The Hunters *** (1958, Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, Richard Egan) – Classic Movie Review 10,811

Robert Wagner supports main star Robert Mitchum as two very different US Air Force fighter pilots, in Twentieth Century Fox’s DeLuxe colour CinemaScope Korean War movie, The Hunters (1958), directed by Dick Powell. It is supposedly adapted from the 1957 novel The Hunters by James Salter but the book is so changed that it is in effect an original screenplay.

Dick Powell’s 1958 The Hunters is a robust, manly war action melodrama of US jet pilots in Korea in 1952. The screenplay by Wendell Mayes (based on James Salter’s novel, or at least its title) gets bogged down with too much unspectacular chat, but Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner’s performances and Tom Tutwiler’s aerial photography are very watchable.

Robert Mitchum stars as Major Cleve ‘Iceman’ Saville, a veteran World War Two fighter ace, who returns to combat during the Korean War, ready to fly an F-86 Sabre fighter. Richard Egan plays his commanding officer, Colonel ‘Dutch’ Imil, who assigns him command of a flight. Robert Wagner also stars as talented but brash Lieutenant Ed Pell, a new replacement among the pilots.

Punchy direction by actor Powell smoothes the familiar mix of action behind enemy lines and the rough-hewn, soapy stuff about tough veteran Major Cleve Saville (Mitchum) falling for First Lieutenant Carl Abbott (Lee Philips)’s young wife ‘Kris’ Abbott (May Britt). But the film takes flight with the flying scenes, the extraordinary aerial cinematography and the manly war action. Powell creates an authentic look, with carefully set-up scenes focusing on military personnel and the jet fighter operations.

The flying scenes were mainly filmed over the southwest United States around Luke and Williams Air Force Bases in Arizona, while take-offs were staged from Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field. Operational F-86 Sabre fighters, then still front-line aircraft, were used in the aerial sequences.

Wendell Hayes recalled: ‘While we used the title, what I wrote was from start to finish an original screenplay. There wasn’t anything else to do, because the novel could not be adapted. It was too internal.’

Also in the cast are John Gabriel as First Lieutenant Corona, Stacy Harris as Colonel Monk Moncavage, Victor Sen Young as Korean farmer, Candace Lee as Korean child, Leon Lontoc, John Doucette as Sergeant, Larry Thor as Captain Owynby, Ralph Manza as Gifford, Nobu McCarthy as Japanese clerk, Kam Tong as Communist Chinese officer, Rachel Stephens as Air Force nurse, Nina Shipman as WAF lieutenant, Robert Reed as Jackson, and Aki Aleong as MiG pilot..

The Hunters runs 108 minutes, is shot in DeLuxe colour and CinemaScope by Charles G Clarke, is produced by Dick Powell, is scored by Paul Sawtell, and cost $2,440,000, taking $2,100,000 in US rentals.

It was planned for Clark Gable and James Stewart.

Mitchum had just made another war film for Powell: the 1957 submarine classic The Enemy Below.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,811

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