Hellfighters

I enjoyed seeing John Wayne in something other than a western. I purchased this for my mother, who likes the DUKE.

I HAVE BEEN A JOHN WAYNE FAN FOR MANY YEARS. I GREW UP WATCHING HIS MOVIES WITH MY dAD. THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF HIS GREAT MOVIES. NOT TO BE MISSED.

My husband and love this movie. It's action packed, romantic in the old fashioned way where everybody ends up happy. There is enough gloom and doom today, I want romance and happy endings.

John Wayne films can be divided into three categories: those before STAGECOACH, his critical hits (THE SEARCHERS, RIO BRAVO, etc.) and his more formulaic efforts that usually left critics and audiences cold (JET PILOT, BLOOD ALLEY and the like).

HELLFIGHTERS is one of the more successful of that third category thanks to the interesting subject (fighting oil well fires) and John Wayne himself, but no thanks to the by-the-numbers direction by Andrew V. McLaglen (who James Coburn once called a "hack"), the horrible overacting of Jim Hutton and the inept script (by Clair Huffaker who's biggest hit was THE WAR WAGON) that tries it's best to flush the whole thing down the toilet by giving way, way too much screen time to the worrying and crying of the spineless wives who just can't face the fact that their husbands are rugged, firefighting superstuds! "This fire is it for me! It's the answer. I may fall apart and get the screaming memes...I don't know!" I actually felt bad for the great Vera Miles having to spout off garbage like that.

The sexist subplot aside the firefighting scenes were exciting, well shot and educational (I had no idea how they put out oil well fires). Worth a watch, even for non-Wayne fans.

Fun Fact: McLaglen went on to direct the legendary bad movie MITCHELL that was immortalized for all time by MST3K. "My my my my GOD!!!" "Baby oil?! NO!!!!"

Classic John Wayne. Very enjoyable film. Jim Hutton is great as well as Katharine Ross. Enjoyed being able to pick out the "regular or frequent players" in this film from Wayne's other films of this period. Wayne's common theme of using the same names throughout his films also comes into play. The action scenarios are taken from actual well fire experiences. In later years, I confirmed this with Red Adair, whom Wayne patterned the Chance Buchman character after. Red explained he had a great time as technical advisor on the film and remained a lifelong friend of Wayne's until his passing. Incidently, Red Adair's personal Rolex had a face very similar to "The Buchman Group" insignia on their vehicles.