The Hunters

Rating:
Summary: Definitely an Ace
Review: "The Hunters" (1958) and "The Enemy Below" (1957) are 2 war movies produced by Dick Powell for 20th Century Fox filmed in Cinemascope both with Robert Mitchum in the leading role.

Major Cleve Saville (Robert Mitchum), the squadron commander, is a famous ace and veteran fighter pilot of World War II. He is a career man whose world was his squadron and the men who flew with him. Lt. Pell (Robert Wagner), in the early part of the movie, is a reckless but eventually courageous young jet ace to whom Saville owe his life. Lt. Abbott (Lee Phillips) is the confused husband of Kris (May Britt) whom Saville falls in love with although their acknowledged desires are never to be fulfilled.

The picture is based on the novel "The Hunters" by James Salter who is himself a jet ace in the Korean conflict. In the late 50's long before the development of CGI technology, real fighter jets F-86 Sabrejet and F-84 Thunderjets (painted gray with a red star to simulate MIG-15) were flown in the aerial battle sequence which made it the more realistic than Pearl Harbor (2001).

I have kept like a treasure a copy of "The Hunters" VHS tape and it is pretty worn out by now from years of repeated viewings. Thank you Fox for putting it on DVD...46 years after its theatrical release.

Rating:
Summary: Jet-Propelled Action !
Review: "The Hunters" is a well-made, exciting Korean war drama, with the accent on aviation. It has an above-average plot for this type of film, and the whole movie, particularly the aerial sequences, is expertly directed by Dick Powell. If you are interested in combat aircraft, there are many scenes of F-86 Sabre Jets engaging MIGs in dogfight battles to the death.

While the planes are great to watch, this film is primarily about human beings caught up in war. It stars Robert Mitchum, and he is terrific--his fighter pilot character is a born leader, yet he also suspects there is something important missing in his life. He enters into a guilt-ridden relationship with the wife of another pilot, played by lovely May Britt. When there's a war on though, the feelings of two people aren't worth--as someone once said--"a hill of beans". Mr. Mitchum's main job is to lead a fighter squadron, and satisfy his boss on the ground--Richard Egan in a strong performance, knowing that every day he may be sending a man to his death.

Just to make things even more interesting for Mr. Mitchum, his squadron includes Ms. Britt's husband ( a paranoid, self-doubting Lee Philips ) and a cocky, young "hotshot" who doesn't like "rules" ( a young, excellent Robert Wagner ). It would be unfair to reveal more of the plot, but the film is consistently interesting and exciting.

The DVD is full screen on one side, and wide-screen on the other. The colour is very good for a 46-year old film. It does not have "surround sound", of course, unlike that 1986 aviation hit, "Top Gun"--then again, "Top Gun" didn't have Robert Mitchum ! Tom Cruise has a nice smile--but, for leadership and grit, I'd follow Robert Mitchum through the gates of hell !

Actually, I'll give "The Hunters" 4 1/2 stars. Action--suspense--romance--Sabre Jets--Robert Mitchum--what more do you want ? Thanks, Fox--a very nice disc !

Rating:
Summary: The Hunters--Fighter Pilot's Attitude
Review: The HUNTERS catches the atttitude of the Fighter Pilot Ace. Great performances by Robert Mitchum, the WWII veteran who won't fly a desk and Robert Wagner as the kid "hotshot" pilot.
Additionally great work by Richard Egan who is Mitchum's commander and flew with him in WWII. The scenes between Egan and Mitchum are the highlight of great acting in the movie. Perhaps Egan's best work ever.

Rating:
Summary: The iceman cometh
Review: THE HUNTERS is a good war movie saddled with a lame and unconvincing romantic subplot. Robert Mitchum plays Major Cleve Saville, a little long in the tooth fighter pilot newly arrived in Korea to lead a squadron of F-86 Sabre jets. While stationed in Tokyo awaiting assignment he meets weak little 1st Lieut. Carl Abbott (Lee Philips) and his cute little wife Kris (May Britt), as well as slang spewing rookie pilot Lieut. Ed Pell (Robert Wagner.)
As an action picture THE HUNTERS is incredibly entertaining, especially the filming of the jet dogfights. Unfortunately, there's a rather substantial romantic subplot involving a sour little triangle whose points are Carl and Kris and Cleve. Every romantic scene sucks the life right out of this movie. May Britt may be beautiful but her "affair" with Saville borders on the melodramatic and is pretty unconvincing. How often do you tell a married woman after your second platonic visit that you love her? The only reason for the romance is to establish tension between Saville and wing man Abbott, anyway.
Mitchum teamed with director Dick Powell a year earlier on THE ENEMY BELOW, one of the best WWII movies available. With that movie in mind, it's doubly disappointing to see him fall back on cliched characters, like the cocky rookie Ed Pell, and a trite and time consuming love story.
There's more to like than dislike in THE HUNTERS, but not nearly as much as I expected when I popped this dvd into the player. I liked this movie a bit less than I wanted to. Make sure to play both sides of this double-sided disk, as there are a different set of 'Special Features' on each side.

Rating:
Summary: The Hunters - Korean War Story
Review: This is one of the better action/adventure/war stories about the Korean War. Robert Mitchum plays a WW2 retread called back to fly jets in Korea. Does he have the right stuff..???...Is he a "Hunter"..??? ...flying sequences to rival Top Gun.......dated and filmed in Southern Calif (probably). The bad guys fly F84's and the good guys fly F86's.......you'll love the "Crapshooter" with 7-11 and a pair of dice painted on his plane.....good story if you can not be too technical and picky about the limited dollars spent on production....lots of action.

Rating:
Summary: The Citizen Kane of modern air/space combat movies!
Review: When I was 11 years old, I saw this movie when it was released. In its air combat sequences, The Hunters is the Citizen Kane of all modern air/space combat movies, as revolutionary for its time as Star Wars later was to be for its time. While prior air combat movies had been on the square screens, usually in B&W, The Hunters was filmed in state-of-the art CinemaScope (widescreen) and Technicolor. Its air combat sequences -- twisting jets on each other's tails soaring in mountainous clouds, then diving and roaring a treetop level through valleys -- were brilliantly conceived and breathtakingly executed -- unlike anything that had been seen before. They still hold up with the best ever filmed, although they've been copied so much (by movies such as Top Gun and Star Wars) that they no longer have the knock-your-socks-off novelty that they originally did. Unfortunately, the feel-good screenplay, with a distracting romantic subplot, bears no resemblance to the gritty, macho novel on which it was based. In James Salter's best-selling novel, the Robert Michum character, Cleve Saville, is a WWII veteran fighter jock who can't get a kill to save his soul, then has no witness when his first-and-only kill (before he himself dies) is the legendary enemy ace. Hence, The Hunters movie is really a first-rate action-hero fantasy set in wartime. (...)