Wow! Such a good movie.

How sad is this?

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

THE HUNTERS 1958This 20th Century Fox Cinemascope production was director Dick Powell's follow up to the excellent 1957 war film, THE ENEMY BELOW. This one also stars Robert Mitchum in the lead role. This time however the action takes place in the air over Korea in 1952. Also in the cast are, Richard Egan, Lee Phillips, May Britt and Robert Wagner. This one starts at an Air base in Japan. Personal are off loaded from the States, then, transferred to their units in South Korea. Mitchum plays a World War Two veteran pilot with the nickname, "Ice Man". He is one cool and deadly pilot. This will be his first action flying jets (F-86) in combat. Commanding his unit is another WW2 vet, Richard Egan. Also in the squadron is Lee Phillips, who has an over fondness for beverages of the alcohol variety. Staying in Japan is the pretty wife of Phillips, May Britt.The men end up at a base in Korea and are assigned to fly patrols in "Mig Alley", an area just south of the border with Red China. This is where the various Red Air forces are trying to gain the upper hand. Each side is out to eliminate the other using ambush tactics and flying skill. At the moment, the Americans have the upper hand, but not without losses on their part. There are several Red pilots making a name for themselves, particularly one who goes by the handle, Casey Jones. Of course Phillips' wife, May Britt and Mitchum are soon locking lips every time Mitchum is in Tokyo. But, as much as Mitchum would like to step up the action, he can see that Britt is still in love with Phillips. He makes it his mission to whip the drunk into a first rate pilot. Now enters hotshot jet jockey, Robert Wagner fresh from the States. The kid can fly, and after a rough start with Mitchum, is soon knocking Reds out of the sky at a fast rate. While on a patrol over Mig Alley, there is a nasty round of combat between the Americans and the Reds. Phillips is shot up and takes to his chute. Mitchum gets some payback by finally getting the best of the Red Ace, Casey Jones. He then decides to see where Phillips had bailed out.Mitchum spots Phillips hanging from a tree, and decides to crash land his Sabre nearby. He feels obligated to help Phillips. There is soon a squad of North Korean infantry closing in. Said infantry are shot up by Robert Wagner who is then shot down by ground fire. Mitchum and Wagner are now hauling the badly wounded Phillips towards the United Nations lines. They tackle a couple of North Korean soldiers at a guard post and arm themselves with several burp guns. Then they run into a family of refugees also heading south. Another squad of North Korean types show and liquidate the civilians. Wagner and Mitch step up and pay the Red swine in kind.Taking the dead civilians cart, they load up Phillips and continue south. They are soon grabbed up by a U.N. unit of Greeks and sent back for medical attention. Phillips is patched up and will be sent back to the States. Britt and Mitchum say their goodbyes as Britt thanks Mitch for saving her husband.For the most part, the film works quite well with some nicely handled action sequences. The film however slows to a snail's pace every time Miss Britt is on screen. The love triangle bit is just not needed, or should have been trimmed by a good 15 minutes. Still, it is a great looking Cinemascope production with excellent color. Powell does good work as the helmsman, while four time, Oscar nominated, Charles G Clarke, handles the cinematography duties.May Britt was another of a string of Swedish actresses who were to be the next, Ingrid Bergman. The list would include, Marta Toren, Viveca Lindfors, Signe Hasso and Inger Stevens. None of them were.

This was Dick Powell's last directorial assignment for 20th Century Fox, as it fulfilled his contract.The Hunters is a big, sprawling color film from 1958 about fighting the Korean War from the air. Robert Mitchum, Richard Egan, Lee Phillips, Robert Wagner, and May Britt star.Mitchum plays Ceve Saville, an older pilot looking to fly again. He becomes commander of an air squadron led by his old WWII leader, Dutch Imil (Egan). Ceve forms his squadron with a young, hep, hotshot pilot, Lt. Pell (Wagner), a gentler type, Corona (John Gabriel), an alcoholic, Carl Abbott (Phillips) and a more brazen type (Stacy Harris). Somehow they are successful in their missions.Meanwhile, Ceve falls for Abbott's beautiful and unhappy wife (Britt), and she with him. The flying sequences are wonderful, filmed over the southwest U.S., and one gets the idea of great speed. Very few models were used; it was mostly real jets. Very exciting.The rest of the film is fairly derivative. The acting was good, with Robert Wagner injecting some verve into the proceedings with his "mans" and "daddy-os." The last mission is especially poignant and involving.

The first 2/3 of this film was very good. There were a lot of exceptional airplane flying sequences in the film--with lots of nice Technicolor and realism. I liked this, especially since there aren't that many films about the Korean War. The rest of this 2/3 was made up of a romance that was very soap opera-like. It wasn't bad, but also wasn't particularly necessary. I'd give this part of the film a 7 or even 8.The final 1/3 of the film is just stupid--which is amazing, as the film had been very realistic and believable up until then. However, in a dopey sequence, one fighter pilot is shot down behind enemy lines and his commander deliberately crashes his F-86 fighter in order to try to rescue this downed pilot (it's just them versus the combined North Korean and Chinese armies)!! This is insane to say the least and making such a belly landing was NOT easy like it looked in the film. Then, when a 3rd American fighter plane was shot down in this same sequence when it was making very low strafing runs (just to help save one pilot--and not a very good one at that!), I groaned with annoyance. Then, these 3 pilots trek across North Korea just as easy as can be!! Duh, this section of the film was just terrible and should earn a 2--at best.Overall, I'd give the film a 6. It could have been so much better and I was saddened that Robert Mitchum agreed to be in such a film! By the way, since I am a huge plane buff, here are some final technical comments. In one scene, an F-86 fighter plane is landing. Instead of showing an F-86 blowing up on landing, the plane instantly becomes an F-100--an entirely different plane. This is very sloppy and very noticeable. Did the film makers think the audience was THAT stupid?! However, the film makers using F-84s instead of Russian Mig-15 fighters is more forgivable--it isn't like Hollywood had modern Russian fighter planes sitting around waiting to be used in films!

I recall the movie Jet Attack with John Agar and the beginning and ending of that movie, the film had actual aerial gun films from the USAF of showing MIG 15s being shot down by our Air Force. Otherwise, the film was okay, but I think it is ridiculous that when a flyboy is shot down over enemy territory, he is able to overcome a soldier who has more combat experience in hand to hand combat and shooting ability. I also saw the 1948 movie Fighter Squadron starring Edmund O'Brien where they were using P-51 Mustangs as ME-109s. If we had only save those enemy aircraft for the movies that occurred after World War II, we would not be using our own planes. I also agree with the reviewers that many of our Korean War movies also seem to contain a love interest. Why didn't they do that in our World War II movies especially when our men had affairs with other women even though they were married? In the movie The Dirty Dozen, Lee Marvin was facing charges, one of them was bringing prostitutes onto the camp. However, he informed his superiors that if they tried enforce the rule throughout the American Army in England, half the American Officer Corps would have to be thrown in the brig.