Synopsis
The Toughest Hellfighter Of All!
The adventures of oil well fire specialist Chance Buckman (based on real-life Red Adair), who extinguishes massive fires in oil fields around the world.
1968 Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
The adventures of oil well fire specialist Chance Buckman (based on real-life Red Adair), who extinguishes massive fires in oil fields around the world.
John Wayne Katharine Ross Jim Hutton Vera Miles Jay C. Flippen Bruce Cabot Edward Faulkner Edmund Hashim Barbara Stuart Valentin de Vargas Frances Fong Alberto Morin Alan Caillou Laraine Stephens John Alderson Lal Chand Mehra Rudy Diaz Bebe Louie Chris Chandler William Hardy Howard Finch Richard 'Cactus' Pryor Big John Hamilton Elizabeth Germaine Chuck Roberson John Stephenson Edward Colmans Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Eddie Smith Show All…
Les Feux de l'enfer, Die Unerschrockenen, Uomini d'amianto contro l'inferno, Los luchadores del infierno, Bojovníci s peklem, Heróis do Inferno, Адские бойцы, Vórtice de fuego, 地狱战士, Ujarzmić piekło, 헬파이터즈, La brigada del diable, Tulikenttien miehet
Firefighters movie starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton, Vera Miles with a listless plot; at the three-quarters mark I admit I was completely lost and did not know why they were putting out oil fires in another country (Venezuela) overrun by guerrillas. Stayed glued to it all only because I enjoyed seeing Ross out-act and out-class everyone else in Hellfighters.
Yo Duke I'm really happy for you. I'ma let you finish. But Seagal had one of the best movies of all time!
Film # 6-of Duke-Tober-A Month of John Wayne Films
Director Andrew V. McLaglen was aways going to be involved in filmmaking. Son of actor Victor McLaglen, the young Andrew would find himself regularly on a film set, where his father worked on numerous films with director John Ford and icon John Wayne, most notably on Ford's Cavalry Trilogy of Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande. I loved his father as an actor, he brought a swagger to his roles, mostly in supporting slots, but ones that as a youngster I'd always remember. McLaglen's family connection would see him get a foot in the door at Republic Pictures, earn his spurs as a 2nd AD and then…
I've watched loads of John Wayne films off the TV over the last few years and I'm still happening across ones I'd never heard of before.
The latest such one is Hellfighters, Wayne's attempt at doing a very loose version of Red Adair. Which doesn't sound like a bad proposition on paper but the end result is an extremely long and unnecessarily boring film that spends way too little time on putting out fires and way too much time on Katharine Ross and Jim Hutton's relationship.
Victor McLaglen sticks in a completely random bar fight at one point when Wayne and the lads stick one on a bunch of Aussies for no other reason that they're drunk. Of course they are, they're Australian! It just left me wishing I was watching one of Wayne's westerns instead. A massive bore.
My late grandfather had two heroes; Bing Crosby and John Wayne. As such I always feel a little bittersweet when I watch something featuring either of them, especially around Christmas time. It makes me feel close to him, but also makes me realise he's no longer around.
On its release in 1968, Hellfighters was billed as Wayne's most exciting action picture. Of course, it's anything but. This thinly fictionalised account of real life oil well firefighter Red Adair is far too talky, cliched and stultifying to be the most exciting action picture of anyone's career, let alone The Duke's. It's pure potboiler which wastes it's rather distinctive backdrop terribly.
It's a real shame a greater insight into the lives and…
This movie is just really, really dull. I don't know if there's anything more that I can say about Hellfighters other than that it looks expensive and has a few cool firefighting sequences, but is also such an utter bore as it wastes all of its time with limp melodrama and a severe lack of action or adventure. Even die-hard John Wayne fans can skip this one, to be honest.
5 reasons why I really enjoyed Hellfighters:
1. John Wayne's character is called Chance Buckman.
2. 28 year old Katharine Ross.
3. Hal Needham versus fires for most of the action.
4. The mad and violent anti-Communist third act.
5. Jim Hutton doing his young Jimmy Stewart shtick.
Andrew V. McLaglen's old-fashioned, particularly for 1968, action-adventure film is not a "great" film but I had a great time watching it. It has some visually interesting action, a long and strangely paced romance, some out of place family melodrama and a third act right out of John Wayne's political obsessions. It is an odd mix, but really quite engaging.
Though, I am clearly overly kind to late-career John Wayne and really only bother watching it if you are similarly interested in the Duke way past his prime.
feels like some producer read an article about oil well firefighters and said “boy, this’d make a great picture!” he was wrong
There's so much wrong with this movie I don't even know where to start. First off, it's supposed to be a snapshot of these oil-rig-firefighters' jobs and lives, so right off the bat, it's full of shit. It's like a greatest hits of the absolute worst fires they could ever encounter but they come one right after another. Big eyeroll. Then, of course, there's the ever-insufferable John Wayne, playing himself, as always, and doing his jingoistic, swaggering American routine. "Why, who's the only one who can handle these tough jobs and save you idiot foreigners from yourselves? Just lil' ol' 'Murican me, pardner." If I saw him tell off, or punch, or just be a general asshole to one more…
First time watch: January 2022
Source: TCM Channel
Director/Cast/Premise
Hellfighters is the 1968 adventure film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton and Vera Miles the plot focuses on a specialist group of oil well fighters.
Quick Thoughts
As I continue to knock off John Wayne titles from the list I live in hope of coming across something special and a title that can rival the current top five. Hellfighters seemed like it had potential as I expected an in depth look at the dangerous and interesting career of an oil well fighter but in actual fact this is a disappointing producural drama that focuses more on love and relationships then putting your life on…