Hellfighters (1968)

The story of macho oil well firefighters and their wives.

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

Clair Huffaker (screenplay)

Stars:

John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Wayne	...	Chance Buckman
Katharine Ross	...	Tish Buckman
Jim Hutton	...	Greg Parker
Vera Miles	...	Madelyn Buckman
Jay C. Flippen	...	Jack Lomax
Bruce Cabot	...	Joe Horn
Edward Faulkner	...	George Harris
Barbara Stuart	...	Irene Foster
Edmund Hashim	...	Colonel Valdez
Valentin de Vargas	...	Amal Bokru (as Valentin De Vargas)
Frances Fong	...	Madame Loo
Alberto Morin	...	General Lopez
Alan Caillou	...	Harry York
Laraine Stephens	...	Helen Meadows
John Alderson	...	Jim Hatch

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

oil | oil well | fire | firefighter | airport | 

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Taglines:

The Toughest Hellfighter Of All! [Australia Theatrical]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 November 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

A pokol tornáca

Filming Locations:

Conroe, Texas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 112 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) 70 mm 6-Track (Australia)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Wayne, Bruce Cabot and Jim Hutton also all starred together in The Green Berets

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Goofs

When Tish first arrives at her father's apartment in Houston, she asks for a scotch rocks... but in numerous shots, there is never any ice in the glass.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Tish Buckman: I think we oughta get her a tin hat.

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Crazy Credits

The cast list in the opening titles lists six actors not found in the closing credits, but not Louie, Bebe, who is found in the end list.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Space Travellers (1992)

User Reviews

Why Not the Real Red Adair Story?

Sandwiched in between the critical beating John Wayne took for The Green Berets and a bunch of westerns culminating in his Oscar performance for True Grit is this little known film he did about a group of men fighting oil fires, a truly dangerous profession. The Hellfighters has the look and feel of a Wayne family effort with it being produced by Batjac and having in its cast Wayne regulars like Edward Faulkner and Bruce Cabot. I wonder where son Patrick was.

A little over 20 years after Hellfighters came out, the person that Wayne's character was based on, Red Adair came into prominence when he took on the Herculean task of putting out all those oil fires that Saddam Hussein started in Kuwait when he fled that country. Turns out the biggest assignment Adair had was way in his future in 1968.

I'm sure Red Adair must have been flattered all to heck when the biggest box office draw in cinema history was portraying a facsimile of him on the screen. Who knows though maybe Red Adair's real story and real name on the screen might be good entertainment. Might be a great subject for a film now, what with all the new computer generated special effects that could be used.

Though the film is based on Adair's exploits, it is first and foremost a John Wayne film. He's not Red Adair on the screen, it's the Duke that all of us have come to know. Wayne and his cast put together a nice action filled film with a minor subplot about his family life. Vera Miles plays his estranged wife, Katharine Ross his daughter, and Jim Hutton a protégé Wayne is grooming to take over his company.

This was Wayne's third film with Vera Miles and twice before he didn't wind up with her, either in The Searchers or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Third time the charm.

Hellfighters also is an example of Wayne's well known generosity to his fellow players. When he liked you he was the best friend you could have. Jay C. Flippen who plays an oil executive lost a leg to diabetes a year or two before. Wayne gave him that extra pay day by casting him in Hellfighters in a wheelchair. I could cite a lot of other examples of him helping people by doing that in other films.

Hellfighters is an enjoyable two hours of Wayne in modern dress, battling the elements like he did in The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky instead of bad guys. There is one sequence where he and his crew were battling an oil fire in Venezuela with some rebels shooting at them. Since it's the Duke, you kind of expect him to pick up a rifle and blow them all away.

Though Hellfighters is a good, not a great film, I'd still like to see the real Red Adair story on screen.