The Hunters (1958 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Hunters


caption = VHS cover art
writer = Wendell Mayes
James Salter
starring = Robert Mitchum
Robert Wagner
May Britt
director = Dick Powell
producer = Dick Powell
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = 1958
runtime = 108 min.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0051750

"The Hunters" is a 1958 feature film adapted from the novel "The Hunters" by James Salter. Lavishly produced by Dick Powell, it stars Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner as two very different United States Air Force fighter pilots in the midst of the Korean War. It ranks as a particularly significant film for its period footage shot in widescreen and color on location in Japan and Korea.

Plot

Major Cleve "Iceman" Saville (Mitchum) is a veteran World War II fighter ace eager to fly an F-86 Sabre fighters in the Korean War. His commanding officer, Colonel "Dutch" Imil (Richard Egan), assigns him command of a flight.

Among his pilots is a new replacement, talented, but overconfident Lieutenant Ed Pell (Wagner). After he abandons his element leader, Lieutenant Corona (John Gabriel), during combat to down an enemy fighter, Corona's plane is shot up; he is killed while trying to land. As a result, Saville wants Pell assigned to someone else, but Imil overrules him; Pell was top of his class in flight school and Imil sees him as a younger version of Saville. If anyone can get Pell to grow up, it is the major.

Another pilot under Saville's command, Lieutenant Carl Abbott (Lee Philips), poses a different kind of problem. He lacks confidence in his abilities; his worried wife Kristina (May Britt) asks Seville to watch over him. Saville falls in love with her, and vice versa. Aware of the situation, Abbott offers Saville a deal: his wife in return for the opportunity to go one-on-one with "Casey Jones" (Leon Lontoc), the most feared enemy ace, if they should run into him. A disgusted Saville turns him down.

Nevertheless, on a mission soon afterwards, Abbott tangles with Casey and is quickly shot down far behind enemy lines. In an ensuing dogfight, Saville downs Casey and, resisting the temptation to abandon the wounded Abbott, spots his parachute and ditches his plane nearby, disobeying standing orders. Pell strafes the North Korean infantrymen closing in and is shot down himself. The trio then make their way back to safety.

Along the way, they are assisted by a friendly Korean farmer (Victor Sen Yung) and his family. When a North Korean patrol happens by, the Americans hide, but in their haste, a jacket is left behind. As a result, the family members are executed, but Saville and Pell avenge them.

Afterward, Abbott is to be transferred back to the U.S. to recuperate. His brush with death has changed his priorities; he remorsefully asks Kristina for another chance. She decides to go with him.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified): [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051750/fullcredits The Hunters (1958) Full credits] ]

Production

The flying scenes were principally filmed over the southwest United States, and much of the realistic aerial sequences are enhanced by the use of actual North American F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft which were still current as front line aircraft at the time. USAF F-84F Thunderstreak fighters were painted with Communist Bloc paint schemes and insignia to portray enemy MiG-15s.

With this film, director Dick Powell completed his obligations to 20th Century Fox in his producing-directing contract, having already delivered "The Enemy Below".

Differences from the novel

Other than the names of some characters, the fact that they were flying F-86s against MiG-15s in the Korean War in 1952, and the final dogfight between Cleve and Casey Jones, there is minimal resemblance between the film and Salter's original novel. The character of Cleve Saville (or Cleve Connell in later editions) in the novel more resembles the character of Carl Abbott in the movie, and Abbott in the novel, a less prominent character, is a seasoned ace who outranks Saville. Saville is on his first combat tour in the novel, having done his World War II service in the Panama Canal Zone. The friction between Saville and Pell continues throughout the novel and Pell is a much less likeable character.

There are no pilots' wives as characters in the novel and therefore no love triangle subplots, and no mission where Saville crash-lands, or Pell is shot down, trying to help Abbott. On the return to base after Saville shoots down Casey Jones, his wingman is killed when he runs out of fuel and crashes just short of the runway, and as a gesture to the wingman and also to spite Pell who questions whether Casey Jones was actually shot down, Saville credits his wingman for the kill. Saville actually dies at the end of the novel, with only a single kill to his own credit.

Reception

Considered a lacklustre war drama, "The Hunters" did not fare well with critics although most audiences saw it as a widescreen epic. "The real star of the film is the extraordinary aerial cinematography", Mark Hassan wrote. Hassan, Mark. [http://www.kqek.com/dvd_reviews/h/3111_Hunters1958.htm "The Hunters" Review.] JQEK DVD Review, 2006.] Director Dick Powell strived to create an authentic "look" with carefully set up scenes focusing on military personnel and the jet fighter operations that underlined the main action scenes.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Dolan Edward F. Jr. "Hollywood Goes to War". London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
* Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." "The Making of the Great Aviation Films". General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
* Orriss, Bruce. "When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II". Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.