ThiefHott Too much of everything

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

gordonl56 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.

bkoganbing Although James Salter's novel was the basis for the film The Hunters, the real inspiration dates much further back than that. In fact right back to the Old Testament where jet fighter ace Robert Mitchum faces the temptations of King David himself.This was the second of two films that Dick Powell directed starring Mitchum and the last big screen project Powell was ever involved in behind the camera. Mitchum, newly assigned to Korea and just checked out on the new jet fighters is assigned a squad with two big problems in it. The first is Lee Phillips who is drinking heavily and has brought his wife over to Japan where the squadron is based. The other problem is Robert Wagner, a would be Tom Cruise of his day with a smart mouth and a bad attitude.Bathsheba comes in the form of May Britt who is Phillips's wife and Mitchum falls hard for her. They call him the Ice Man because combat is just a game to him, but he's anything but ice around the curvaceous Britt.The troubles start when all three are downed over North Korea and have to get back to the South in which a wounded Phillips is a handicap. What happens to the trio making it back to their lines is what you see the film to find out.In Lee Server's book on Robert Mitchum it mentions that Mitchum originally signed on because he thought the film would be shot in the Orient and he would get a free trip there. Once signed sad to say the whole thing was shot stateside.The best thing about The Hunters are the aerial action sequences which aviation buffs should really like. The human performers are definitely outshone and outflown by the jet planes.

Spikeopath Set during the Korean War, this picture features the fine talent of Robert Mitchum as Major Cleve Saville and a young fresh faced Robert Wagner as the cocksure Lt Ed Pell. As the war rages, and the airmen deal with the pressures that come with the service, Saville starts to fall in love with the wife (a very weak May Britt) of one of his men, thus adding further pressures to a company growing weary by the day. The Hunters, based on the novel written by James Salter, is a very solid picture, perhaps bogged down by it's determination to give the picture emotional heart, it never the less thrills with its aerial sequences and is awash with glorious colour that new televisual technology can enhance, it's also a film that definitely needs to be seen in widescreen.By not outstaying its welcome, The Hunters is the perfect film for genre fans who find themselves stuck in the house on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Though Mitchum of course oozes his usual screen presence here, he is playing second fiddle to the F-86 Sabres that are swishing about the bright blue sky, dog fighting with the Migs (well F-84 Thunders cunningly disguised as Migs) and thus giving the picture the necessary action quotient. Films set in the Korean War are few and far between, so to at least have a film like The Hunters to view when in the mood is surely a really good thing. 6/10

Robert Boyce I read that the book on which this movie is based was one of the best to portray combat pilots. So I rented it last year from Netflix and enjoyed the photography of classic 50's era fighters and watching Robert Wagner act like a 50's rebel. Today I finally got around to reading James Salter's book, The Hunters, on which the movie is based. The book is actually about the tension between Cleve (the Robert Mitchum Character) and Pell (the Robert Wagner character)and it has an extraordinarily dramatic climactic battle and an ending that brought tears to my eyes. But virtually nothing in the book is in the movie! This is a classic case of Hollywood raping a serious book thinking they would clean up at the box office. If they had stayed true to Salter's novel, the movie would be a classic instead of a curio that we watch for a Technicolor thrill.