User reviews

"The Hunters", released in 1958, showed the so-called forgotten air war from the Korean War. Robert Mitchum portrays an aging air pilot from WWII who manages to find one more war to find some success in. He lands command of an air squadron led by Richard Egan, who was his leader during WWII. Mitchum puts together a wing squadron and starts out on hunting missions. His squadron consists of a nice guy, a loud-mouth guy, and a lush whose wife Mitchum falls for. However, the squadron does come together, and manages to down quite a few enemy planes, including a Korean ace nicknamed K C Jones.

The film focuses on electrifying flight sequences that hold the attention of the viewing audience, and the cast delivers performances that do carry the story. This film has been finally released in DVD by 20th Century Fox, and I have replaced my taped VHS version with the DVD. It's very watchable, and the flying sequences still hold their own. 7/10, but a strong entry in this genre.

Within the last week, Fox FINALLY released a DVD version of the VERY seldom seen Robert Mitchum aviation classic, THE HUNTERS. My advance ordered copy from Amazon just arrived.

This is one of two war films Mitchum made for Dick Powell. The other one, the submariner classic THE ENEMY BELOW, has been widely available for the last 10 years at least. I don't understand why the long delay in releasing THE HUNTERS... but finally, the wait is over.

The Korean War has long been a forgotten conflict in American history, and the air war there has been almost completely ignored by Hollywood.

That's a shame. Fighter combat in Korea marked a significant transition period in air warfare.

The Korean War fighter pilots were the last of the old Stick and Rudder fliers. They were the last generation of knights of the sky who fought with gallantry and a respect for the skills and courage of their opponents. Even tho they were officially enemies, wearing the uniforms of different nations, the unspoken truth was that every pilot was the brother of everyone else who flew. In common they'd shared the thrill of flight, and the dangers that came along with it. They might fight to the death in the skies, but these warriors understood and respected each other.

After Korea, the airplanes became technologically advanced and ended the old ways of thinking. It was no longer a man to man confrontation; air combat became a matter of triggering a missile that killed your enemy 30 miles away, and you often never even saw your foe or his airplane. Air warfare became impersonal and detached.

In Korea, combat flying was still a very personal matter. The PILOT still flew, and FOUGHT, the AIRPLANE. After that, speeds increased and things in combat happened so quickly that men couldn't control them directly anymore... the old piloting skills were replaced by electronics, and the pilot became a mere backup system in case a fuse blew, and in reality the AIRPLANE flew the PILOT. He was just a piece of hardware... the Nut that held the stick and throttle!

There's a big difference between the men in THE HUNTERS and those in TOP GUN. I have my doubts that Maverick would have acquitted himself very well over Korea. Mitchum as Cleve Seville is a direct descendant of Flynn and Niven in THE DAWN PATROL, and Cruise in TOP GUN is a very different animal.

As far as the CD production is concerned... I'm surprised that they were able to find as good a print of the movie as they did for the DVD transfer. It appears to me that it's been digitally cleaned up; it was almost certainly computer processed to take care of color shift in the '50s vintage single strip Technicolor.

What was VERY surprising to me was the extra features. I was astonished that the teaser and trailer both feature a vocal theme song by Frankie Lane, the guy who did all those vocals for '50's westerns! You probably remember him best for his vocal on the theme of Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES.

I always thought that the music for THE HUNTERS was badly overblown, but after hearing the ill conceived Frankie Lane theme song, I can now appreciate the film's score as VASTLY preferable... I like Lane, but THIS effort definitely STINKS, and invokes little more than shocked laughter.

Well, fellow airplane nuts, the waiting is over. GET YOUR COPY NOW of one of the most sought after aviation films ever made.

First, a bit of history: James Horowitz, West Point class of 1945, shot down a MiG-15 on July 4th, 1952, while flying an F-86E with the 335th FIS, 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing in Korea, and used a typewriter equally as effective as his Sabre. Under the pen name (and later changed his name to)James Salter, he published a novel, "The Hunters," about Sabre pilots fighting in Korea. 4th Wing 2nd Lt. James F. "Dad" Low became America`s 17th and most junior jet ace with his fifth MiG kill on June 15, 1952, just six months out of flight school.Unlike the older pilots, many of them WWII veterans, Low became proficient in the use of the new A-4 automatic ranging gunsights on the E and F models of the F-86 Sabre. The novel and movie`s "bad guy," Lt. Pell, is a defiant, risk taking junior fighter jock, played in the movie by Robert Wagner (I`m a killer man! I cut em up,you know!)Both Low and Salter acknowledge that the "Pell" character is, in fact, James F. Low. Korean War historians speculate that Robert Mitchum`s character, Major Cleveland Saville, is based on one or two of the four USAF Medal of Honor recipients from the Korean War: either Maj. Louis J. Sebille, who died in his F-51 as commander of the 67th FBS, 18th FBW, or double ace Maj. George A. Davis, shot down in his F-86 as commander of the 334th FIS, 4th FIW. James Salter is pretty much of a recluse, but was interviewed by Tom Brokaw for NBC Nightly News three years ago. The movie`s 54th Fighter Group is apparently a contraction of the actual 4th and 51st F-86 Fighter Interceptor Wings from Korea. The F-86F30 Sabres in the movie were painted with the distinctive yellow band and checkered tail markings of the 51st FIW, but with yellow noses much like the Sabres of the 12th FBS of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing, and with post-Korean War anti-glare panels. A major technical flaw is an insertion shot of a crashing "Sabre dancing" F-100 Super Sabre in place of an F-86. American F-84F Thunderchiefs were painted up and used for the Russian-built MiG-15 in both "The Hunters" and "The McConnell Story." If you look closely, not all of the F-84Fs are painted like MiGs in "The Hunters." The movie`s top MiG pilot is "Casey Jones" (7-11, the Crapshooter,)shown to be Chinese. We now know that virtually all the top MiG pilots were Russian. There were many "Casey Joneses" flying for North Korea. When bandit trains (an actual phrase used in allied radio jargon and used in the movie script) took off from Antung Airfield in Manchuria, the real or mythical flight wing leaders were dubbed "Casey Jones." A 4th Wing F-86 Korean War veteran told me that Salter`s book was "too close to the way the 4th Wing really was in Korea," and that the Air Force wanted the script changed if they were to cooperate in the making of the movie. Even though a big budgeted movie, budget restrictions prevented producer-director Dick Powell (my mother grew up with him in Mountain View, Arkansas) from filming oversees, preferable in Japan. According to Robert J. Lentz`s excellent book, "Korean War Filmography," "The Hunters" combines Korean War aerial drama-in beautiful DeLuxe color and widescreen CinemaScope photography-with more turgid human drama on the ground involving sexual desire and fears of inadequacy. Only a few Korean War films actively depicted the sky battles in "MiG Alley" and "The Hunters" does so with better aesthetics and greater excitement than "Sabre Jet" or "The McConnell Story." Until the advent of "Top Gun" and its imitators, "The Hunters" remained the premier jet air-to-air combat film in terms of its aerial proficiency." I loved the book and the movie as a 12 year old kid in 1958, and have always remembered the tune to Paul Sawtell`s theme music march. For years I searched nationwide for a video of this movie, with no success. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine noticed "The Hunters" was on Cinemax at 2 AM and taped it for me. Hopefully, 20th Century Fox will release "The Hunters" on VCR or DVD, or, better yet, produce a new Korean War movie involving the legendary air battles between the F-86 Sabre and the MiG-15!!

If you've never read the book, watch the movie first - then go find the novel for the real story. It could be categorized as "autobiographical fiction" as the author, James Salter (nom de plum) flew as a pilot with the 335th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th FIW at Suwon, Korea during the war. Robert Wagner's character is a thinly veiled caricature of ace Jim Low. Mitchum is typically laconic (and I do enjoy him in this role, in spite of, or including, the schlocky love story) and the F-86s are fun to watch. Richard Egan plays well as the retread group commander who pairs Mitchum and Wagner, much to Mitchum's initial distaste. The DVD in widescreen is the best way to go, and while a far cry from "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," it's still a keeper in my book.

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.

Not a bad war movie for the fifties. The aerial sequences are exciting and well done (pre-computer). Mitchum is his usual entertaining, stoic self, and Robert Wagner has an especially amusing role as a young, "hipster/hotshot" pilot, that takes after Mitchum.

It's on TV every once in a while. Catch it!

Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner team up with May Britt to provide aviation enthusiasts a 1950's era movie filled with exciting combat, while Mitchum romances May Britt on the ground.

The enemy flies F-84's (not exactly Mig 15's) while the good guys fight with F-86's, but the action shots are good. Aviation art buffs will smile at the Kacee Jones "The Crapshooter" who has 7 & 11 dice painted on his aircraft nose.

If you like aviation movies, this is one to see.

You will recognize some other actors as well.

Somewhat dated BUT...and not filmed in Korea (probably Southern Calif.)...this is one of the better movies about the Korean War and just plain fun to watch......there is all the ingredients...a "love" triangle.....a hot shot pilot....the old war horse who still can show up the kids....a "coward" who still flys...and a CO who is real jerk (he's only in the movie for a few sequences, fortunately)..a "bad guy" North Korean pilot....good flying sequences to rival Top Gun using the F86 Sabre Jet....pilots getting shot down and E&E'ing behind Korean lines.....NOT for the Artsy-Craftsy Set who tend to snub their collective noses at anything pertaining to war and kicking butt..!!! If you like action/war stories don't miss it....!!!

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

I expected more action in the THE HUNTERS but I have to admit that the battle scenes were well shot and very realistic. I wanted to see also more adventure instead a lost love story that was too slow paced. Watch this movie only if you are not too tired. As in the other war movie with Bob Mitchum "THE ENEMY BELOW" the color was really de luxe and Robert Mitchum made a again a solid job. The enemies in the film didn't scary me at all. What I missed too were some important details about the Korea war.

I recommend it only to war planes lovers otherwise stay away. Vote therefore is 5/10.

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....?"

A nice film dealing with with an aerial unit in Japan , boasting some spectacular flying sequences breathtakingly captured in sunny color , though dialogue is less credible . Concerning a motley crew of pilots from a Special Jet Fighter Squadron learning about each other and themselves in this melodrama set during Korean War. Regarding a Major: Robert Mitchum arriving in Tokyo , Japan , and an officer pilot : Lee Philips contend for a deep love, turning into implacable rivals over the same woman : May Britt. Along the way they are confronting by deadly and powerful Chinese MIG fighters in battles and including a young hotshot top-gun : Robert Wagner who doesn't follows the superior orders . Mightiest thrill-shocked adventure spectacle of the super-sonic age !

Breathtaking and impressive aerial cinematography sets this apart from other films of the genre , these scenes were particularly made during shooting , exception for some stock footage from an unfortunate landing where blowing up an airplane . Filmmaker Powell inserts a backbone of steel with some of loving drama into this strong aerial/thriller/warlike movie . Main and support cast are pretty good . Robert Mitchum gives acceptable acting in his usual style . Along with May Britt as the beautiful wife , Robert Wagner, and Lee Philips. And other notorious secondaries as John Gabriel, John Doucette , Stacy Harris , Robert Reed , Richard Egan as Commander-in-chief who is thoroughly convincing as the squadron's commandant , among others .

It packs a colorful cinematography in brilliant Technicolor by Charles Clarke . As well as evocative and adequate musical score by Paul Sawtel. This noise-filled motion picture was well directed by Dick Powell , though he enhances the melodramatic elements at times. Dick Powell was a prestigious actor , a previous song-and-dance and tough guy star , who eventually made some decent movies, such as : Enemy Below, The Conqueror , You can't run away from it , Split Second and this The Hunters . Rating 6.5/10 . Worthwhile watching . The flick will appeal to Robert Mitchum fans .

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.

I've read some of the other comments on this film and mostly agree. The glitches are hilarious, especially the stock footage of the F100 floating on its engine power before crashing. Yes, there are artistic flaws here, and yes it's a love story more than simply a war story. However, we can glean a lot more from these older movies by looking at some of the behavior that is special to the time. For example, who knew that the Joe College lingo would call something George for good and Tom for bad. And "Koo Koo Daddyo!" That's early fifties and I was around 2 and 3 when the war was on and 8 when the movie was made. The philosophy of Saville saying he kills planes. You ask any fighter pilot and he will tell you that in the final analysis, that's what establishes air superiority. You get a real feel for the times when you apply observation and reflection (that's why I love the WWII movies). So...there's a lot more to these movies, even the flawed ones, than just the story. But I don't have to tell any of you that. You know.

Back in the days when Hollywood was looking to emphasize it's virility, they selected a West Point novelist named James Salter. His book, 'The Hunters' was published in 1957, which became a movie in 1958. The book was not given its due share of attention and neither was the movie. Yet it became a high school assignment which mutated into a book report. Although, grudgingly accepted, I hated it before I read the first page. However, as Study hall was boring, I opened the cover and began to read. Surprisingly, not only did I find the novel interesting and exciting, I got an 'A' and low and behold, I found I could scribble well enough to later write my own books. When the movie came out I had to go see it and the three movie stars, Robert Mitchum as Major Cleve Saville, Robert Wagner as Lt. Ed Pell and Richard Egan, (Colonel Dutch Imil) became my favorite actors. The movie is an exceptional story of American pilots flying combat missions during the Korean War. The subject of their peril concerns a Korean Air Ace, nicknamed 'Casey Jones (Leon Lontoc).' This enemy is credited with bringing down a dozen American fliers and is the best the enemy has. Enter, Cleve Saville, so cool at his job, they call him 'The Iceman." To help him in his squadron is none other than cocky Robert Wagner, a "hip" pilot, with so many first, he hopes to bring down, 'jones' before Seville does. May Britt, plays Kristina Abbott, the love interest and the human aspect of the story. An excellent movie, so well done, you could write a book report on it. ****

If The Hunters were as in love with certain other aspects of film-making as much as it was with its jets and its coverage of its jets, we might have ended up with a more rounded film. As it happens, it's a perfectly able enough little number about the ties that bind amidst the pilots at the forefront of some rather important missions during wartime; a film which isn't quite on a par with something like Anthony Asquith's The Way to the Stars in its depiction of airbase-set life complete with the romances and complications that spawn as a result of this group of men, and often women, occupying the same space in and around a base, but suffices. By the time the film's final act has kicked in, we've pretty much gone with it; a somewhat maddening and out of place adventure sequence which stretches out to encompass ground action, gun fights and rescue missions formulating into revenge set pieces; sequences which attempt to derail most of what good preceded it, but loosely holds together.

Robert Mitchum plays the lead, the film beginning with a triumphant burst of orchestral music during the opening credits as the name of each performer pops up on screen inviting a rousing reaction from that of whomever is watching. The credits play over that of an extended shot of a large plane, the first of many examples of the film lending ample time to shots of aircraft, as it rolls along a taxiway; Mitchum's flight major Cleve Saville eventually stepping off and treading foot on the soil of Japan, in this, 1952. The reason for his being there is more broadly linked to that of The Korean War, a stretch of warfare which ran from 1950 to 53; a conflict born out of the opposing Communist and Capitalist ideals which erupted post-Second World War, the film itself very much coming to represent a part of that war of words in terms of its propagandist tendencies.

Saville is assigned to an Ameircan squadron utilising Allied Japanese bases in the country for raids on the Communist North Koreans who are fighting the South, he arrives with many-a medal insignia upon on his coat breast and the verbal confirmation of having operated out of the unforgiving conditions of London during World War II implies qualification. His assigning to 54th squadron, a "rough" group of men it seems are very much in need of Saville's expertise, sees him come into contact with an existing higher-up in that platoon named Carl Abbott (Philips) – his Norwegian, of all nationalities, wife Kristina, played by the Swedish born May Britt, arriving in tow. A further, brief history lesson on The Korean War uncovers the fact that it was, at least to my knowledge, the first conflict to have utilised aircraft not driven by propellers; the jet engines which overtook that of the old technology here used for the first time in warfare. The film is aware of this; produced nary many-a year post-conflict, and so with the innovation still somewhat fresh, it goes out of its way to encompass the jets as as much-a character or item of importance as anything else. Carl himself even complains at the difficulties faced in getting to grips with the things, citing headaches and such despite his problem with alcohol; they're new, and problematic – few have fought with such exposure to such things, whereas the film even has Saville pause to take in a proverbial 'view' upon arrival as they hare off overhead.

Saville's integration with the squadron is often put aside for his interactions with Carl's wife, the aforementioned Kristina most call Kris. His altercations with Kris are born out her own concerns and rather wavering feelings towards her husband, for whom she is worried; their coming together eventually giving way to a mutual fondness not glossed over with a montage or what-not but allowed to develop naturally as they interact: an amusing incident highlighting changing feelings occurring when the proclaimed "Iceman of the sky" Saville looses his cool, calm and laid back persona whilst in a post office and in Kris' presence by dropping several items he was carrying.

The whole thing builds to what we presume to be some sort of 'big battle'; a 'final showdown' in the skies between those dastardly Commies and the all-Americans, whom its already been suggested via a montage have superiority anyway, involving Saville and Abbott and a chief threat in the form of an unspecific North Korean pilot doing all sorts in a Soviet-made plane. When the time for that sequence comes, the proof in the pudding is in the film granting the Commies their own takeoff sequence, a blood red flume of smoke from a flair gun overbearing proceedings as each of the enemy leaves the base for the field of combat. As it happens, the dog-fight is just the starter to a more unpredictable main course; the cocktail of a man in Abbott on the edge going hand in hand with Saville, his ties to Kris and Abbott's knowledge of this on top of American pilot-hungry ground Commie troops looking to execute all manner of nastiness on anybody even remotely not attuned to their cause disparately combining and working at once. Ultimately a bit of a propaganda piece, a slice of unabashed flag waving which enjoys the company of its stars and the latest and greatest in innovation of the United States armed forces, The Hunters is a wobbly effort but dimly enjoyable in its own right.

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.

I've been waiting for this film to be released on Video/DVD for a LONG time. I first saw it in the theater when I was nine, and it has been many years since I last saw it - as it was seldom if ever shown over the past 20-30 years.

It has some of the very best aerial photography ever filmed - groundbreaking for its day. Beautiful shots of F-86 Sabres and F-84 Thunderjets (subbing for "Migs") in air-to-air combat.

As a war film, it is one of the best - but it is lessened by a rather trite "romantic triangle" subplot.

Nevertheless, it is well worth owning and watching for any aviation buff who wants an insight as to what the first true "jet war" was all about.