Fans of
Armageddon might see one or two resemblances between that 1998 box office hit and
Hellfighters, a 1968 action film by Andrew V. McLaglen, one of John Wayne's favorite directors in his late career. (Their joint ventures included
Chisum,
Cahill: United States Marshal, and
McLintock!) Wayne plays an oil well firefighter in the mold of Red Adair, turning up anywhere in the world where a geyser of fire is shooting up from a once-profitable gusher. His right-hand man (Jim Hutton) has questionable judgment about safety matters and is a scoundrel with the ladies--and neither fact is lost on Wayne when Hutton's character marries his long-lost daughter (Katharine Ross, a mere year after
The Graduate). The film is an early entry in the disaster-meets-soap-opera genre that flourished in the '70s with such titles as
The Towering Infernoand
The Poseidon Adventure. McClaglen gets a lot of crackle out of his action scenes (many of the firefighting sequences are still startling in their intensity) and turns twin love stories (Hutton and Ross, Wayne and Vera Miles) into frothy studies of adult manners, with equal hints of Howard Hawks and Sidney Sheldon. The widescreen image on DVD offers viewers a chance to see what was then a developing vogue for gratuitous breadth and scope in all its goofy, self-congratulatory glory. (Is it necessary to look at a golf course the way one might look at an African veldt?
Hellfighters says yes!) The DVD also includes production notes and written bios on the stars, plus optional French and Spanish subtitles and an optional Spanish soundtrack. The cast and sundry thrills make this film highly enjoyable, and easily forgivable for indulging in such inanities as a subplot concerning--hold on--Venezuelan terrorists! The Duke lives!
--Tom Keogh
1 John Wayne is hot tonight.
This film has all the things you look for in a John Wayne movie and then some.
Chance Buckman (John Wayne) is an oil well firefighter fashioned after the famous Red Adair an actual earlier oil fire fighter of great fame. He is separated from his wife (Vera Miles) as she quinces every time he goes near a fire and can not take it. His daughter Tish (Katharine Ross) does not have that problem, however her mother thinks it is only a matter of time if she ever marries one of that kind. Perchance she does go to an oil fire and is impressed with one of the men working for Chance. And the inevitable happens.
The big one comes as an oil field fire in South America happens.
Can chance handle it with out extra help?
The question will be can Tish Handle the stress?
What is Tish's mother going to do about this?
I do not want to go too much into detail but a memorable John Wayne moment is when he is in his "red" outfit designed to be seen on the job, a television announcer pushes his way in and asks if wearing a RED suit is just fancy showmanship? And causes a negative mishap.
2 All Time Classic!
This would have to be one of the alltime most exciting movies
John Wayne ever did.In this movie Wayne plays the role of a character who is based on the life of Red Adair a legendary oil well fire fighter from Texas. Excellent supporting roles are also played by Jim Hutton,Katherine Ross and Vera Miles.In this
movie you are treated to some extrodinary oil well fires.Wayne
and Hutton fight these monster oil well fires all over the world.
The special effects that are employed to put these fires on the silver screen are extrodinary.Wayne plays the role of Red Adair
very effectively. This is a very good movie that you will enjoy.
Buy it and watch it.
3 Who else but John Wayne could play Red Adair
Loosely based on the life and career of Red Adair, I find this movie a joy to watch not only because I am a big fan of John Wayne, but also because of the fascinating job of being an oil well firefighter. Yeah, there is some soap to it with the love stories between Wayne and Vera Miles as well as Katherine Ross and Jim Hutton, but its not ridiculous or over the top, and I think the stories portrait how such a dangerous profession can have an effect on the families of the men who do it. The friendship between Wayne and Hutton's characters come through, and the play between them will keep you chuckling, especially when their relationship as friends grows to Father-in-law/Son-in-law.
4 John Wayne sheds light on a little-known business
It's fashionable these days (perhaps because of the vogue for "political correctness") to deride John Wayne and all his works, but the fact is that he was among the last actors to stick steadfastly to the notion that movies were, and should remain, family fare. And even though he admitted in so many words, "I play John Wayne in every picture regardless of the character," such a tendency isn't necessarily a handicap: what is important that an actor displaying it be certain that he chooses the right scripts. For Wayne, "The Hellfighters" was one such.
The film was loosely based on the experiences of Red Adair and his Wild Well Company (they served as technical advisors, and many viewers may remember that twenty years later Adair was still at work, helping to quench the Kuwait oil fires), and chronicles the adventures of Chance Buckman (Wayne) and his Houston-based outfit with a series of fires, gradually building in seriousness and difficulty, tied together by the dual romance of Chance with his long-estranged wife Madelyn Randolph (Miles) and their daughter Tish (Ross) with Chance's young protege Greg Parker (Hutton). (This aspect somewhat echoes those which occur in Wayne's "McLintock," and viewers may enjoy watching the two as a double feature.) Madelyn left Chance many years before when she found she couldn't bear his work, though they kept getting together for some time, and Chance's old friend, oilman Jack Lomax (Jay C. Flippen), flatly states that they've "never been out of love" with each other. When Chance is badly injured at a fire site, Greg tracks down his daughter and brings her to his side, fearing that he may not live. Five days later, Greg and Tish get married ("It was the cutest little Cajun church in Louisiana," Tish admits), and their union in turn brings Chance and Madelyn back together. Eventually Madelyn "convinced [Chance] that I should leave the store [she's the heiress to the Randolph Department Stores in San Francisco] and go and live in Houston with him," they get remarried, and when a guerrilla-plagued job in Venezuela tests both their union and the Parkers', Madelyn shows, in the end, that, as Chance says, "You'll do!"
The romances, however, are really the least part of the film. It is usually classified under action-adventure, and there's plenty of both: in the first two or three minutes an accidentally shattered light bulb sets an oil gusher on fire and sets the tone for the entire movie. Tish's eleventh fire, in Malaya, is "a poison gas well"--hydrogen sulphide, which can kill or blind--and the climactic Venezuelan sequence involves five fires (four of them set off by guerrillas with packs of dynamite), of which three must be capped simultaneously, a task that takes two tries and 29 minutes of running time. And, like all the best movies, there's also plenty of recognition of the fact that it's people that make a story. Wayne's Chance Buckman--torn between his love for Madelyn, his devotion to the work he does so well, and his concern for his daughter and son-in-law--is, despite his outlandish profession, not so different from many of the adults (fathers especially) who will view it. Ross as Tish is clearly, as she herself admits, both her father's and her mother's daughter: going to fires with Greg doesn't seem to bother her at all--it's when she's evacuated from the Venezuelan site, supposedly for her own safety, that she begins to stress out. Hutton's Greg Parker starts out as a classic male chauvinist (he uses fires to get girls, and in his introductory sequence goes so far as to check his watch to see whether he has time to make love and still catch his plane), but his attachment to Chance is soon shown to be real, and extends itself to Tish, with whom he seems to have a sound and solid marriage despite their very brief acquaintance. And Miles as Madelyn gives a taut performance that convincingly portrays her terrors for her daughter and the man she loves, her deep loyalty to them, and her uncertainty about her own ability to adjust. Two of Wayne's long-time friends and frequent members of his stock company, Bruce Cabot and Edward Faulkner, weigh in as his firefighting backup Joe and helicopter pilot George, and Flippen's Jack Lomax, himself a former wild-well man and apparently Chance's mentor ("[Chance] and I were--well, about like he and Greg are now"), adds a touch of stability to both Chance's life and the entire movie. Andrew V. McLaglen, the son of another of Wayne's frequent co-players, directs, and mention should be made of Leonard Rosenman's thrilling theme music, which plays under every fire and call-to-arms.
Some critics consider this to be one of Wayne's less notable films, but I think it better than many (though not my ultimate favorite among his works). It's probably best suited to families of boys, who will be hooked at once by the action and suspense of the fires. On the other hand, even the obligatory brawl (in Madame Lu's bar in Malaya) has the kind of seriocomic feel that will keep it from being too scary, though the fires themselves may be too intense for very young or sensitive kids. A good Saturday-night film overall, especially suited to a bitter cold winter's evening!
5 THIS MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This movie is fabulous. It is one of my all-time favorites. John Wayne, Katharine Ross & Jim Hutton do a wonderful job.
6 A great John Wayne flick
This is one of my favorite John Wayne pictures. It has all the key elements: danger, romance, explosions and fires, a barroom brawl, private jets, pretty girls, and great theme music. Great cast too, with Jim Hutton, J.C. Flippen, Kate Ross and Vera Miles. If you like John Wayne movies, 'Hellfighters' is one of the best.
7 Duke takes a 'Chance"...
The action scenes with the burning oil wells were top notch and quite the spectacle and the humor came off well, but beyond that the film kinda sagged. It really suffered when the Duke was not onscreen. I found myself fast forwarding through those scenes. It was good to see Duke in a more contemporary film and his performance/character was right on par with what you'd expect from the man. Well worth seeing for the special effects on the five or so oil fires but I feel it would collect some dust on my shelf.
8 Daytime drama goes widescreen.
As a tribute to oil-field fire fighting legend Red Adair, this incredibly formula 70's action picture (think Airport) over loads with talent then takes an extra 30 minutes or so just so everyone has something to say.
Soapy story starts with hard-as-nails Chance Buckman (John Wayne), who fights fires with a vengeance-so far his profession has cost him his marriage and distanced him from his only child, Tish (Katherine Ross), a headstrong young filly. Toss in Buckman's protegee, Greg Parker (Jim Hutton), the young buck, himself a fearless firefighter by day, ferocious playboy by night.
Will Tish's re-entry to her father's world upturn the apple cart? Will she tame Greg and settle into a union the Cleaver's might envy? Will passing years cause Chance to take a softer look at the world? Will he return to the woman he left behind?
Or will their entire world be turned upside down in that next big fire up ahead?
Enjoy.
9 Daytime drama goes widescreen.
As a tribute to oil-field fire fighting legend Red Adair, this incredibly formula 70's action picture (think Airport) over loads with talent then takes an extra 30 minutes or so just so everyone has something to say.
Soapy story starts with hard-as-nails Chance Buckman (John Wayne), who fights fires with a vengeance-so far his profession has cost him his marriage and distanced him from his only child, Tish (Katherine Ross), a headstrong young filly. Toss in Buckman's protegee, Greg Parker (Jim Hutton), the young buck, himself a fearless firefighter by day, ferocious playboy by night.
Will Tish's re-entry to her father's world upturn the apple cart? Will she tame Greg and settle into a union the Cleaver's might envy? Will passing years cause Chance to take a softer look at the world? Will he return to the woman he left behind?
Or will their entire world be turned upside down in that next big fire up ahead?
Enjoy.
10 a must see
John Wayne has never looked better. I liked McLintock and thought i would hate this one but it turned out that i loved it and bought it.
11 Excellent movie...the Duke at his hard livin' best
A must see for any John Wayne fan. This movie has everything we love him for. Great DVD as well.
12 Excellent! I feel this was one of John Wayne's best films.
This film has the excitement of putting out oil fires. Added to two classic love stories. I have always enjoyed this film and now my 15 year old son is enjoying it as well.
13 Excellent!!!!
A great movie, and a must see in widescreen forma
14 Splendid cast and storyline
This is one of the last movies featuring Vera Miles. She plays well as Wayne's estranged wife (how many of THOSE has his movies featured?). Also, it's always a treat to see Katharine Ross. Her love interest, Jim Hutton, went on to play TV's Ellery Queen. Jim also costarred with Wayne in Green Berets. In my opinion, this is one of Wayne's finest non-western movies, maybe not quite as good as Hatari. Certainly different from typical fireman stories. Plus, it's one the whole family can watch.
15 So bad that its good
Its been said that there are no bad John Wayne movies. "Hellfighters" is certainly one of them. The film looks and sounds (music wise) like a 1960's TV movie. Frequent "fade-to-blacks" between scenes leave the viewer anticipating an upcoming TV commercial. The script is lackluster, the dialoge is wooden... ah, but so what! Watch the cars whizzing by on the freeway outside the windows of Wayne's office. They all go the same speed and you keep seeing the same red car every few seconds. Yup, its a studio backdrop and a pretty lame one at that. Watch while Vera Miles drives Katherine Ross from the airport. The car turns before she turns the wheel. The car stops before she applies the brakes. This is fun stuff! But somehow, this film still works as pure entertainment and with The Duke heading the cast, how can you not love it? The special effects of burning oil well fires are great and worth the price of the video. No miniatures here. No matte backgrounds. It hauntingly foreshadows the oil fires of Kuwait we grew familiar with while watching Desert Storm on CNN. I give this film five stars, simply because of its cult appeal. A film so bad, that its actually very good!
16 Great Flick
This is probably one of the best entertaining John Wayne films that most fans don't mention. I would recommend this film to be added to any John Wayne Library. The story is based upon the real life "Red Adair" and John Wayne plays this part. A must see. I give it five stars.
