Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

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 is a pilot's movie--better yet, a pilot with a sense of history and a love of European blondes.....Even sexier than the redoubtable May Britt, the F-86 is given great coverage and detail in what is generally a good war film. The F-86 arrived just in time to save the U.S. Air Force and Naval Air Force from the Mig 15 and 17, probably the most dangerous aircraft faced by the U.S. up to that time.The Migs were chewing up the old straight wing fighters the Navy and Air Force were using, and taking a huge, and strangely under-reported toll on the B-29s that were bombing North Korea. Their losses were so bad that the missions were ended until a viable U.S. jet could be mounted against the Mig. The F-86 was that jet.I was amazed at the number of jet fighters arrayed in the skies above California for the battle sequences. A large contingent of Republic F-84Fs were painted green and sported the red star of the North Korean Air Force. Anybody who knew airplanes saw this inaccuracy, but it did little to detract from the generally very good combat scenes. That is the prime advantage of CGI, today.....they can create a squadron of Mig 15s for a fraction of the cost to attempt to field analog substitutes.The only problem with CGI is the movement of the CGI generated airplanes---it is too stiff, and the turns they show these planes making, especially the prop fighters created in Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor", the turns and the speeds are way too steep and fast, and have no liquidity of actual movement. Thus the analog dogfights in "The Hunters" were mesmerizing, and quite beautiful."The Hunters" is a fine piece of aviation history, of a little-known and understood war. It was the first all jet war of our time.....fast and very deadly. I continue to wonder, as Fredric March does at the end of a better Korean War movie, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri", ....Where do we get such men....?"

The Hunters (1958)Planes, Yes, And a Battle Between Two WarsThe provocatively titled The Hunters is mostly routine, patriotic stuff with some small twists of plot and motivation to keep it interesting. The general tone and the general outcome are givens. There are two halves to the movie. The air-to-air combat, which is exciting if you like that kind of action, and well filmed, and a human plot which lopes along with little consequence. This human half is is filmed so well, you can watch it all and soak up the sets and framing and the gently moving camera scene after scene. It's a good example of a CinemaScope production using the wide wide look, edge to edge. The most beautiful sections are set in civilian Japan, which is an interesting emphasis for a Korean War movie. There are some pretty night shots that have great atmosphere, filled more with charcoal colors than inky black shadows. The brighter interior sets are really stunning in their horizontal sweep and photographed with a kind of professionalism that's easy to take for granted--conservative, beautiful camera-work. Add a little moment here and there, like the longing in the woman's look after she moves to the door 14 minutes in, and you have a hint of missed opportunity. And I don't just mean Mitchum's. I know other people will like the dogfights and military stuff, and if you do, check this out. It's not at all corny or clumsy, but it all looks too much same to me, even if I worry a little about who will get shot down next. A little. Notice how the movie gets far more compelling in the last half hour of fighting on the ground, looking more like WWII. And still filmed beautifully.Significance? Actually, yes. One serious theme throughout is weighing the small Korean Conflict against World War II. Mitchum, a grave, no-nonsense veteran from the earlier war, is not only older and more experienced, he has the credentials of the real thing. He's fighting in Korea because it's the only war going on, and he's a soldier. He has the nickname the Ice Man, but the name feels patched on so the movie can show he really has a heart underneath his steely reserve. It's a paradigm for a great kind of man, I think, and an attractive one even when oversimplified. By contrast, the young pilots are casual and wisecracking, lacking discipline and any sense of commitment, mostly because their war doesn't demand it. One of them (played by Robert Wagner) is so cocky we know he's covering his cowardice. Another is an alcoholic, and his beautiful, lonely wife gets a little quality time with Mitchum, who isn't above sneaking something past one of his young colleagues (she's the little known Swedish actress, May Britt, who later married Sammy Davis, Jr.). Anyway, Mitchum makes good in the end. They all do, those still alive.Underlying all this is the way the Korean War in its dubiousness made these men less substantial, somehow, compared to the men formed by WWII. It's a kind of Generation X syndrome, and it feels real, these Korean War Americans driven mostly by indifference, ultimately distorted by the weird fact that they needed something bigger and more meaningful to react to. It's only after some thinking about it do you realize that Mitchum's strength of character might not be a result of WWII, after all, but of some innate sense of being a fighter. He's not looking for a cause, but for a war. In this movie, he gets a little of both.

I never did get to see this as a kid and when I did as an adult I really enjoyed it. Great flying scenes and cinematography. Of course a great cast with Mitchum, Egan and Wagner made a wonderful dynamic. The romance with Abbott's wife was refreshing and made the movie more human. The sets and costumes were amazing and the locations too. The guns and planes, cars and rough and dirty environment made this more realistic and fun to watch. Seeing Richard Egan with a leather flight jacket and a .45 on his hip as the squadron commander was a thrill as he was always one of my favorites. One of the really cool "old Hollywood" guys. Masculine, but with soft features and an understanding for everything around. Young Robert Wagner is always fun and reminded me of the Spencer Tracy movie he did when they pilfered the downed airliner in the Swiss Alps. Great matinée flick.