Moviecut—Red Skies of Montana

source: Red Skies of Montana

Red Skies of Montana

'Red Skies of Montana' is a loose adaptation of George R. Stewart's book 'Fire.' After Stewart sold the rights to Hollywood, the story was so altered that it bore absolutely no resemblance to the book. A fourth rate movie, to be sure. Read the original book - it is a much better use of your time.

As time travel is yet impossible, this film was not based on the book, Fire, written by George R Stewart, as claimed by another reviewer. Since that book was published February 1, 1984, 3 years after Richard Boone's death from oral cancer, it would have been impossible to have filmed this book. The film was shot in 1952, long before the book was published. The F/X are amazing for their time. There's no CGI and the flames are from burning trees and forest. It's remarkable no one was killed making this film. One wonders how much acreage was consumed during filming. At the time it wasn't known that controlled fire was a healthy part of forest growth and management. Times have changed. All the Smokey Bear campaigns preventing forest fires caused a buildup of materials on forest floors and when forest fires occurred they were hotter and too destructive for the forests to survive. The actors are better than the plot.

I was a kid, when it first appeared on "Saturday Night at the Movies" in the early sixties. Sat and watched it with my sister and mom. Haven't seen it listed much since then, and certainly not recently. This and the movie "The Halls of Montezuma" made me a Richard Widmark fan. And Jeffrey Hunter was a favorite as well. Made in 1952, the year of my birth, I remember it for its vivid color and mountainous beauty. Yesterday's (June 30, 2013) announcement of the death of 19 smoke-jumpers in Arizona had me spot on with the memory of "The Red Skies of Montana"! Got the name, the stars, and year of release all correct. Now, that's an impressive movie. I highly recommend it.

The movie essentially focuses on the documentary side :how the fire fighters worked in the fifties,how they often risked their lives (still do today)and how(sometimes) they were unjustly accused of cowardice .their relatives are not forgotten :Widmark's wife and Hunter's mom are present and are even together when they are waiting for their men to come back after a dangerous mission. The plot concerns a fire fighter who suffers from amnesia:he does not remember what happened during a mission in which all his men were killed:a man among them was the father of a young fire fighter who cannot forgive him because he thinks he abandoned his men to save his life.Without any flashback,we do understand the whole thing during the final mission ,much to the credit of the film.

I would say that Red Skies of Montana is a good show, but it's better than good, it is a classic and well worth the time to watch it if you can find it. It rarely shows on T.V. anymore and I can't seem to find any rental or purchasable copy anywhere. When you watch it remember it was made back before computer enhancement so when you see it getting hot it may be faked but it's faked with fire not some digitalized fakerooney of a fire, some of the antique equipment is worth watching too if you are a Wildland Firefighter there are some that no longer exist and look like they should be brought back for use today. Especially the trailmaker thingy that scuffs the dirt and tosses it aside to help smother the fire along the line of travel, cool machine. ***** (that's as close as I can get to 5 stars).

This action adventure film is still another great opportunity for Richard Widmark to display his great acting talent. In this very good film, he leads men into fighting forest fires in the Montana-Idaho areas. When tragedy strikes, a disoriented Widmark can't remember what has transpired. The film provides a wonderful supporting performance by Jeffrey Hunter, a fellow fire-fighter, who lost his father in the blaze. A suspicious Hunter feels that Widmark ran out on his men. The film shows what these men have to go through in fighting such dangerous fires. Heroism is the order of the day and Widmark and company respond valiantly.

This film is based on an actual event, the Mann Gulch Fire, documented by the late Norman MacLean in his deeply moving book, "Young Men and Fire", where a team of smoke jumpers landed, confidently, on a hillside but were suddenly confronted by a firestorm, chasing them up a steep hill. One of the group, the team leader, lit a grass fire, jumped into the ashes, and survived. All but two of his comrades were burned to death in their futile attempt to escape. MacClean wrote his book in his last years. He actually saw the Mann Gulch fire as a younger man, I would recommend this book to anyone. There are no braver people in the world than smoke jumpers.