During the Korean War, Major Cleve "Iceman" Saville, a veteran World War II fighter ace, returns to combat, eager to fly an F-86 Sabre fighter. His commanding officer, Colonel "Dutch" Imil, assigns him command of a flight. Among his pilots is a new replacement, talented but brash Lieutenant Ed Pell. On his first mission, Pell abandons his element leader to go after a group of MiG-15s, and the other pilot is killed. As a result, Saville wants Pell assigned to someone else, but Imil overrules him; Pell was top of his class in flight school and Imil sees him as a younger version of Saville. If anyone can get Pell to grow up, it is the major. Another pilot under Saville's command, Lieutenant Carl Abbott, poses a different kind of problem. He lacks confidence in his abilities; his worried wife Kristina asks Saville to watch over him. Saville falls in love with her, and vice versa. Aware of the situation, Abbott offers Saville a deal: his wife in return for the opportunity, if they should run into him, to go one-on-one with "Casey Jones", the most feared enemy ace. A disgusted Saville turns him down. Nevertheless, on a mission soon afterward, Abbott tangles with Casey Jones and is shot down behind enemy lines. Saville shoots down the enemy ace, then searches for Abbott. When he spots Abbott's parachute, Saville deliberately crash-lands his aircraft nearby, disobeying standing orders. He cuts the injured Abbott down from a tree, but they are immediately attacked by a North Korean patrol. Pell strafes the enemy infantrymen, but they shoot him down. The trio then set out through enemy territory toward friendly lines. Along the way, they are assisted by a Korean Christian farmer and his family. When a North Korean patrol happens by, the Americans hide. However, in their haste, they leave behind a flight jacket, which is spotted. As a result, the family members are executed. Saville and Pell avenge them, ambushing and wiping out the patrol, but Saville is shot in the shoulder. Wounded, exhausted, and hungry, the three airmen reach the safety of their lines. Afterward, Saville and Abbott convalesce in a military hospital. Abbott is to be transferred back to the U.S. to recuperate. His brush with death has changed his priorities; he remorsefully asks Kristina for another chance at their marriage. She decides to go with him.
The flying scenes were principally filmed over the southwest United States in the vicinity of Luke and Williams Air Force Bases in Arizona. Ramp scenes were filmed at Luke while take-offs were staged from Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field, which had the requisite primitive appearance, appropriate mountain backdrops, and where exteriors simulating rice paddies and a gate for Suwon Air Base could be erected. Operational F-86 Sabre fighters, which were still front line aircraft at the time, were used in the aerial sequences. Although the group portrayed in the movie is a fictitious amalgam of the actual units in Korea, the unit markings displayed were those of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, which was based at Suwon until 1954. The crash footage of an F-100 Super Sabre was used in one scene to represent the attempted landing of an F-86. USAF F-84F Thunderstreak fighters were painted with North Korea paint schemes and insignia to portray enemy MiG-15s. A C-130A Hercules was used as an aerial photography platform. Palm Beach AFB, Florida was the main base where aircraft used in the film were parked and maintained during the production. With this film, director Dick Powell completed his obligations to 20th Century Fox in his producing-directing contract, having already delivered The Enemy Below.
Reception
Considered a lackluster war drama, The Hunters did not fare well with critics, although most audiences saw it as a widescreen epic. Director Dick Powell strove to create an authentic "look" with carefully set up scenes focusing on military personnel and the jet fighter operations that underlined the main action scenes. Howard Thompson in his review for The New York Times, noted: "Performed well enough by a pretty good, predominantly male cast, headed by Robert Mitchum, and handsomely produced by Dick Powell, who also directed, the result is a respectable, rather neutrally flavored film that somehow only matters when aloft." Likewise, reviewer Mark Hassan in a later review, opined, "The real star of the film is the extraordinary aerial cinematography". According to Lt. Col. Charles D. Bright, himself an F-86 pilot in Korea, comparing and contrasting the novel and the film version in the Aerospace Historian, "The plot was changed greatly, and not for the better."
