Red Skies of Montana

Plot synopsis:
Cliff Mason, a veteran foreman of the Forest Service's smokejumper unit, is called out with a crew on a fire, despite the fact that they have not rested in three days. Accompanied by R. A. "Pop" Miller and four other men, Cliff leaves the smokejumper base at Missoula, Montana to parachute into a nearly inaccessible area of Bugle Peak. Hours later, at base, superintendent Richard "Dick" Dryer becomes worried because Cliff is not answering radio calls. The next day, after the fire crowns, Dick flies by helicopter into the area and is stunned to find only Cliff, in shock and wandering through the devastated region. Cliff is rushed to the hospital, where he gradually recovers, although he cannot remember how he got separated from his men, or why he was the only one to survive.
Upon his return home, Cliff is greeted by Pop's son Ed, who is also a smokejumper. Ed expresses genuine concern for Cliff, but Cliff, sensitive about his lack of memory and worried that he might be responsible for his crew's deaths, becomes antagonistic. A board of review conducts a hearing into the matter, and Cliff grows increasingly defensive after several grueling days of repetitious questioning. Cliff's paranoia grows that he might be thought a coward who deserted his men despite the assurances of his devoted wife Peg and Dick, who lets him return to work only as supervisor of training. Ed continues to grill Cliff, asking him how he might have come to be in the protected rock slide area that was the only possible place of survival when the bodies of his crew were found on an exposed ridge across the valley. Ed's suspicions escalate and Cliff reacts even more bitterly. One night, an emergency crew is called out to repair downed transmission lines, and when Cliff's longtime friend Boise Peterson is shocked by a live wire, Cliff saves him. Ed pointedly remarks that it was not necessary for Cliff to prove his bravery. Cliff is cleared by the board of review but confides to Peg that he is plagued by doubts about his courage. Later, Dick shows Ed a watch, mistakenly sent to another man's family, that Ed recognizes as his father's. Upset again, Ed confronts Cliff with the watch, and jogs his memory.
Cliff recalls that when the fire began to race along the treetops, all of them had reached the rockslide where he urged them to lie down in the crevices. However a burning snag fell on the rockslide and the crew continued running. Cliff attempted to stop Pop, pulling off his watch and ID tag as they grappled, but Pop knocked him into a crevice that protected Cliff from the worst of the fire. Ed furiously accuses Cliff of deserting his men and goes AWOL, parachuting from a private airplane onto Bugle Peak, where he finds Pop's identification bracelet on the ridge, not on the rockslide, where Cliff says he saw Pop last. Believing he has obtained proof that Cliff abandoned his men on the ridge, Ed returns to base, only to discover that Cliff and another team of men have been sent to fight a fire in Carson Canyon. Confronting Dick with the ID tag, Ed accuses Cliff of killing his father, and Dick fires him from the smokejumper unit for going AWOL on a personal grudge. In Carson Canyon, Cliff's crew brings the fire under control but weather conditions threaten a re-burn, prompting Cliff to request more men and equipment.
Ed joins the smokejumper reinforcements without authorization and at Carson Canyon tracks down Cliff, scouting the fire that now has them trapped. After losing his head and trying to kill Cliff with the axe end of his Pulaski, Ed breaks his leg when he tumbles down a slope as they fight. Cliff returns to the crew's anchor point to organize the men, sending three with heavier equipment to bring in Ed. Cliff orders the others to dig foxholes, knowing that burying themselves and allowing the fire to pass over them is their only hope for survival. The men protest but grudgingly comply when Cliff insists. Ed is surprised to discover that Cliff is responsible for his rescue, and when he is brought back to the anchor point, the crew panics and starts to flee. Ed sees Cliff knock down Boise to quell the panic and realizes Cliff was telling the truth about Bugle Peak. After the fire has passed, all of the smokejumpers have survived and Ed, reconciling with Cliff, sheepishly grins and asks for a cigarette, inspiring Boise to do the same. When Dick realizes the entire crew has survived, he reinforces Cliff's men from the air as an even larger ground force with bulldozers swings into action.

Tags: revenge

Review:
Wonderful Adventure Film.
Red Skies of Montana is one of a series of outstanding adventure films in which Richard Widmark starred during the 1950's.
It portrays the dangerous lives of smoke jumpers, who fight fires in the great northwest by parachuting into the flames.
Richard Widmark is a team leader, under suspicion after he is the sole survivor from a group of smoke jumpers killed in a massive fire.
He can remember nothing of event, yet must resume life amidst the doubts of his comrades.
The film adeptly the blends personal lives of the men and women involved, excellent firefighting action, and the suspense created by Richard Widmark's flashbacks of his near fatal event.
Jeffrey Hunter plays the vengeful son of one of Widmark's slain team; and Richard Boone adds dimension as the stern, professional commander of the unit.
This film is utterly believable.
The fire scenes are awesome.
Red Skies of Montana portrays a lifestyle that needs no "over the top" fiction or outlandish action to make it thrilling.
I think this is a timeless film, and a truly entertaining one.
And if you do enjoy it, I recommend "Destination Gobi"; another outstanding Widmark adventure..
The Real Story.
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..
I like it..
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)..
Based upon an actual event.
This film is very loosely based upon an actual event known among smokejumpers -- and the entire state of Montana -- as the Mann Gulch tragedy, in which 12 out of 15 smokejumpers were burned to death.
Norman Maclean, author of "A River Runs Through It" and a resident of Missoula, Montana, home to the first smokejumpers and now the principal school for them, spent the last 13 years of his life research the event, in incredible detail, and writing an utterly fascinating book, "Young Men and Fire", which I heartily recommend.
Obviously, since the book was not published until after Maclean's death in 1990, it was not the basis for the movie, but the event was.
I first saw it in a fund-raising presentation in the Wilma, an old Art Deco theater in Missoula, coincidently sitting beside a student from the Smokejumper Center.
His attention was rapt.
The funds, BTW, were used to recover and restore the actual DC-3 that carried the Mann Gulch smokejumpers.There is an account of the presentations made at the 2004 National Smokejumpers Association reunion by the spotter (gives the "go" signal, on board the aircraft), the dispatcher, and one of the survivors from the Mann Gulch tragedy, found on the University of Montana Web site, at www2.umt.edu/comm/f04/airplanes.shtml.
It's short but intense, and will give you an appreciation of what happened.
Then the book .
. .In electing to give this a 9, I've taken into account the technology available and the style of movie making and acting of the times.
I would say the acting would rank significantly lower by today's standards.
But it is well worth watching..
Like Paratroopers They Jump.
The skies of Montana are red because of forest fires and this film is about the men who jump into those fires to put them out.
Red Skies Of Montana's main feature is the on location cinematography in Missoula, Montana in a national park of the smoke jumpers who go in from the air like paratroopers to contain and then extinguish forest fires.Sad to say the film is tied to a rather pedestrian plot situation.
Joe Sawyer who is a veteran smoke jumper is among many killed when they're caught in a fire that springs up and overwhelms the men of Richard Widmark's crew.
Widmark is the only one who survives, he's rescued by head smoke jumper Richard Boone.
Widmark is suffering burns and a bad case of amnesia as to what happened.Of course there is an inquiry, but that does not satisfy young Jeffrey Hunter who is Sawyer's son and who believes Widmark personally culpable for Sawyer's death.
That's the basis for the conflict in the film and if you're any kind of veteran film watcher you know how this will resolve itself.But the incredible location cinematography done in color and with newsreel footage of men actually fighting the fires is the main feature of Red Skies Of Montana.
Some of the best you'll ever see.
I'm really surprised the Motion Picture Academy did not recognize this film for both editing and color cinematography.To see a good film about some brave men who now include women in their ranks by all means see Red Skies Of Montana..
Red Skies of Montana Reaches to the 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..
I remember this movie..
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..
Skies on fire.
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..
Poor film adaptation.
'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..
Time Travel Still Impossible.
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.