Hellfighters

One thing about John Wayne movies are the great first names he always had in them. Singin Sandy, Spig, Taw, John Henry, Cord, Rockwell, Rooster, Wedge. This ones no exception "Chance" Chance Buckman played by Wayne is the CEO of a company that fights fires. Oil well fires that is. Along with a number of character actors in supporting roles who teamed with the Duke in many of his films. The action is plenty and the story entertaining. The women in this movie are there as the faithful ladies whose husbands battle the flaming liquid from the bowels of the earth.

No film had been made about oil well fire fighters so this made it an original. This is one of those movies that would excite a person to the point of saying "That's the life for me. Good pay, travel, good-looking women all the time. A job of never ending excitement'! Don't miss this John Wayne classic. Also don't miss an A&E documentary about the real exploits of Oil Well Fire Fighters.

After the first Gulf War, we heard a steady stream of news reports about workers putting out oil fires in Kuwait. I immediately understood what they were describing, because I had seen Hellfighters, and they were using the same techniques.

I really liked this movie. I thought Chance Buckman was the perfect role for John Wayne's character...his character seemed to match the sort of person who would be doing this for a living. Fighting the fires while getting shot at by guerrilla fighters seemed a big much, until I considered what is going on with people working on the infrastructure in Iraq...not much different.

I've heard the complaint that the special effects are not up to today's standards, but they work for me...they do not interrupt my suspension of disbelief, and they are not distracting like some of todays whiz-bang special effects.

I think this is one of John Wayne's best movies.

When I first saw "Hellfighters" I was only about 13 years old. The movie certainly captivated me, in part because it seemed so realistic. Also, the slogan of the Buckman Company really appealed to me. "Around the world, around the clock." This was a story about someone who really went the distance to help people.

This movie was so visually stunning that Popular Mechanics ran a cover story on the special effects, describing how a mixture of propane and diesel oil was used to make the fires, which were fed by underground pipes. It also explained that Red Adair really did use explosives to put out oil well fires, which many people found hard to believe.

This was a highly believable, present day performance by John Wayne, which is somewhat special in and of itself. There was only one brawl, which was all good fun, and we even get to see Mr. Wayne get a face full of what looks kind of like oil. (It was dyed water.) There is no heavy, moralistic message to this film, a minimum of flag waving, and watching it is just plain fun.

Action and romance with John Wayne as the head of a company that specializes in putting out oil well fires. An accident leads to his co-worker and friend Jim Hutton contacting Wayne's estranged daughter Katharine Ross and ex-wife Vera Miles, who left Wayne because she couldn't handle the stress of being married to a man in such a dangerous profession. Wayne and Miles are therefore stunned when Hutton and Ross fall for each other and quickly get married, insuring that the younger couple will face the same situations.

This isn't awful, and the firefighting scenes are interesting, but the melodrama aspects are tired and dull. I always like seeing Jay C. Flippen, even if this is one of his wheelchair roles after losing a leg to diabetes complications. Ross reportedly battled with Wayne throughout filming due to their contrasting views on Vietnam.

Exciting adventure (re-made years later as ARMAGEDDON with Bruce Willis and re-set in outer space) with John Wayne as a successful contractor to oil companies. He's successful because his job is a very dangerous one: Drill into oil fields that are on fire, set explosives into the heart oil field fires, and cause them to lose oxygen. This job description has caused his wife to divorce him. John Wayne's top employee is young hot shot Jim Hutton, who John Wayne sees as someday taking over the company. Jim Hutton and John Wayne's daughter, Katharine Ross, are in love and want to get married, but John Wayne wants nothing of it. He doesn't want his daughter to suffer the same stress his own wife suffered, wondering if her husband would live through another dangerous assignment. Unlike ARMAGEDDON in which we never explore Bruce Willis' marriage we actually get to see John Wayne's wife, Vera Miles and listen to her concerns (the divorce was more than just because he had a dangerous job). The climax of the film centers around a government contract that sends the crew into the middle of a war where aircraft is blowing up oil fields as John Wayne and company are trying to put the fires out. Will John Wayne allow Jim Hutton to marry Katharine Ross? Will John Wayne get back together with Vera Miles? Will John Wayne and Jim Hutton blow themselves up in a fire ball or be blown apart my the aerial attacks? If you loved ARMAGEDDON check out the film that started it all.