Anel de Fogo

An Oregon Police Sgt (an intense David Jansen) is surprised and kidnapped by two thugs and a babe who then go on a journey for freedom through the deep forests of Oregon. There are escape attempts, a death, a turning of the tables, and possible "intimate relations" with the pulchritudinous babe (Joyce Taylor, who is supposed to be "under 18" but looks 26). The movie climaxes with the entire forest and town being burned down and everyone, including hundreds of townsfolk, desperate to escape. An exciting movie, with menace and threat maintained thoroughout. Frank Gorshin is notable as the #1 thug (his pre-impressions days). A good movie.

This movie has always been special to me; The town scenes were shot in Oregon in Vernonia, but the rest around Shelton, WA in Mason County and Grays Harbor County. The Sheriff's dept depicted, and all the personnel - wear Mason County Sheriff's Uniforms and patches - complete with Christmas tree logo and 'Mason County' prominently displayed. I have one of these patches in my collection. The Mason County Sheriff played by Ron Myron was actually a real Mason County Deputy at the time. The State Trooper who is nearly killed in the telephone booth in Matlock (which has hardly changed at all by the way - and last time I passed through still had a telephone booth in the same spot!) was a real trooper from the shelton detatchment and was a fellow road trooper at the time with my Dad in Shelton. The best part however, is my uncle plays an extra in the 'posse' sent to hunt down the kidnappers. It's always great fun to point him out whenever it is on. The annual forest festival in shelton sometimes plays this movie during their celebration. I recall my parents, and relatives pointing out many more familiar faces in this movie. I have been to the site where the bridge was burned and the trains dropped - you can make out the train cars but I couldn't see the engine; Apparently it is very difficult to make out but it's not hard to find but VERY dangerous to try to actually go down to look at. FYI - this movie used to play fairly regularly on TNT network. I have taped this movie and copied it onto a DVD. I would love to see this film released on a commercial DVD and in wide-screen if it was shot that way, which I believe it was. I invite anyone else - particularly those involved with this production at the time to leave comments as well. For small town folk - even those like me who weren't born yet, it is still an incredibly interesting piece of local history.

I've just seen the movie for the first time, on German television that is. Although they dub foreign movies with sometimes strange results (John Wayne and Indians speaking German...), they make sure not to compromise a film's integrity, so atmosphere, sound quality etc. are always perfectly preserved. And I must say, this film, of 1961, managed to do what only few films have in years - the grand finale with the escaping townsfolk made me hold my breath several times and had me moved to the edge of my chair. The rest of the film is also impressive, it all looked so very lifelike. No overacting, no exaggerated pathos, yet at times even poetic. A great film which makes your heart beat faster. And in spite of its age, amidst all the licked special effects block-busters of these days a refreshing experience.

Maurits Reijnen, Amsterdam

Ring of Fire opens with a great Duane Eddy song that accompanies the credits. For that reason, it's best to see this film from the beginning.

David Janssen plays a small-town Oregon police officer who tries to arrest three hoodlums played by Frank Gorshin, James Johnson, and Joyce Taylor. They are eating lunch in the town diner, when Janssen discovers that they are the prime suspects of a gas station hold-up the previous night. As he's driving them to the police station to book them for the gas station robbery, one of them grabs his gun, primarily because they weren't handcuffed. Thus begins the movie. As the four of them camp out in the outlying forest, Joyce Taylor decides to seduce David Janssen. Along with the cool Duane Eddy song, she is another reason not to miss this film. Frank Gorshin, who plays the supposed leader of the group, is good as a hardened juvenile delinquent. Of the Andrew Stone movies that I've been lucky enough to see, this is undoubtedly my favorite. It's in color, outdoors, on location, and manages to be amusing and exciting at the same time. The culminating fire scene, with the whole town running for their lives, isn't to be missed.

The movie was shot mostly in and around my hometown, Vernonia, Oregon. I was in sixth grade at the time, and I was an extra, one of the townspeople running to catch the escape train. We would run the length of the town center, then walk back six blocks, and do it over and over again. Andrew Stone, the producer/director had a lot of cooperation from the US Army; in the climactic scene of burning the town, there were flamethrowers on top of all the downtown buildings. I had the misfortune of being outside when a soldier was setting off smoke bombs. I couldn't see one foot in front of me. In the 1920's Vernonia had the largest all-electric sawmill in the world. But they cut down all the trees, and the mill closed in 1957. They completely stocked the mill with new lumber for the movie; then they burned it all down. If anyone is interested, Vernonia Sentry Supermarket sells DVD's of the movie, and they will ship.