Red Skies of Montana

This film is based on an actual event, the Mann Gulch Fire, documented by the late Norman MacLean in his deeply moving book, "Young Men and Fire", where a team of smoke jumpers landed, confidently, on a hillside but were suddenly confronted by a firestorm, chasing them up a steep hill. One of the group, the team leader, lit a grass fire, jumped into the ashes, and survived. All but two of his comrades were burned to death in their futile attempt to escape.

MacClean wrote his book in his last years. He actually saw the Mann Gulch fire as a younger man, I would recommend this book to anyone. There are no braver people in the world than smoke jumpers.

This film is about the smoke-jumping U. S. Forestry Service firefighters whose dangerous profession centers on the timberlands of the American Northwest. In the leading roles are Richard Widmark, Jeffrey Hunter, Richard Boone and the lovely and beautiful Constance Smith. Widmark and Boone were the studio's tough action performers of the early fifties, and handsome, blue-eyed young Hunter in 1952, as likely a prospect for glamour stardom.

A very young Charles Bronson has a uncredited bit role in this male-oriented story. This was his 5th film he had made in Hollywood and his 1st color one. Once again Bronson/Buchinsky helps decorate the mountain wilderness location with his steely-eyed macho image while rubbing shoulders with and learning the working habits of some of Hollywood"s top professionals. He apparently became good friends with Richard Boone. Bronson guest starred on Boone's Have Gun Will Travel TV series several times and Bronson also guest starred on Medic which Boone hosted. They would work together in another film 10years later in A Thunder of Drums in 1961.

Fox executives were very nervous about Red Skies of Montana, a title they felt was more suggestive of a Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Western than the very respectable action-adventure yarn this film was. In some areas , they called it Smoke Jumpers, a no-nonsense title that The New York Times actually ran its review under.

The movie essentially focuses on the documentary side :how the fire fighters worked in the fifties,how they often risked their lives (still do today)and how(sometimes) they were unjustly accused of cowardice .their relatives are not forgotten :Widmark's wife and Hunter's mom are present and are even together when they are waiting for their men to come back after a dangerous mission.

The plot concerns a fire fighter who suffers from amnesia:he does not remember what happened during a mission in which all his men were killed:a man among them was the father of a young fire fighter who cannot forgive him because he thinks he abandoned his men to save his life.Without any flashback,we do understand the whole thing during the final mission ,much to the credit of the film.

Red Skies of Montana is one of a series of outstanding adventure films in which Richard Widmark starred during the 1950's. It portrays the dangerous lives of smoke jumpers, who fight fires in the great northwest by parachuting into the flames. Richard Widmark is a team leader, under suspicion after he is the sole survivor from a group of smoke jumpers killed in a massive fire. He can remember nothing of event, yet must resume life amidst the doubts of his comrades. The film adeptly the blends personal lives of the men and women involved, excellent firefighting action, and the suspense created by Richard Widmark's flashbacks of his near fatal event. Jeffrey Hunter plays the vengeful son of one of Widmark's slain team; and Richard Boone adds dimension as the stern, professional commander of the unit. This film is utterly believable. The fire scenes are awesome. Red Skies of Montana portrays a lifestyle that needs no "over the top" fiction or outlandish action to make it thrilling. I think this is a timeless film, and a truly entertaining one. And if you do enjoy it, I recommend "Destination Gobi"; another outstanding Widmark adventure.

The skies of Montana are red because of forest fires and this film is about the men who jump into those fires to put them out. Red Skies Of Montana's main feature is the on location cinematography in Missoula, Montana in a national park of the smoke jumpers who go in from the air like paratroopers to contain and then extinguish forest fires.

Sad to say the film is tied to a rather pedestrian plot situation. Joe Sawyer who is a veteran smoke jumper is among many killed when they're caught in a fire that springs up and overwhelms the men of Richard Widmark's crew. Widmark is the only one who survives, he's rescued by head smoke jumper Richard Boone. Widmark is suffering burns and a bad case of amnesia as to what happened.

Of course there is an inquiry, but that does not satisfy young Jeffrey Hunter who is Sawyer's son and who believes Widmark personally culpable for Sawyer's death. That's the basis for the conflict in the film and if you're any kind of veteran film watcher you know how this will resolve itself.

But the incredible location cinematography done in color and with newsreel footage of men actually fighting the fires is the main feature of Red Skies Of Montana. Some of the best you'll ever see. I'm really surprised the Motion Picture Academy did not recognize this film for both editing and color cinematography.

To see a good film about some brave men who now include women in their ranks by all means see Red Skies Of Montana.