ltcprjones
I do not understand all the negative comments. I think next to 12 O'Clock High, this is the best aviation film ever made. You cannot expect the Chinese to lend us MiGs and trucks to make a movie, so using (captured) American vehicles is plausible. As a retired military officer and aviator, I have been to Japan and Korea and the film's background scenery is authentic. As for the aircraft, again, we couldn't borrow any MiG-15s, so the most similar U.S. aircraft was the F-84F. It had a flat nose, mid-fuselage swept back wings and high, swept back fail fins. That is as close to the MiG-15 as you can get. And unlike one reviewer said, the F-84 was not used for the MiG-15 in The McConnell Story (a horrible movie). They used F-86s. They just painted the noses a different color (like they used P-51s painted grey with black crosses for ME-109s in the 1948 movie Fighter Squadron with Robert Stack). And that movie was downright stupid, especially the scene where the F-86s were waltzing to AFN Radio. Also, to the reviewer who referred to the 4th and 51st Fighter "Wings." In the Korean War, they were Fighter Groups. The Regular Air Force didn't drop Groups (Reserves and ANG still use them) until way after the Korean War. And the aerial fighting sequences were accurate and believable. Remember, this movie was made before computer graphics were available, yet they were able to show reasonable tracer bullet effects. Plus the "military speak"was authentic. As far as the romantic side plot, it broke up the usual endless flying of most aviation movies. And remember, this depicted the early 1950s when women were not liberated as they are now. Also, MAJ Saville never crossed the line to having sex with Mrs. Abbott, even though she made it clear that she would let him, right before he said he would look after Carl. So he maintained his code of ethics, even
for the 1950s. 'Buff said.
JohnHowardReid
Copyright August 1958 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Paramount: 26 August 1958. U.S. release: September 1958. U.K. release: 2 November 1958. Australian release: 16 October 1958. Sydney opening at the Regent. 9,679 feet. 108 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Air Force major promises his girlfriend that he will look after her pilot husband in the Korean War.NOTES: Filmed with the co-operation of the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force.COMMENT: Nobody realized it at the time, but "The Hunters" was to be Dick Powell's final movie. He then went into the TV series "Dick Powell Theater" (that's really stepping from the ultra-big screen to the ultra small). He died of cancer in his Hollywood home on the night of 2 January 1963. He was 58.One can forgive a silly, trite, conventional, Z-grade, dime-a-dozen story like "The Hunters" when at least it plays true to the viewer and doesn't raise expectations and issues which it hasn't the slightest intention of pursuing. This is the sort of cop-out script that wastes the talents of Bob Mitchum and May Britt here. If the story was just meant to serve as a peg on which to hang some high- flying action, why is there so much story and comparatively so little action? The only person to emerge with any credit from this film is surprisingly enough Robert Wagner who is reasonably effective in a standard war pictures role -- the one about the guy whose lack of team spirit causes... but who... Mitchum and Britt are wasted. This rubbish is right about the level of Richard Egan who is as ridiculous as the script here. Powell's direction is thoroughly routine on the ground. Admittedly there is some excitement in the aerial combat scenes -- but this is mainly thanks to CinemaScope.
edwagreen
Interesting film but you would think that there would be more action in the first hour.We're faced with a usual theme of one guy falling for another guy's girl, in this case a married girl, during war.Lee Philips really stole the acting here. Remember him as the soft-spoken principal in "Peyton Place?" He had all the answers in that film and his persona changes drastically here as an alcoholic pilot, unsure of himself and whose wife soon lands in the hands of Robert Mitchum.Robert Wagner co-stars as a young cocky pilot whose resolve is soon tested.The film takes off when all 3 land in a North Korean infested place as Mitchum and Wagner take care of a badly wounded Philips.The film shows the brutality of the Communists when a poor oriental farming family are machine gunned for hiding the 3 guys.In typical Hollywood fashion, the film shows dedication, duty and resolve of our fighting men and that marriage is still a sacred institution.
Nazi_Fighter_David
North American's F-86 Sabre was the West's premier fighter aircraft during the early 1950s, and superior to any fighter aircraft in the eastern part of the world
The F-86 scored consistent victories over Russian-built MiG fighters during the Korean War
Hollywood didn't make nearly enough movies about it, but in "The Hunters," we have the opportunity to admire this graceful and agile subsonic equipped with more powerful engines and armament systems that ranged from bombs and rockets to machine guns and cannons
Robert Mitchum portrays the big hunter, the 'Iceman.' Maj. Cleve Saville was like death: no feelings, no nerves, no fear
In Japan, on his way to his first posting in Korea, he meets Lt. Carl Abbott (Lee Philips), a young pilot who thinks he is a bad flier
Too much booze was the sign
With 30 missions Abbott failed to get any enemy planes
His wife Chris (May Britt) doesn't know what to do with him
She asks Maj. Saville to look out for him and help him
Saville finds himself falling in love with her, with some response from her
Filling out the story when they finally reach Korea are the first of the jet pilots, Col. Dutch Emil (Richard Egan), and Lt. Ed Pell (Robert Wagner), a rude young guy with big cigars in his face, considered as a 'little stinker who can get MiGs.' Their common enemy is the Chinese ace Casey Jones (Leon Lontoc). His plane has the numbers 7-11 on his fuselage
The MiGs are based in Red China, across the Yalu River
AD
