ltcprjones I do not understand all the negative comments. I think next to 12 O'Clock High, this is the best aviation film ever made. You cannot expect the Chinese to lend us MiGs and trucks to make a movie, so using (captured) American vehicles is plausible. As a retired military officer and aviator, I have been to Japan and Korea and the film's background scenery is authentic. As for the aircraft, again, we couldn't borrow any MiG-15s, so the most similar U.S. aircraft was the F-84F. It had a flat nose, mid-fuselage swept back wings and high, swept back fail fins. That is as close to the MiG-15 as you can get. And unlike one reviewer said, the F-84 was not used for the MiG-15 in The McConnell Story (a horrible movie). They used F-86s. They just painted the noses a different color (like they used P-51s painted grey with black crosses for ME-109s in the 1948 movie Fighter Squadron with Robert Stack). And that movie was downright stupid, especially the scene where the F-86s were waltzing to AFN Radio. Also, to the reviewer who referred to the 4th and 51st Fighter "Wings." In the Korean War, they were Fighter Groups. The Regular Air Force didn't drop Groups (Reserves and ANG still use them) until way after the Korean War. And the aerial fighting sequences were accurate and believable. Remember, this movie was made before computer graphics were available, yet they were able to show reasonable tracer bullet effects. Plus the "military speak"was authentic. As far as the romantic side plot, it broke up the usual endless flying of most aviation movies. And remember, this depicted the early 1950s when women were not liberated as they are now. Also, MAJ Saville never crossed the line to having sex with Mrs. Abbott, even though she made it clear that she would let him, right before he said he would look after Carl. So he maintained his code of ethics, even for the 1950s. 'Buff said.

blanche-2 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.

Spikeopath 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

Nazi_Fighter_David North American's F-86 Sabre was the West's premier fighter aircraft during the early 1950s, and superior to any fighter aircraft in the eastern part of the world… The F-86 scored consistent victories over Russian-built MiG fighters during the Korean War…Hollywood didn't make nearly enough movies about it, but in "The Hunters," we have the opportunity to admire this graceful and agile subsonic equipped with more powerful engines and armament systems that ranged from bombs and rockets to machine guns and cannons… Robert Mitchum portrays the big hunter, the 'Iceman.' Maj. Cleve Saville was like death: no feelings, no nerves, no fear… In Japan, on his way to his first posting in Korea, he meets Lt. Carl Abbott (Lee Philips), a young pilot who thinks he is a bad flier… Too much booze was the sign… With 30 missions Abbott failed to get any enemy planes… His wife Chris (May Britt) doesn't know what to do with him… She asks Maj. Saville to look out for him and help him… Saville finds himself falling in love with her, with some response from her… Filling out the story when they finally reach Korea are the first of the jet pilots, Col. Dutch Emil (Richard Egan), and Lt. Ed Pell (Robert Wagner), a rude young guy with big cigars in his face, considered as a 'little stinker who can get MiGs.' Their common enemy is the Chinese ace Casey Jones (Leon Lontoc). His plane has the numbers 7-11 on his fuselage… The MiGs are based in Red China, across the Yalu River