Hellfighters
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Jay C. Flippen, Jim Hutton, John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Vera Miles Director: Andrew V. McLaglen Brand: Universal Studios Cinematographer: William H. Clothier Editor: Folmar Blangsted Producer: Robert Arthur Writer: Clair Huffaker DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: French (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 2.35:1 Running Time: 121 minutes DVD Release Date: 1999-01-05 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Studio: Universal Studios |
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Movie Reviews of Hellfighters
Movie Review: Even with the deck stacked against it HELLFIGHTERS succeeds...barely.
Summary: 3 Stars
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 horrible overacting of Jim; the by-the-numbers direction by Andrew V. McLaglen (who James Coburn once called a "hack") 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! Example: "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. "Baby oil?! NO!!!!"