a railroad.
Please, don't say that.
The General isn't afraid.
It's just that he has
two sets of orders.
That's how my
husband died.
Yes, yes, I know.
You told me.
He obeyed one order
and disobeyed the other.
Yes. All right.
Now, I'm...
I'm just interested
in the ammunition dumps.
Now, does he want me
to blow the dumps
or doesn't he want
me to blow the dumps?
He said, "What is the honorable
American General's opinion?"
I'm a Major.
Well, he, he has promoted you
to his equal.
All right. Okay.
All right.
I... It...
It's best and it's wise to
blow up the ammunition dumps,
before the Japanese
get here.
And now, tell him, that he is,
oh, the General here,
he's older than I am,
he's seen more of the war than I have,
so, now ask the General
what he'd like me to do.
You're learning to speak Chinese.
Just ask him. Go on.
The American General
is young, but very wise.
And he's very glad that the American
General has decided to explode the dumps.
I didn't decide.
I suggested.
In his opinion,
you've decided.
Okay. I've decided.
All right, now,
if the General will put his seal on there,
I'll assemble my men.
Thank you, sir.
So long, General.
Zai jian.
Mike, come here.
Now, we're going to have to
send Lewis on ahead to Kweiyang
and get him to a hospital.
Well, how about letting Miller take him?
He'll get 'em there.
If he barrels right through,
he can get Lewis to Kweiyang tonight.
He could take
Collins, too.
And if we blow the dumps,
we can all be in Kweiyang tonight.
All right.
How are you feeling, Lewis?
All right, now, now,
listen to me.
You're moving out.
We're going to get you to a hospital.
You'll be in Kweiyang tonight.
Is Collins going
on this truck, too?
That's right.
Then can I ride up front? I don't
want to ride in back with a dead man.
You're going to ride
back here with Collins.
You're look, it'd...
it'd be better back here.
You you'll be able
to take it easy.
Miller'll be up front.
You like Miller, don't you?
Yeah. I like Miller.
Major,
you think I'm going
to be all right?
Lewis, you're going to
live to be an old man
with forty grandchildren and all
the fresh milk you can drink.
Yeah. That'd be somethin',
wouldn't it?
Sure. Okay. Okay, now.
Miller!
Okay, take off.
To go home,
you gotta be sick or dead.
Boy, how do you take
something like this apart?
Well, it sure ain't going
to be easy.
But at least when we blow it,
that's the end of it.
Right, Major?
The job's finished.
That's right.
Look at the size
of this.
This is quite a collection,
ain't it, Major?
You mean, we're going
to blow all this now?
This is the last job,
Major? For real?
You want me to tattoo it
on your butt?
All right,
come on now,
let's spread out,
see what's in these sheds.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
Niergaard, take that section.
The one in the middle. Ballo!
Come on, let's check
these sheds.
All right,
on the double.
The way it looks
to me, Major
we bring our main
lines in from there,
and there, the whole thing
ought to go.
All right, that's the way
we'll set it up, Mike.
Now, you put your charges
in the...
In the sheds with the high
explosives and the bombs,
the artillery shells,
start way back there in the corner
and work up
from there.
Come on.
We're ready.
Get the box.
I'll do that, Mike.
You get the trucks up
the road and take cover.
Where are you
going to fire from?
Well, just as far out
as that wire'll put me.
Now, look, when you get up
there and get all squared away,
give me a couple of shots
as a signal.
And I'll let her go.
Got it?
Got it.
All right, now,
clear the area. Everybody.
All right,
let's go.
All right,
take cover.
Well, what do you
think you're doing?
You ought to be down
with the trucks.
This is the last job
for me, too.
I would like to see
how it ends, with you.
When it goes,
there will be nothing left?
The artillery pieces, maybe.
I told the men to destroy
the mechanism.
They'll all rust
after the fires are gone.
Rust. That's all that
will be left of us. Rust.
We lost a campaign,
not a war.
It's time, now.
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Sue-Mei.
Yes.
Don't be afraid, Sue-Mei.
I'm not afraid.
I'm glad I found you.
Are you?
How do you say
"yes" in Chinese?
Dwayluh.
Baldwin, I think
that was an American.
What?
I think I saw an American.
Where?
Back there on the side
of the road.
We just passed him.
It was a body.
Something wrong, Major?
No. You stay
where you are.
Mike!
Come on down here a minute.
They must have been jumped,
huh, Major?
They wouldn't dump him.
Somebody must have jumped Miller.
Get back! Get back
or I'll blow your head off.
Where's the truck,
Collins?
Where's Miller?
Where's Lewis?
Collins, where...
I'd get Ballo
to help me carry him.
We searched the area, Major.
Nothing.
Not a sign.
All right, we're going
to turn around
and try and find
them back along the road.
And then we're going
to try and find the truck.
And then we're going to look
for the Chinese who did it.
And what will you do then?
They were my men and I
was responsible for them.
Now, come on,
let's go.
They must have stood
over Lewis in the truck
and fired straight down
into his face.
Miller must have been jumped
when his back was turned.
And then they stripped
both of 'em,
threw 'em down
here on the rocks.
What do you
think, Colonel?
What do you think?
Did they have a chance?
Either one of 'em?
Miller, Lewis?
They came a long way
to fight in your war.
Do you think the men that shot them
gave either one of 'em a chance?
I do not know, Major.
Look. Look, they traded.
A dirty pair of straw sandals for
a couple of pair of G. I. boots.
Only they left
the sandals.
Why did they leave the sand...
That was...
That was very generous
of them, wasn't it?
They could have taken the sandals,
too, couldn't they, Colonel?
Yes, Major.
Well now, you...
You're a military strategist, Colonel.
Educated in the Academy.
Who do you think shot
and robbed those men
and threw them down
there in the rocks?
I think soldiers.
Whose?
Nobody's.
Deserters?
Soldiers. Of no regiment
who are far from home,
who will die on the road because
they are sick and hungry.
No, no.
No, that's where you're wrong, Colonel.
That's where you're wrong.
That's not the way
they're going to die!
Come on, Mike.
Help get this...
Ballo! Niergaard!
What are you
going to do now?
I told you I'm going
to find the truck.
They'll be where
the truck is.
Please. All you want
is revenge.
It's too late for revenge.
They were my men.
And this is my command.
And on this road,
I'm the only justice there is.
All right, you coming?
It's revenge.
It will change nothing and mean nothing.
Shut up! I don't want any
more advice from any Chinese!
There's the truck.
Our truck.
Yes.
Mike!
That's Miller's truck.
Whoever jumped Miller
is right down there with it.
What do we do, Major?
All right.
We'll go around the town,
pull up on the far side.
Right over there.
Right over there.
All right. Now,
who's got the BAR?
It's in my heap.
- All right.
Now, Prince, when you get
over there, set it up
and cover us if we need it.
Mike! - Yeah?
We'll go down to the Inn.
Why take
a chance, Major?
We had to destroy
other towns.
That's right,
Major and they didn't kill Miller or Lewis.
You hold your fire.
Mike, take the convoy up above.
Right.
The Inn is there.
All right.
Meet me over at the Inn. Okay.
You'll need someone
who speaks Chinese.
That's right.
Major!
What are they saying?
They shouted,
"We are bandits."
They're saying, "Kill them!"
Go on, Mike!
We got a gasoline drum ready to roll.
What do you say, Major?
All right.
All right. Tape a pound block
of TNT on the drumhead
set the fuse
for about 30 seconds.
Ballo!
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, don't! Don't!
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, please don't do it!
You'll be just like them!
Don't you hear me?
They killed Miller.
They killed Collins!
And they killed Lewis!
And whom will you kill?
The homeless? The starving?
Here they come!
Are they all dead yet?
Not yet.
You'll see to that.
Simple efficiency.
It's in a book.
An army book, isn't it?
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, don't! Don't!
I beg you, don't!
Sue-Mei!
Stop it! Don't!
Do you hear me? Don't!
Baldwin! Baldwin!
Baldwin, you don't care
about the truck.
You want someone to pay for
what you think is your guilt.
Because you didn't protect
Collins or Lewis, or Miller.
Get out of here.
Don't! Baldwin!
Stop it!
Stop it!
Wait a minute, Ballo, stop! Stop!
Stop everybody! All right, stop it!
Stop it!
We have contact
with Kweiyang, sir.
Fine.
Colonel Masterson of the
American Liaison is waiting.
This is Major Baldwin.
Base Engineers. Who is this? Over.
Masterson here. What's your message?
What's your message?
Masterson, Sixth Liaison to
Baldwin Base Engineers. Over.
Uh, Roger. Request you relay
the following message to the Commanding
Officer, Base Engineers, Kunming.
Report bridge blown
on outskirts of Liuchow.
Also extensive demolition on the
road 20 miles south of Hochih.
Repeat, Hochih.
Uh, also destroyed ammunition dumps Tushan.
Over.
Repeat about Tushan.
Were the dumps blown? Over.
Roger. That's correct. Uh,
dumps at Tushan blown at 1500 hours. Over.
We've had an order out for 48
hours to get that job done.
Do you know who
did it, Baldwin? Over.
We did it, sir.
Good work.
Roger. Out.
Thank you.
Shall we finish
this together?
Finish what?
The trip on the road.
It was finished back
at the village.
Sue-Mei please, I...
Please, listen
to me. I...
I don't know whether this is
something I can explain or not.
But it's about this power
that was in my hands
and using it because...
Because they were Chinese.
Because...
No! No!
You weren't just killing.
You were stepping on something.
No! But I asked
for this job.
Now, listen to me. Listen.
I asked for this job.
And with it came this power.
And, I don't know,
I guess maybe I've always
been afraid of it,
afraid of having power,
of using it.
But then here on the road,
I found out that it was easy.
It was easy as long as
it was between me
and the Japanese
and the road.
But then yesterday
in the village,
it just reached out
and possessed me.
It just walked in
and took over and I...
The gasoline drums
and the explosions...
I had the power
and I could use it.
And it wasn't
because they were Chinese.
It wasn't because I was an
American and they were Chinese.
Power has no face.
It has no country.
What is it you
want from me?
I want you
to understand.
I understand.
You're trying to say,
if you live with the beasts
you become a beast.
No, no.
You're trying to tell me what happened at
the village happens over and over again.
With Americans,
just as it does with us.
I'm trying to tell you
what I've learned.
I'm trying to tell you
what the road taught me.
That being strong
isn't enough.
That one has to be
responsible oneself
for the power that
falls into your hands.
And I know
I... I know now
that, that I had more power
than I knew how to use.
It doesn't matter now.
Sue-Mei, please,
I don't want to lose you.
We've already
lost each other.
And you won't come
to Kweiyang with us?
No. Colonel Kwan
and I will go on alone.
Well, I reported
in to Kunming.
And they think
we did a good job.
And I... And I want
to thank you.
Okay, let's... Let's...
Major, you think you could get us some
slug of leave when we hit Kweiyang?
I mean, now the job's over.
That's a real
good idea, Mike.
We'll get some leave.
Ain't she coming?
No.
To the end of the road,
peace and safety.
- Yes, sir.
We're abandoning
the base anyway, sir.
We might as well let them have the stuff.
We'd only burn it.
All right,
let's go.
All set?
- Okay. No trouble.
The loaded drums of gas
are all stacked.
You want to try for
the big cigar, Major?
Okay, Prince
Collins, get the jeep
over there, will you?
There's a twist
to it, Major.
You hit the top drum
with the first shot, see.
It's got ordinary
low-octane in it.
And if it don't burn the first shot,
you give it a minute
maybe two, to leak, see.
- I see. I see.
Those fumes,
they fill up the shed.
Then, you cut loose
with your second shot
and those fumes,
they're in there and whammy!
the whole thing goes.
- Okay.
Once at Hengyang,
wasn't it, Niergaard?
We blew off the whole
roof with the second shot.
Yeah the whole roof. Wham!
That was before you came into the outfit,
Major. Uh-huh
You got it, Major?
The fumes, then the second shot.
- Yeah, yeah.
I got it, Prince.
That's a cigar, Major.
You wanna try
for the whole box?
Or a Kewpie doll
for the little lady?
Give the man
the Kewpie doll.
I'd rather see gasoline
go than anything.
Last year, in Kunming I okayed
plans for these installations.
Now, I'm blowing them up.
All right, back
to the alert shack.
We're gonna blow the field.
Then a little sleep,
then out.
Out where, Major?
Back to Kunming? - That's right.
We fly or truck back?
I'm gonna check with
General Loomis now.
Oh, I'd sure like
to fly, Major.
Well, you just be back at the
alert shack at 1600 hours.
And be careful.
The base's crawling with looters.
Come on, come on,
come on, let's go.
What do you think, Prince? You think
this Baldwin knows what the score is?
You think he'll make as good as
demolition officer as McNeil was?
It'll be tough for us
if he don't.
How close are the Japs?
I mean, from here?
About 40 miles.
Demolition's always the last guys to leave,
all the time.
How are you, sir?
Bombs all in?
- Yes, sir. 60 of them.
That ought to give us good big craters
scattered all the way across the field.
How long before the Japs make
the field operations again?
I estimate a week, sir.
Message for you.
From Kunming.
It's the last to come in.
- Read it to him.
"Direct you attempt withdrawal
westward via road stop."
"At your discretion,
repeat, at your discretion"
"achieve maximum delaying effect
on main motor supply route."
"Maximum use
available explosives"
"with due concern safety your
men at your best judgment."
"Signed, Hutcheson
for Chief of Staff."
You don't have to do it.
Sir?
- I can countermand those orders.
I'm going out off the taxi
strip in the morning.
You have until then
to make up your mind.
Is blowing this field your
first demolition job, Major?
Yes, sir.
- You were with an engineering firm
before the war,
weren't you, Baldwin?
Laury and Moody.
A bit different handling
men than handling papers.
Oh, I'm aware of that, sir.
I asked for this assignment.
Asked? Why?
Well, to have a command, sir.
Even for a few days.
Even during a retreat.
You know what
command is, Major?
Well, sir, the book says...
Command is power.
Pure, simple, unlimited.
You have until morning
to make up your mind.
Yes, sir.
When are you set
to blow the last strip?
Oh, we're all set to blow
the main strip right now.
We were gonna plan to blow the
taxiway as soon as you take off.
All right.
You pushing off
now, sir?
Yep. How about you?
Well, sir, I've decided
to go out by truck.
Now, we'll blow this
remaining strip
as soon as you
get off the ground.
Are you sure?
Yes, sir,
I'm sure.
You know, if the Japanese
come up this road
isolate our main base
at Kunming, you know...
Well, I... I'd...
I'd just like to get a crack
at cutting the road, sir.
Good luck on the road.
- Thank you, sir.
All I know is the Major
said load up and wait.
So, you're waiting.
So, I'm waiting.
That's initiative for you.
- Look, Prince.
Don't needle me.
I've been out on the
road with this circus
since last summer
so don't needle me.
Mike, you got any atabrine?
I feel lousy.
You look lousy.
- No, honest, Mike.
Well, what am I,
a drug store?
Look in the medical kit.
All right, at ease.
We had a message
last night
from our main
headquarters in Kunming.
Last night?
- That's right.
Now, what they want us to do
is to stay out on
the road for a few days
and see what we can destroy
on our way to Kweiyang.
We gonna do it, Major?
Headquarters said
after this job
we barrel right back into
Kweiyang with no stops.
Ain't that right, Prince?
- That's what they said.
I'm in command now.
Yeah.
He says that the Chinese Command Post is
up this road, sir, up there in that temple.
He doesn't know if the
CO's up there or not.
Okay. Let's go.
Hey, give me...
Give me the...
Pull over there.
Go on, go on.
I'm gonna get an okay from
Chinese Headquarters.
You wait here.
Okay, come on.
Please, sit.
- Thank you.
America
is China's best friend.
Today is sad.
Today we eat bitterness.
But the final victory
will be ours
because China and
America are friends.
Yes.
Has Major Baldwin
been long in China?
One year, Colonel.
And I want to thank
the Colonel for the tea.
I'm sorry we don't have more
time to enjoy his hospitality.
But I have something very important
to speak to the Colonel about.
What is this
important thing, Major?
Well, Colonel, we are the
American Engineers Demolition of the East China
Task Force.
Now, we've been ordered to delay the
advance of the Japanese from Liuchow.
Now, down here in the valley
there is a small bridge.
We wish to destroy
that bridge.
What does the Major
wish me to do?
Well, the Colonel
is in command here.
I can't blow up the bridge
until the Colonel agrees.
The Japanese will go
as far as Tushan.
I am Colonel Kwan.
Tushan.
Tushan?
That's where the railroad ends, isn't it?
About 120 miles from here.
- Yes, sir.
No, it is not
the railroad.
At Tushan there are
ammunition dumps.
The Japanese know this.
They will go to Tushan and they will stop.
Tushan, the dumps,
to blow them up.
That is all right.
Yes. Tushan, that's all right.
- No, no, no, no.
No, Colonel.
I'm not making myself clear here.
Now, Tushan, that's way
at the end of the line.
We'll think of that
when we get to it.
Now, how about this bridge?
This is what
I'm concerned about.
Excuse me, sir,
may I speak with you
just a moment?
Excuse me.
What's the matter?
I think Colonel Li
is afraid of us, sir.
Well, afraid of what?
Afraid we're gonna
blow everything up.
Well, what does he think I am?
Attila the Hun?
Come on, come on.
I'm sorry.
Uh, you sit over there, will you?
Now, Colonel...
Colonel, the war is sad.
The war is a bitter thing.
Uh, America and China
are friends.
But the Colonel
must understand,
we have orders
to delay the Japanese.
My men are anxious
to get to Kweiyang.
We wish only to destroy
this one little bridge.
Here, in Ishan.
Only this one little bridge
we wish to destroy.
Nothing more.
Nothing.
Only the bridge?
- Right.
The bridge is
all right to destroy.
Fine. All right.
Now, if the Colonel will... - Oh, yes, yes.
I will put my seal
on your pass.
Thanks, Colonel.
Thank you, sir.
Are you drive all
the way to Kweiyang now?
Yes, that's right.
Colonel Kwan will go down to
the bridge with you.
He will talk to
my soldiers.
He will show my order to them.
And then, he will go
to Kweiyang with you.
What? Kweiyang now?
In ten minutes.
Perhaps, Major, you like to see
the courtyard while you wait?
Well...
Now, what's
the matter here?
Major, is this
the first time
you've had to negotiate
a deal with the Chinese, sir?
Yes. Why?
Well, sir, the thing to remember
is that they're running this country.
Not that that's
so bad, mind you.
And I'm not making
a moral judgment but...
Well, sir,
that's just the way the country is
and that's the way
they have to run it.
And it's kind of interesting once
you get to know what's going on.
You like China, don't you?
Yes, sir.
After the war,
when I go back to school
I was thinking maybe I'd take a
couple of courses in Chinese history.
What school is that?
Columbia.
Majoring in Government.
I've only got
two years to go.
I wonder who she is.
Colonel Li's wife,
or daughter?
Maybe just his woman.
Well, I'll never
understand this country.
Women and temples
and TNT.
Yeah. Yeah.
Please be seated.
You must eat before you go.
Oh, well, I thank the Colonel,
but we're in a great hurry.
Now, if Colonel Kwan's ready,
we'd like to leave immediately.
But you have
not eaten today.
Colonel Kwan has
not eaten today.
China and America
are friends.
It is together, friends eat.
Yeah, yeah.
Please a little,
it is not much.
Well...
One cannot eat TNT.
Okay. All right, all right,
Colonel, just a bite. Come on.
Say, I arranged to
take Colonel Kwan only.
The lady is Madame Hung.
She is the wife
of General Hung.
General Hung was
killed this summer.
She has friends in Kweiyang.
Yeah, but...
Okay, Collins, come on,
come on, let's go.
To the end of the road,
peace and safety.
Collins.
Yes, sir?
The, uh,
lady in back...
Yes, sir?
Well, explain to her that this is
gonna be a pretty rugged trip.
Yes, sir.
Yeah, we sleep out of doors,
we're soldiers.
The Army has regulations
about women.
Ask her if she wouldn't like it
if we put her on a Chinese bus?
You know, we could
trade some gasoline
for a passenger ticket
or something.
Thank you.
Please don't
worry about me.
I know you don't
want me, Major
but I'll try
not to be a bother.
Hey!
Ain't that a dame with them, Mike?
In the back seat?
We thought they might have picked you off,
Major.
Oh,
we had a little trouble up at headquarters,
getting the bridge
cleared for the blow.
Colonel Kwan.
Yes, Major?
Tell those sentries
down there to clear the road.
What do you think the bridge
will take, Sergeant?
Half a dozen charges tied
to the beams. That'll do it.
All right,
let's get at it.
All right,
let's get moving.
Blow the bridge.
Who's the dame?
How do I know?
Is she the Major's private
stock or do we draw cards?
Shut up!
Let's get this
stuff planted.
Come on, come on!
Everybody off the bridge.
Let's go, Miller!
Come on!
Okay.
This is far enough.
Stop right up there.
Okay.
Mama!
Okay, Mike.
Fire in the hole!
Major!
Fire in the hole!
Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!
All right, I'll wait.
Do you think they'll understand, Collins?
What?
Do you think they'll
understand why I'm doing this?
Blowing the bridge.
Well, sir,
they can come through that gorge later on.
Unless they're
sick or old.
Give it again, Mike!
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Collins!
How about something to eat.
The pot's full.
Thank you.
You can use my mess kit.
You eat American food?
Yes. In Shanghai we used to
eat American all the time.
I have my own bowl,
thank you.
That's enough, Prince.
Here.
Thank you.
Is it good?
Yes.
Pork and gravy.
I know.
Miller, he... Every once in a while
he cuts up some Chinese vegetables.
Uh, that is when he can get
the Chinese vegetables.
Was he a cook?
Well, I mean, in...
In America?
Who, Miller?
No. He was an electrician.
- Really?
Yeah.
And the others were mechanics,
and students, foundry men.
Prince was
a race track bookie.
And you?
Well, before the war,
I designed bridges.
Now, I blow them up.
Madame Hung, don't you think
you'd be more comfortable
if we put you on
a Chinese bus, and...
If you want to put me
on a bus, do it.
Well, now, I don't
want to sound harsh.
But we have two or three days'
work before we get to Kweiyang and...
It just isn't
a good military idea
to have a woman
with the outfit for that long.
And we could
put you on the bus,
you could go right straight
through to Kweiyang.
Have you ever been
on a Chinese bus?
No.
After Changsha fell,
my husband's officers
put me on a bus
going to Hengyang.
We went only ten miles.
Then the driver stopped the bus
and asked everyone for more money.
I paid him.
He threw a woman
and a child off
who had no money
and made them walk.
Well, I... I thought there were
trains for officers' families.
I took a train also,
but it was not an officers' train.
It was a...
A train for refugees.
They build special platforms
on those refugee trains.
A woman had a baby on the
platform on which I was.
But it was better than
being on the roof.
There were people
on all the roofs.
And they held on
with their fingers.
Then the train
went through a tunnel.
Just before we come
to a grading.
And when the train
came out of it,
the engineer stopped the train and
everyone went out for some air.
When I looked up,
there was an old man
still lying on top
of one of the cars.
He hadn't been
completely scraped off.
Then I saw a student
lift the old man's head up
by the hair
and looked at his face.
Then he pushed
the old man off the roof
and lay down
in his place.
And then?
And then when I
arrived in Liuchow,
I sold my watch
to get food.
It was an American watch.
Then I found
Colonel Kwan.
Kwan was a student of my husband's
at the military academy.
Then he took me to
Colonel Li's regiment.
Well, I don't understand
this place.
You don't like China, do you?
- No. I...
I don't
understand it.
I don't understand
the brutality.
Why?
We're...
We're just a different people, that's all.
Anyway, you shouldn't be traveling
like this, a General's wife.
My husband was shot.
Yes. Colonel Li told me.
He was executed.
Yes.
Major Baldwin?
Yes?
The Japanese have
entered Liuchow, Major.
When?
- This afternoon.
Patrols are reported
coming up the road.
Excuse me.
Well, let's see if we
can get a few hours rest.
We're going to have to
move fast in the morning.
Oh, trouble.
Sounds like
the distributor, Mike.
Nah, I don't think
it's the distributor.
Well, get the tool kit and
maybe we can find out, huh?
Oh, Miller, will you
get this out of here?
Mike! I'm sick.
I don't think it's
the malaria, though.
I'm hot, I'm dry and hot
and my bones ache all over.
I think the doctor
ought to look at me.
I'll tell the Major.
When, Mike?
Oh, listen, for Pete's sake,
Lewis, turn it off.
Baldwin's running
this outfit, not me.
I'm a sergeant,
not a wet-nurse.
Oh, sure, Mike, only the way I feel,
the way everything hurts...
Okay, it hurts.
I'll give Baldwin a memo.
Ballo! Get the Major quick.
All China to get sick in,
you gotta pick my truck.
Now what?
Relax, Mike.
We ain't never gonna make the first race.
What's holding this up?
Where's the Major?
Hey, Santa Claus,
you finished?
I like their kids, Mike.
Someday one of them's
gonna knife you.
Well, suppose we
get invaded, Mike?
Illinois could
look like this.
Oh, save the big-picture stuff.
What's holding us up?
Well, it's a truck up there that
belongs to a gent who picked some
cotton out of Guilin
or Liuchow.
Anyway, he's trying
to get it up north.
If he does, he'll make
a small fortune,
provided he gets it there.
His truck conked out.
All right, let's
shove him off the road.
We can't!
The guy's got a gun!
He says you'll push his truck up the hill,
or no one will go past.
Okay. Mike, come here.
Come here.
Now, this is a fast one.
Now, listen.
We're going to push this
fella's truck off the road,
but it's going to have to look
like an accident, you understand?
Well, then,
nod like you understood and smile.
Mike, we don't
want any shooting.
Now here's what
we're going to do.
He says that his truck
will go or no one will go.
All right. Now, explain to him
that this fellow's my mechanic
and he's going to see
if he can fix the engine.
No dice, Major.
All right. Now tell him we're
going to push his load up the hill
with one of our trucks,
try and get the engine started.
And tell him,
I'll get in there and drive the truck.
I'll steer his truck.
Go ahead, tell him now.
Me. Me. I... I'll get in
your truck, drive, okay?
All right, come on,
let's get this road cleared. Come on.
Hurry up! Hurry up!
Let's go. We're gonna push it.
Let's go, Miller.
Come on, come on,
come on, come on.
All right, easy there, easy.
All right, come on, come on, come on.
Let's go. Here we go.
Get in fast!
All right, come on,
let's go.
What's the trouble, Miller?
I think I got a flat.
Ah, it's a fine place
you picked to get a flat.
All right, pull up
around there and fix it.
Oh, Major Baldwin!
Major Baldwin!
Something I didn't tell you last night.
What's that?
Colonel Li has gone
into the hills.
Gone into the hills?
But he was... He was dug in.
I saw the machine
gun emplacements.
He had...
Why, he had orders to hold off the Japanese.
Colonel Li is
a very brave man.
He was wounded
twice in Shanghai.
But his soldiers are from this province,
and they have lost hope.
To Colonel Li, it was
better that they go now
into the hills and wait
for the next offensive.
Gone into the hills.
All right.
How long have they been
using this road, Colonel?
Since the days
of the Emperors.
Peasants build it
with their hands.
Machines could do it
just like that.
China has no machines.
After the war
you'll have them.
We'll give you the machines
to fix up roads like this.
Roads that have to be closed because
Colonel Li went into the hills.
How will you
close it, Major?
I'll close it with TNT.
Now, if I could just find a bend,
just a horseshoe bend.
Like that?
Yeah, like that.
Well? Why aren't you
and Ballo working?
We got the road holes dug,
but we can't figure out
how to get into those pockets
up there in the rock.
Mike said you were the engineer,
Major, you could figure it out.
Yeah, suppose we loosen something up there.
We could get brained.
Yeah, all that loose stuff up there,
you know, Major?
Did anybody ever call
you fellows stupid?
Like who, Major?
Like anybody.
Maybe once. On a show parlay.
Both horses won.
I'm gonna take
a look up top.
Get that truck up here.
Ballo, tie the hammer
on this line.
All right,
haul it away.
Are you into it, Major?
It works?
Yeah, it works.
That's tough
going in there, Major.
I'll take over
if you want.
I got a dull bit here.
See if there's another one
down in the kit, will ya?
Yes, sir. I'll get one
right away.
Can I get you something?
Can I get you
a drink of water?
How about I get Miller to
make you some coffee, huh?
I want a glass
of milk.
Lewis, we're in China,
there's no milk, you know that.
I want a glass of milk.
Now, come on. Listen.
Now, we're up
in the mountains
and I'm going to try and break this road,
you understand?
If I blow this road open,
we may be the ones that hold
West China together. You see?
I want a glass
of fresh milk.
Didn't you understand
what I said?
There isn't any fresh milk.
And we're going to blow this road.
I need a doctor,
a hospital.
Now, take it easy.
I don't want to
die in China.
You're not dying!
Now stop it! You're a soldier!
Act like one!
I ain't gonna die just so you can get
a lousy medal for blowing up a road.
Here...
Come on, Lewis.
Now...
I'll get... I'll get
Miller to open a can
of condensed milk when we break to eat,
huh?
Okay?
Okay, Lewis?
There you are.
Is everything all right?
Everything except Lewis.
I got tired sitting in the jeep,
and I felt so useless.
I've been sitting here
and wondering how
all this must look
to an American.
Why?
I've become
so used to it.
I was with my husband for
four years at headquarters.
And now,
watching you I...
I wondered how all this must
look to someone like you.
Because in America,
when the roads are
crowded, it's always for fun.
That's what an American road is for,
but
here, when people
are on the road, it's...
Well, this is a war.
Yes. Or a flood,
or a famine.
We have all
the natural disasters.
And I was thinking how
different this road is
from the road that goes
from Boston to New York.
It's quite a road.
You ever been on it?
Many times.
I went to school at Radcliffe.
Oh. I was born
and raised in Boston.
Are you really going
to cut this road today?
Yeah.
Is it dangerous?
I mean, demolition?
No. Not if you know
what you're doing.
We know what we're doing.
That's so American.
Well, it's just
simple efficiency.
And the people?
What do you mean?
While the road is being cut,
how will you...
How will you stop the people on
the road from getting in your way?
That's Kwan's job.
He's along to handle the Chinese.
Besides, there's just
foot traffic along here now
and we'll cordon off the road and
then we'll set out some cigarettes
and some food
and a little sugar,
and that'll hold
'em long enough for us to make the blow.
See?
- You mean,
leave some food
for them as a decoy?
As if they were animals
you were baiting.
Well, now what do you
people want me to do?
Hold back the Japanese
with a couple of
polite bows and a bowl
of chop suey?
Colonel Li quit.
That... That glorious
212th regiment,
they're up in
the hills, safe.
This road's wide open.
It's like a door,
all the way from here to Kweiyang.
Now, somebody's got to
shut it or try to shut it.
Colonel Kwan!
Colonel, I'm going
to blow up this road.
Now, how can we keep
the people off?
Off?
Well, I need them
stopped for about ten minutes.
Can you do it?
- How?
Well, uh...
How about... How about if we get
a couple of empty gasoline drums,
put 'em on either side of the road,
stretch a rope across?
They'll go
under the rope.
Well, then we get some Chinese
soldiers to explain to them.
Explain to them that we're
cutting the road. How about that?
The soldiers will want
to get through themselves.
Well, could we
give them something?
What?
- Well, money?
They cannot spend
money here.
Well, food? How about food?
We've got K-rations.
Cigarettes?
How about cigarettes?
What will they
take for the job?
Mei you ban fa.
I don't speak
Chinese, Colonel.
There is no way.
Do you also object to me trying
to bribe your people, Colonel?
Or would you rather have me
blow up the road under them,
like some
Chinese generals?
If you wish,
I will try.
How about it?
The boots convinced them.
- All right, come on.
They will warn the people
to wait ten minutes.
Come on!
You go on ahead, Collins,
keep your eye on Lewis.
Okay.
All right, come on. Come on.
All right, give it the call.
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Let her go, Major.
Boy, I wish we had
a picture, huh, Mike?
A whole summer's work, and we ain't
even got a picture to take home.
Yeah. Next war
bring your camera.
Now who's gonna
put that together?
Nobody. Never.
Hey, look at them!
Boy, if they could
steeplechase.
All right.
That's enough.
Come on,
let's get out of here.
So, listen, there I was,
I was laying there, and I was sick,
sick as a dog.
And my Aunt Esther comes
into the room and she says,
"I don't hold with
these new doctor's."
Atta boy.
How are you
feeling, Lewis?
Lousy.
The milk okay?
Yeah, thanks.
Well, maybe we'll be
in Kweiyang tomorrow.
You'll be able to
rest up in Kweiyang.
In China,
before the war,
every man had an exact relationship
to every other person.
The son to his father.
The wife to her husband.
The teacher
to his student.
The soldier to his officer.
A Prince to his people.
It's what we call
the Old Learning.
Madame Hung...
Say, I want to ask
you something.
I bought this
in a bazaar in Kunming.
And, I was going
to send it home.
Is... is that... is that anything special?
What is that, anyway?
It is KwanYin.
KwanYin is mercy.
She's the Goddess who hears
all the crying and prayers.
And she's never angry,
and she always forgives.
Oh, I see.
Well, my father
always said
that mercy was
better than justice.
No. China is too big.
There are too many
of us for mercy.
What China needs
is unity.
First, you must have unity
and then,
you can have mercy.
Madame Hung. I...
Please don't call me
Madame Hung.
My name is Sue-Mei.
Sue-Mei.
Major, can I talk to you for a minute?
Suzie!
Excuse me. Suzie!
Front and center.
She's going into
Kweiyang, too.
She says she
has a brother
that works for
an American in Kweiyang.
How about giving
Suzie a lift, Major,
when we pull out in the morning.
- Nothing doing.
Well, Suzie's
not so big.
And if nobody'd look,
you wouldn't even notice her.
The answer is no.
She's not going to get in
the way up there in the cab.
The answer's still no.
All right, Suzie,
start walking.
It's a long way
to Kweiyang.
See, baby?
Why weren't you born a General's wife.
Excuse me.
Major, you want some more coffee?
- No, thanks.
Good morning.
Morning, Major.
- Hi, Mike. The men set?
Well, they're
up and moving.
What's the deal
for today?
I don't know yet.
It depends on
the Japs and the roads.
Sure, could stand
a day of rest.
Yeah. What about Tushan?
You mean those
ammunition dumps?
We blowing 'em?
Like Colonel Kwan wants?
I'm running this outfit,
not Kwan.
Yes, sir.
That's a Chinese
job ain't it?
Tushan's their cookie,
ain't it, Major?
Well, we'll see.
Look, Major Lewis is,
uh, sick. Real sick.
We got to get him
to a hospital soon.
Lewis is a weak slob.
Okay, Major.
I'm sorry.
Sure.
Forget what I said.
No, it's true.
Lewis is a slob.
I'm a slob.
You're either
a big wheel or a slob.
I learned that when I was a
shop steward in the foundry.
Now cut it out, Mike.
You know I couldn't run
this outfit without you.
Well, that just makes me a helpful slob,
that's all, Major.
What do you want,
a public apology?
No, I don't
want nothin'.
Well, suggest something.
Slobs ain't got the brains.
I said cut it out!
Now, wait a minute,
wait a minute,
now let's uh,
let's go over this again calmly, huh?
Now what would you suggest
that I do, Sergeant?
Your orders said,
"At your discretion."
So?
So we're eight guys
and four trucks.
Is eight guys,
one of 'em sick and four trucks
gonna save China?
Somebody's kiddin'
somebody if they think so.
What we ought to save,
while we've got the chance,
is ourselves.
Because if we
don't, Major...
Major! Colonel Kwan just picked
up a Chinese infantryman, sir.
Hey, out!
Out! Out!
What outfit's he with?
He's not with
any outfit now.
He was ordered back.
The Japanese are comin'.
When?
He does not know.
He was in Liuchow.
The Japanese came there.
He was in Liuchow
and the Japanese came there.
Now they're coming
here to Hochih.
He's seen their cavalry.
How many divisions there?
He says two.
He says he heard
an officer say two.
He's only a soldier.
He knows when
he's hungry.
He knows when
he's wounded.
That's the only positive
information that he knows.
He also says Americans
are lucky.
Major, you'd better
take a look at Lewis.
He's boiling,
he's real sick.
Kwan,
give him some cigarettes.
And tell him
he's lucky, too.
Deserters are shot.
I think he has pneumonia.
Ain't there a doctor in this town someplace?
He needs a doctor.
What makes you think
it's pneumonia?
The fever and the
way he's breathing.
I saw pneumonia in
hospitals in Shanghai.
Have you any sulfa?
Yeah, I think there's some
in the medical kit there.
There ought to be
a doctor in Kweiyang
if we ever get to Kweiyang.
All right, shut up!
Shut up. Mike,
come here.
All right.
All right, we're going to move out of here.
The trucks ready?
Yeah. They're all gassed up.
All right.
Now, get... get Lewis in Niergaard's truck.
See that he has
plenty of water.
Right.
Japs, heat and pneumonia,
that's a combination for ya.
Fellas, help out
with Lewis, will ya?
Yes, sir.
Major! Are we going to take
this stuff with us, sir?
Sure. Why?
Well, I was thinking, sir.
We've got enough rations on the
trucks to last two or three weeks.
And well, the people out there
in the village are starving.
I thought maybe I could pass
some of this out to them.
Now, Collins, now,
how many...
How many bellies could
this stuff feed out there?
Only a few.
Well, I know,
sir, but...
All right,
all right. Okay.
Fine.
Well, here, here.
Thank you, sir.
Where's Collins going?
Oh, he's just giving some of our
rations to the people in town.
Collins!
What's the matter?
Call him back,
it's dangerous.
What's dangerous about
giving people food?
Well, you see...
I mean, you were talking
last night about
the Goddess of mercy.
Well, isn't that what Collins is doing?
An act of mercy?
Oh, please.
Don't you understand?
Leave the food here.
Let them take it.
Collins!
Come on, kid.
He's...
He's dead.
I don't get it.
Collins, he liked
the slopeys.
Come on, let's
get him inside.
You keep
the street covered.
This one town I'd like to burn,
with pleasure.
Right down to
the lousy ground.
Major Baldwin,
I suggest we go now and quickly.
There are bandits who are
hungry as the people outside.
And they have guns.
All right. Now...
Now, I want you to put
Collins in the ammo truck.
And I want all of you to keep your
trucks close together as we move out.
And if a Chinese
gets in between,
just keep going,
don't stop.
Mike, I want you
in the jeep with me.
All right,
now, come on.
How far is it
to Tushan?
150 li.
That's about fifty miles,
isn't it?
Yes.
How many lis is it,
from Collins to Tushan?
I'm going to have
to write his family.
They'll want to know
how he died.
What will you say?
I'll tell them he was murdered
by a bunch of Chinese
while he was doing
an act of mercy
in a dirty, filthy little town
in East China.
They'll understand.
No one will understand.
They'll understand.
I'll explain it to them, carefully.
But you can't explain
it to Americans.
Can't I?
I can try.
I can send them
a carton of C rations
and show them what
their son died for.
Now, everything
is falling apart.
Now, there has to be something
that takes care of people.
There has to be
an order somewhere.
And the invasion has left
no order anywhere in China.
They're going to die.
Everybody back there in the
village is going to die.
If any of them live,
it will be by accident.
Life shouldn't be
by accident.
Dying should be
something that
that you can avoid only by trickery,
or by being cruel.
We have law,
we have government,
but it can't function on this
road on account of the disorder.
That's what
happened to Collins.
Things were falling apart right here,
and they fell on him.
You are Americans,
so go back to where the roads are safe.
You can't help us either.
Don't you understand?
Don't you see?
But if... If we can't help
China, what am I doing here?
What...
What am I going
to do tomorrow?
At... at Tushan?
If nobody can do anything,
what difference does it make
whether I blow up the dumps or not?
What...
What, I...
I don't know.
I can't think.
I, uh, but I've
got to decide.
I've got to decide.
I've got to believe that what
I'm doing means something.
But I can't...
I can't think.
I can't...
You can leave us
here on the road.
Colonel Kwan and I will
go on to Tushan alone.
Well, Collins
is dead. You...
I'll need an interpreter.
You'd better get
some sleep now.
You talk to him, Mike?
Yeah.
Well, what's the pitch, Mike?
When are we getting
into Kweiyang?
We ain't.
We ain't? What do
you mean we ain't?
I thought the Major...
We're going into Tushan.
You volunteered for this lousy outfit,
didn't you, Ballo?
You don't
like the army,
write a letter
to your Congressman.
We're going into
Tushan, see?
You want to know why?
I'll tell you why.
I'll tell you the way
the Major told me.
He says he's paid
for the next card.
He's going to stay
for one more round
because he's
already paid to look!
So now he's playing poker?
And he's holding us for a hand.
Yeah, well what do you want me to do?
Change the deck?
Say something to me
so I can translate.
Why?
The General doesn't like
having a woman here.
Oh. I'm Major Baldwin
of the American Engineers.
Here's my pass.
All right. Now tell him that
we're on our way
from Liuchow to Kweiyang.
And we've heard that there
are ammunition dumps here,
and that the Japanese
are going to Tushan.
Now, ask him courteously
what he would like us to do.
Please sit down.
This pass carries the seal of
Wang Ta Kung of Kwangsi war zone.
Tushan is not part of
the Wang Ta Kung's command.
Well, what's that mean?
It means you have no authority
to operate in this area.
Fine. Tell him
it was nice meeting him.
Oh, please sit down.
Will you have some tea?
Oh, now, let's cut
the formalities.
If he doesn't want our help,
then he doesn't want our...
He said he would be
very pleased
to have the honorable
American General instruct him.
I'm a Major.
He knows it. He means he wants
your views on the situation.
Well, you tell him he's the
General. I want his views.
The Japanese
have no trucks.
And it takes them about two days
of hard march to approach Tushan,
so there's no
immediate danger.
Chungking ordered him to wait and
the Americans want him to fall back.
This is his difficulty.
Yeah well, that's a helluva
way to run a railroad.
Please, don't say that.
The General isn't afraid.
It's just that he has
two sets of orders.
That's how my
husband died.
Yes, yes, I know.
You told me.
He obeyed one order
and disobeyed the other.
Yes. All right.
Now, I'm...
I'm just interested
in the ammunition dumps.
Now, does he want me
to blow the dumps
or doesn't he want
me to blow the dumps?
He said, "What is the honorable
American General's opinion?"
I'm a Major.
Well, he, he has promoted you
to his equal.
All right. Okay.
All right.
I... It...
It's best and it's wise to
blow up the ammunition dumps,
before the Japanese
get here.
And now, tell him, that he is,
oh, the General here,
he's older than I am,
he's seen more of the war than I have,
so, now ask the General
what he'd like me to do.
You're learning to speak Chinese.
Just ask him. Go on.
The American General
is young, but very wise.
And he's very glad that the American
General has decided to explode the dumps.
I didn't decide.
I suggested.
In his opinion,
you've decided.
Okay. I've decided.
All right, now,
if the General will put his seal on there,
I'll assemble my men.
Thank you, sir.
So long, General.
Zai jian.
Mike, come here.
Now, we're going to have to
send Lewis on ahead to Kweiyang
and get him to a hospital.
Well, how about letting Miller take him?
He'll get 'em there.
If he barrels right through,
he can get Lewis to Kweiyang tonight.
He could take
Collins, too.
And if we blow the dumps,
we can all be in Kweiyang tonight.
All right.
How are you feeling, Lewis?
All right, now, now,
listen to me.
You're moving out.
We're going to get you to a hospital.
You'll be in Kweiyang tonight.
Is Collins going
on this truck, too?
That's right.
Then can I ride up front? I don't
want to ride in back with a dead man.
You're going to ride
back here with Collins.
You're look, it'd...
it'd be better back here.
You you'll be able
to take it easy.
Miller'll be up front.
You like Miller, don't you?
Yeah. I like Miller.
Major,
you think I'm going
to be all right?
Lewis, you're going to
live to be an old man
with forty grandchildren and all
the fresh milk you can drink.
Yeah. That'd be somethin',
wouldn't it?
Sure. Okay. Okay, now.
Miller!
Okay, take off.
To go home,
you gotta be sick or dead.
Boy, how do you take
something like this apart?
Well, it sure ain't going
to be easy.
But at least when we blow it,
that's the end of it.
Right, Major?
The job's finished.
That's right.
Look at the size
of this.
This is quite a collection,
ain't it, Major?
You mean, we're going
to blow all this now?
This is the last job,
Major? For real?
You want me to tattoo it
on your butt?
All right,
come on now,
let's spread out,
see what's in these sheds.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
Niergaard, take that section.
The one in the middle. Ballo!
Come on, let's check
these sheds.
All right,
on the double.
The way it looks
to me, Major
we bring our main
lines in from there,
and there, the whole thing
ought to go.
All right, that's the way
we'll set it up, Mike.
Now, you put your charges
in the...
In the sheds with the high
explosives and the bombs,
the artillery shells,
start way back there in the corner
and work up
from there.
Come on.
We're ready.
Get the box.
I'll do that, Mike.
You get the trucks up
the road and take cover.
Where are you
going to fire from?
Well, just as far out
as that wire'll put me.
Now, look, when you get up
there and get all squared away,
give me a couple of shots
as a signal.
And I'll let her go.
Got it?
Got it.
All right, now,
clear the area. Everybody.
All right,
let's go.
All right,
take cover.
Well, what do you
think you're doing?
You ought to be down
with the trucks.
This is the last job
for me, too.
I would like to see
how it ends, with you.
When it goes,
there will be nothing left?
The artillery pieces, maybe.
I told the men to destroy
the mechanism.
They'll all rust
after the fires are gone.
Rust. That's all that
will be left of us. Rust.
We lost a campaign,
not a war.
It's time, now.
Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
Sue-Mei.
Yes.
Don't be afraid, Sue-Mei.
I'm not afraid.
I'm glad I found you.
Are you?
How do you say
"yes" in Chinese?
Dwayluh.
Baldwin, I think
that was an American.
What?
I think I saw an American.
Where?
Back there on the side
of the road.
We just passed him.
It was a body.
Something wrong, Major?
No. You stay
where you are.
Mike!
Come on down here a minute.
They must have been jumped,
huh, Major?
They wouldn't dump him.
Somebody must have jumped Miller.
Get back! Get back
or I'll blow your head off.
Where's the truck,
Collins?
Where's Miller?
Where's Lewis?
Collins, where...
I'd get Ballo
to help me carry him.
We searched the area, Major.
Nothing.
Not a sign.
All right, we're going
to turn around
and try and find
them back along the road.
And then we're going
to try and find the truck.
And then we're going to look
for the Chinese who did it.
And what will you do then?
They were my men and I
was responsible for them.
Now, come on,
let's go.
They must have stood
over Lewis in the truck
and fired straight down
into his face.
Miller must have been jumped
when his back was turned.
And then they stripped
both of 'em,
threw 'em down
here on the rocks.
What do you
think, Colonel?
What do you think?
Did they have a chance?
Either one of 'em?
Miller, Lewis?
They came a long way
to fight in your war.
Do you think the men that shot them
gave either one of 'em a chance?
I do not know, Major.
Look. Look, they traded.
A dirty pair of straw sandals for
a couple of pair of G. I. boots.
Only they left
the sandals.
Why did they leave the sand...
That was...
That was very generous
of them, wasn't it?
They could have taken the sandals,
too, couldn't they, Colonel?
Yes, Major.
Well now, you...
You're a military strategist, Colonel.
Educated in the Academy.
Who do you think shot
and robbed those men
and threw them down
there in the rocks?
I think soldiers.
Whose?
Nobody's.
Deserters?
Soldiers. Of no regiment
who are far from home,
who will die on the road because
they are sick and hungry.
No, no.
No, that's where you're wrong, Colonel.
That's where you're wrong.
That's not the way
they're going to die!
Come on, Mike.
Help get this...
Ballo! Niergaard!
What are you
going to do now?
I told you I'm going
to find the truck.
They'll be where
the truck is.
Please. All you want
is revenge.
It's too late for revenge.
They were my men.
And this is my command.
And on this road,
I'm the only justice there is.
All right, you coming?
It's revenge.
It will change nothing and mean nothing.
Shut up! I don't want any
more advice from any Chinese!
There's the truck.
Our truck.
Yes.
Mike!
That's Miller's truck.
Whoever jumped Miller
is right down there with it.
What do we do, Major?
All right.
We'll go around the town,
pull up on the far side.
Right over there.
Right over there.
All right. Now,
who's got the BAR?
It's in my heap.
- All right.
Now, Prince, when you get
over there, set it up
and cover us if we need it.
Mike! - Yeah?
We'll go down to the Inn.
Why take
a chance, Major?
We had to destroy
other towns.
That's right,
Major and they didn't kill Miller or Lewis.
You hold your fire.
Mike, take the convoy up above.
Right.
The Inn is there.
All right.
Meet me over at the Inn. Okay.
You'll need someone
who speaks Chinese.
That's right.
Major!
What are they saying?
They shouted,
"We are bandits."
They're saying, "Kill them!"
Go on, Mike!
We got a gasoline drum ready to roll.
What do you say, Major?
All right.
All right. Tape a pound block
of TNT on the drumhead
set the fuse
for about 30 seconds.
Ballo!
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, don't! Don't!
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, please don't do it!
You'll be just like them!
Don't you hear me?
They killed Miller.
They killed Collins!
And they killed Lewis!
And whom will you kill?
The homeless? The starving?
Here they come!
Are they all dead yet?
Not yet.
You'll see to that.
Simple efficiency.
It's in a book.
An army book, isn't it?
Baldwin, don't!
Baldwin, don't! Don't!
I beg you, don't!
Sue-Mei!
Stop it! Don't!
Do you hear me? Don't!
Baldwin! Baldwin!
Baldwin, you don't care
about the truck.
You want someone to pay for
what you think is your guilt.
Because you didn't protect
Collins or Lewis, or Miller.
Get out of here.
Don't! Baldwin!
Stop it!
Stop it!
Wait a minute, Ballo, stop! Stop!
Stop everybody! All right, stop it!
Stop it!
We have contact
with Kweiyang, sir.
Fine.
Colonel Masterson of the
American Liaison is waiting.
This is Major Baldwin.
Base Engineers. Who is this? Over.
Masterson here. What's your message?
What's your message?
Masterson, Sixth Liaison to
Baldwin Base Engineers. Over.
Uh, Roger. Request you relay
the following message to the Commanding
Officer, Base Engineers, Kunming.
Report bridge blown
on outskirts of Liuchow.
Also extensive demolition on the
road 20 miles south of Hochih.
Repeat, Hochih.
Uh, also destroyed ammunition dumps Tushan.
Over.
Repeat about Tushan.
Were the dumps blown? Over.
Roger. That's correct. Uh,
dumps at Tushan blown at 1500 hours. Over.
We've had an order out for 48
hours to get that job done.
Do you know who
did it, Baldwin? Over.
We did it, sir.
Good work.
Roger. Out.
Thank you.
Shall we finish
this together?
Finish what?
The trip on the road.
It was finished back
at the village.
Sue-Mei please, I...
Please, listen
to me. I...
I don't know whether this is
something I can explain or not.
But it's about this power
that was in my hands
and using it because...
Because they were Chinese.
Because...
No! No!
You weren't just killing.
You were stepping on something.
No! But I asked
for this job.
Now, listen to me. Listen.
I asked for this job.
And with it came this power.
And, I don't know,
I guess maybe I've always
been afraid of it,
afraid of having power,
of using it.
But then here on the road,
I found out that it was easy.
It was easy as long as
it was between me
and the Japanese
and the road.
But then yesterday
in the village,
it just reached out
and possessed me.
It just walked in
and took over and I...
The gasoline drums
and the explosions...
I had the power
and I could use it.
And it wasn't
because they were Chinese.
It wasn't because I was an
American and they were Chinese.
Power has no face.
It has no country.
What is it you
want from me?
I want you
to understand.
I understand.
You're trying to say,
if you live with the beasts
you become a beast.
No, no.
You're trying to tell me what happened at
the village happens over and over again.
With Americans,
just as it does with us.
I'm trying to tell you
what I've learned.
I'm trying to tell you
what the road taught me.
That being strong
isn't enough.
That one has to be
responsible oneself
for the power that
falls into your hands.
And I know
I... I know now
that, that I had more power
than I knew how to use.
It doesn't matter now.
Sue-Mei, please,
I don't want to lose you.
We've already
lost each other.
And you won't come
to Kweiyang with us?
No. Colonel Kwan
and I will go on alone.
Well, I reported
in to Kunming.
And they think
we did a good job.
And I... And I want
to thank you.
Okay, let's... Let's...
Major, you think you could get us some
slug of leave when we hit Kweiyang?
I mean, now the job's over.
That's a real
good idea, Mike.
We'll get some leave.
Ain't she coming?
No.
To the end of the road,
peace and safety.