MovieChat Forums > The Enemy Below (1958) Discussion > Companion movie 'The Hunters'

Companion movie 'The Hunters'

posted 19 years ago by CmdrCody
8 replies | jump to latest

Director/Producer Dick Powell of this movie liked working with Robert Mitchum. A year after "The Enemy Below" was released, Powell made a terrific flying picture with Mitchum called "The Hunters." It's F86s vrs the MiGs in Korea, with Robert Wagner as the jive talking, crack shot, rover-boy on Mitchum's wing. Mitchum stars as Cleve Sevile, a quiet, deadly but intensely loyal fighter pilot who keeps his word no matter what happens. Mai Britt (a bit of a rebel herself when she married Sammy Davis Jr...quite the scandle at the time) is the love interest. The main antagonist is a hot Chinese pilot nicknamed Casey Jones...who might remind some of you as a Darth Vader type with face-on camera shots, lining up his guns on his next American aircraft.

They use real planes in this movie. The musical score is great. The romantic talk is a bit stilted (1950s style) between Mitchum and Britt but there is some chemistry between them. The dialouge between the pilots is just terrific with Mitchum cool and controlled at all times and Wagner coming on hard with his jive-ass ways.

An actor in "The Hunters," John Gabriel ("Corona"), teams up with Mitchum later in another picture "El Dorado" where he is the shifty, backshooter "Pedro" and Mitchum is the drunken sherriff.

Be sure not to miss "The Hunters." Available on DVD, along with "The Enemy Below." I hope you enjoy both pictures as much as I do.

[–] smiley-39 19 years ago

Hello CmdrCody

Read your message on, "The Hunters", also "The Enemy Below". Have got both DVD's. I saw them both on their first release in the late nineteen-fifties. They both stand the test of time okay. Wrote a comment on, "The Enemy Below", a while back.

All the best, keep smiling. smiley-39 ([email protected])

[–] Gavno 19 years ago

This has been mentioned in the message board for THE HUNTERS, but I'm repeating it here in case somebody here has an answer as to what's going on.

It concerns the number "One Four Zero".

Anyone who has seen THE ENEMY BELOW knows that in spite of attacks, Kurt Jurgens
kept stubbornly returning to a course of 140 degrees.

In THE HUNTERS, in the big attack sequence, just before Mitchum tangles with the
enemy ace "Casey Jones", he leads his flight on a course of 140 degrees.

To drive it into the ground; when Mitchum arrives at the F86 base they send him
up for an orientation flight. His wingman, Corona, says that Mitchum will fly
aircraft "number one forty"!

There HAS to be some background story behind the number 140, and I'd LOVE to
know just what it is!

[–] CmdrCody 19 years ago

Wow! Have you hit upon something or what! 140...you're absolutely right!

It's almost like the TV show "Lost" and the number sequence.

Was Dick Powell hung up on the number "140?"

Man...this is like Twilight Zone stuff!

Well done, Gavno!

CmdrCody

[–] truffleshuffle03 18 years ago

I'm not sure what the number actualy has to do with anything but it could be just that guys fav number. I know there are many directors that do that sometimes that i have read about that they always use a something like a there fav number in all there movies. But it also could be something bigger than that
JOHN WAYNE: "You look more like a black-eyed Susan to me.

[–] smiley-39 18 years ago

truffleshuffle03.
You write about John Wayne and: "You look more like a black-eyed Susan to me." Was he referring to Susan Hayward? They were on three movies together. No, possibly not. Maybe it would have been more appropriate if he had said: "You look like a black-eyed Maureen to me." After all O'Hara and Wayne battled with each other in "The Quiet Man", and "McKlintock"!
All the best, smiley-39

[–] truffleshuffle03 15 years ago

A black eyed susan is some kind of flower

Ari: Lets hug it out
John wayne:If you say three you will never hear the man count ten.

[–] mangoman1 9 years ago

Way late, of course, but it's a line *from* The Quiet Man, during the break in the big fight scene with Victor McLaglen. Dannaher says, "I'm as fresh as a daisy." to which Thornton replies, "You look more like a black-eyed Susan to me...."

[–] 9 years ago

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