:headbonk: I have looked through the site and have found no mention of these two movies Donovans Reef is one of my favorites with Hellfighters right up there in the top 10!

I would like to read some opinions on this. :cowboy:

Seen both of the movies and have them on DVD. Let me talk about Donovan's Reef. As most of us know, this is the last movie Duke and John Ford did together. Probably not a great departure for Pappy, but this is it. I did like the movie myself. It is a light comedy with some pretty good characters playing in this movie. You have Lee Marvin, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dorthy Lamour and Elizabeth Allen. This movie has the battle of the sexes, battle for respect, and just plain battles with two ex-sailors, who incidently share the same birthday.

This is a fun movie, and recommend it to anyone who likes comedy and John Wayne. Not as funny as McLintock!, but it is a Ford classic.

Cheers B)

Well, we own both movies and have seen them, thought not for quite awhile.

Donovan's Reef is definitely one I would classify as mostly funny, kind of like North to Alaska and McLintock! It's one the family enjoys together.

Hellfighters of course is more serious. The Mrs. doesn't particularly like it because of the Katherine Ross character - she says she is a spoiled brat, and ruins the whole picture for her. It's not one of my favorites, either.

Chester :newyear:

Hi Johnwayneabe

Hellfighters is interesting in that among the supporting cast are people like Ed Faulkner who was a member of John Wayne's stock company through his association with Andrew McLaglen, and appeared in a number of his later films. Also Jim Hutton who was appearing in his second picture with the Duke and I think was an actor that John Wayne liked to have around.
Huttons career was tragically cut short by his death at the age of 45. Stretching the association even further Hutton died on June 2 1979, John Wayne followed nine days later on the 11th.


Regards

Arthur

DONOVAN'S REEF is in my top five of favorite Wayne movies, and I find the island paradise they live on to be quite comforting, with their daily routines and annual barroom brawl. I like the history involved with the Doc, Gilhooley and Donovan and the fact that they were on the island during World War II. The mountaintop scene when Donovan actually still feels the anger at the Japanese when he's telling the story about how the three men waged a guerilla war was fine acting on Duke's part. I never tire of this movie.

BTW, here's an interesting link that argues that DONOVAN'S REEF is actually a kind of mystical Valhalla for old John Ford characters. It stretches things a bit, but I like the argument the author makes:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s264ford.html

I thought "Hellfighters" was a pretty good movie. Could have done without all the whining the two women did, however.
"Donovan's Reef is another favorite.
I notice that in both "Hellfighters" and "Donovan's Reef" that the bar fights involved Australians. Were there any other John Wayne movies that involved our friends from "down under." I don't recall.

Cheers - Jay :blink:

In the "Hellfighters," there are a couple of scenes that take place in the Buckman offices. The window view is supposedly one of an interstate interchange in Houston, but every time I see it, the cars look obviously like models and I can just envision someone off camera pulling strings to make them move across the view.

Cheers - Jay :blink:

I actually enjoy both Donovan's Reef and Hellfighters. I will have to look for the "traffic" outside the window next time I watch Hellfighters. I would guess most of the high tech budget for the film was for the oil fires....that's what people went to see, that and John Wayne.

Roger.

Hello All I am glad you bring up the subject of Donovans Reef. I am in the process of buying another copy of this movie. At some point I decided to rotate through all the JW feature films before returning to watch any specific one twice.
Before I started doing that our family watched D Reef so many times we wore it out. I have copies of many of the films now and most of the originals are near new condition. Back to topic there are many things I love about this movie. Its hard to say any JW movie is the best, because there is such a spectrum of styles and themes. Having said that D Reef, Quiet Man, True Grit are very easy to watch again and again. Lee Marvin's character here and in Paint your Wagon seems to represent a life stlye that few would chose but many might envy. I think that John Ford has left a fine legacy in terms of his films and no offence to contrary opinions but D reef in my book is a great finish to a great career. Hellfighters works for me but I also could have survived less bickering dialogue from the female lead roles. so long Kilo 6

Hi Kilo and welcome to the forums! I'm the big Donovan's Reef fan around these parts. In fact, I named it my favorite John Wayne movie for our annual top 25 list of fave Duke movies. It and El Dorado are pretty much interchangeable as my favorite John Wayne movie.

BTW, just picked up El Dorado and The Sons of Katie Elder new on DVD for $7.99 each!

I like both of these movies...Donovan's Reef is just a fun movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon and Hellfighters is still a rough and tough John Wayne movie just without the horses. I agree the whining women were distracting but still a good movie.


Baby Sis


:cowboy: :cowboy: :cowboy:

Hello, I liked both of these movies.Hellfighters is deffinetly in one of my top 10 favorites.As im embarking in a career in the oil and gas industry right now it really touches base.One scene showed john wayne fighting an oil well in Calgary,Alberta (about 50mins from my home), i doubt it was actually filmed there though.My friends father is a "hellfight", makes extremely big money.

I really enjoyed barbara stanwyk in this movie,she played the part very well as mrs.buckman,also did any of you see her in TITANIC (1953), great performance....[HellFights]-->Did anyone know this is based on a true story??, you should go check it out if you havent already.

And of course jim hutton and the duke, i couldnt picture anyone else playing Greg.

-IHW

Sorry InHarmsWay, but it was Vera Miles who played the part of Mrs. Buckman in Hellfighters, not Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck was a great actress though. I saw Titanic, very good film, and great performances by her and Clifton Webb.

My mind was on another posting I was making on her movie Titanic.

-IHW :stunned:

Hi IHW, I loved Barbara Stanwyck in Titanic. I have been wanting for so long to order that movie on DvD and I will order it sometime this month for sure even if it kills me. The cast was great and I just can't get enough of Richard Basehart. Also, I never was much of a Clifton Webb fan untill I saw him min this movie.

I too have always enjoyed Donovan's Reef but never have been much impressed (though I like it) w/ Hellfighters. Another that I "sit on the fence on" is: hatari -- though it has a great cast.

Isn't Hatari the movie that has a cool Henry Mancini song called: "Baby Elephant Walk" or am I wrong?

Hi Carl,
HATARI does indeed feature music by Henry Mancini,
and includes, the 'Baby Elephant Walk'

Best Wishes,
Keith

Hi Keith, thank you again and I owe you ;-)) I had thought that movie was the one where I had heard it played in. Also, I am a big Henry Mancini fan especially his Pink Panther theme and his Charlie Brown music. Then again, I also love his Jazz, no matter what title it is.

Originally posted by The Ringo Kid@Aug 6 2005, 12:13 PM
Hi Keith, thank you again and I owe you ;-)) I had thought that movie was the one where I had heard it played in. Also, I am a big Henry Mancini fan especially his Pink Panther theme and his Charlie Brown music. Then again, I also love his Jazz, no matter what title it is.
20029
TRK,
As a BIG Charlie Brown and Peanuts fan, the Mrs. will tell you that the composer of the music is Vince Garaldi (in fact, the Peanuts theme is her cell phone ring :D ).

We did check IMDb for Henry Mancini's credits, to be sure he hadn't done any Charlie Brown stuff, and that seemed to be the case (that he didn't). We were amazed at all the "Pink" titles, which are of course Pink Panther related. We also discovered that he did music for some of the Colombo episodes, and also Newhart (a TV show we used to enjoy).

Chester :newyear:

Hi,
In addition to what chester posted,
let's not forget MOON RIVER,from
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS,
the main theme from, CADES COUNTY,
and THE THORNBIRDS, and countless other
compositions, that became big hit records!

I've been wanting to get Hellfighters, but it's a non-anamorphic release, so I'm waiting for a re-release at some point (in HD maybe?).

I'm definitely picking up Donovan's Reef before the end of the year. My John Wayne DVD collection is definitely growing quickly...

I've been wanting to get Hellfighters, but it's a non-anamorphic release, so I'm waiting for a re-release at some point (in HD maybe?).


B5Erik, you sound like me. It is very hard to watch movies when they cut off the sides to make them fit on a 4:3 screen.
But, I have noticed that some older movies that must have not been filmed in widescreen do look ok on my big screen TV, like Island In The Sky. So maybe you could rent it if its available at a video rental near you and see how it looks, then decide to buy afterwards.

P.S. I don't want to get into a thread talking about the benefits of widescreen versus fullscreen, these are just my observations, likes, and dislikes.

Originally posted by SXViper@Aug 7 2005, 05:29 PM
P.S.* I don't want to get into a thread talking about the benefits of widescreen versus fullscreen, these are just my observations, likes, and dislikes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Viper. I used to engage in some horrendous arguments with people on the Imdb Video board merely because I expressed a dislike of the black bars and therefore a preference for full-screen movies. You'd have thought I said I was a child molestor or something. :P

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Viper. I used to engage in some horrendous arguments with people on the Imdb Video board merely because I expressed a dislike of the black bars and therefore a preference for full-screen movies. You'd have thought I said I was a child molestor or something.*


No problem Stumpy, I think we got on that subject once before and at times its all right to agree to disagree :stunned: :wacko: I hope that last couple words makes sense :)

Hi Guys,
What I can never understand,
is why with the advent of widescreen television,
do we have black bars at all?????
It does seem to defeat the object!!!!
A great big widescreen TV, with only half of it full,
with a picture?

Originally posted by ethanedwards@Aug 8 2005, 04:33 AM
Hi Guys,
What I can never understand,
is why with the advent of widescreen television,
do we have black bars at all?????
It does seem to defeat the object!!!!
A great big widescreen TV, with only half of it full,
with a picture?
20083


With me, it's a matter of not wanting to spend lots of money for a widescreen TV, Keith. The guys at Imdb suggested I buy a 16:9 AP TV but I researched the prices and at the time, the cheapest was 3 or 4 thousand dollars. I'm not willing to spend that kind of money just for a television set. I have other priorities.

Hi Chester & the Mrs, sorry about my error regarding Henry Mancini. I was not aware he did not compose the Peanuts music but, and lucky for us fans, he did actually put out a CD with all the Peanut's music on it. I remember titles like: "Hey Linus, Hey Lucy" "Joe Cool" etc. This CD was put out about 15 years ago and is a tough one to get.

Also, as you can tell, I am a big fan of the Peanuts cartoons and music. Oh and also, Henry Mancini had released the Pink Panther music on an album back in the 1960's sometime. I don't have the original but still do have the album I bought when I was much younger.

Chester or anyone, since I don't have a cell phone, can you please answer this for me? You all have songs on your cell phones for the ringer. Does this mean you have the full song or is it only part of the song? Just wondering as I know next to nothing about cell phones. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by The Ringo Kid@Aug 8 2005, 02:46 PM
Chester or anyone, since I don't have a cell phone, can you please answer this for me? You all have songs on your cell phones for the ringer. Does this mean you have the full song or is it only part of the song? Just wondering as I know next to nothing about cell phones. :rolleyes:20108
Well, we just had the pleasure of calling each other's phones so we could check that out. We don't have the whole song in either case (Chester with the theme from The Magnificent Seven, and Mrs. C with the Peanuts theme), but about 25 seconds of each song if the song plays until the phone goes to voice mail.

Mrs. C :angel1:

Well, we just had the pleasure of calling each other's phones so we could check that out. We don't have the whole song in either case (Chester with the theme from The Magnificent Seven, and Mrs. C with the Peanuts theme), but about 25 seconds of each song if the song plays until the phone goes to voice mail.


Dang, :angry: all I have is one of those cheap Nokias that don't have the fancy ringtones!! :angry: Lucky guys/gals!!! :lol:

I don't have a cell phone either, but I always ask my kids why they need music to tell them the phone is ringing. If I ever get one, "ringggggg" is good enough for me :D As for the movies Hellfighters and Donovan's Reef, I am the odd man out here, I thing Hellfighters is an OK movie, but can't sit through Donovan's Reef. Believe me, I tried. Thought I was missing something. But just can't take a liking to it. It has it's funny moments, but not enough to keep me. I recently bought Hatari on DVD (one of the last Duke films I havn't seen) and really enjoyed it. I never watched it befor, thinking it wouldn't be good. I was wrong. One of my kids (who are not Duke fans) actually sat through the whole movie with me. Maybe in a few years, I will give Donovan's reef another shot. Mark

hi all

donnavans reef and hellfighters my dad has on vhs like both and have them on my wish list along with a few others, have seen donnavans reef on ebay for about $35A a bit pricy so will wait for it to come out into the shops ( if it ever does) hellfighters i havent seen on dvd down under as of yet but one can hope that it to will be released on dvd soon then i can too add it to my wish list. liked the firefighting parts the best as well as the bar room fight can take or leave the ladies in it i feel they were just put there to add a bit of fluff to the movie

hooroo smokey

Originally posted by SXViper+Aug 8 2005, 07:44 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SXViper @ Aug 8 2005, 07:44 PM)</div>Dang,* :angry: all I have is one of those cheap Nokias that don't have the fancy ringtones!! :angry:* Lucky guys/gals!!!* :lol:
20128[/b]

Viper,

Our phones came with such crummy ring tones, we needed something better. We had to download the ones we have (and pay for it!).


<!--QuoteBegin-dukefan1@Aug 9 2005, 04:57 AM
. . . but I always ask my kids why they need music to tell them the phone is ringing.
20138
I can tell you why. When some company, like Verizon, has one of their specials where the cell phone is dirt cheap, everyone and his brother buys one of those phones. Many people stick with the default ring, and when a cell phone "rings" everybody thinks it's theirs. I have always tried to find a slightly different ringer, so I know when it's my phone. Music can really individualize it.

Mrs. C :angel1:

Hi,
Like viper, I have a not too expensive Nokia,
What I did was to use the compose menu,
and I put in the theme to RED RIVER,
now I know,that no one's got that ringtone on their phone!!!

Hi Chester & the Mrs. Thanks for letting me know about the ring tone time length. you mentioned that you had to pay to have another tone placed on the phone. Does this mean you have to pay a fee every month to have it or only once? Also, how much do they charge you to have this new ring tone?

TRK,

We only paid one time, using the phone to download it directly to the phone. It cost however minutes we spent browsing the different ring tones, and $1.99 for one ring tone (again, a one time charge). If you know you want several, there is a slight discount for more (like maybe 3 for $4.98 or something like that).

Call customer service for your provider and ask about it. They should be able to walk you through it. Or maybe the info is available on the internet, on the provider's web site.

Sorry, folks, for the serious derailment of this topic . . . :rolleyes: !

Hm-m-m-m-m, Donovan's Reef and Hellfighters . . . we own both, and I have seen both. Donovan's Reef is a little in the range of McLintock, in terms of being more light-hearted, but with an interesting, somewhat serious side plot. Interestingly, both end with the female lead being spanked (I'm not keen on that part).

I don't care for the Katherine Ross character in Hellfighters. She's whiny and b****y and immature, and annoying, too. Almost every time I watched that movie I never made it to the end. The last time, I actually saw it all the way to the finish, and it was a little better, but in general it is not one I would watch over and over again.

Mrs. C :angel1:

Hi ,
I agree with all the comments,
Both of the films are OK, but hardly
ones to pluck out, to ,watch over and over again,
The one thing I like about DONOVANS REEF ,is the opening music,
which is the lovely Hawaiian tune,'Pearly Shells'
after that, it's pretty silly.
Uncle Jack's last one with Duke,
and by this time, it is commonly known, the magic had gone.
Sadly it shows itself in the film.

HELLFIGHTERS, although having fantastic real action scenes,
was also sadly spoilt by daft plots,poor acting, bloopers, and dubious models!!
As chester says, Katherine Ross was hardly Academy Award
material in this one. I feel the whole plot to make the young couple,
trendy jet setters, was naff, beyond belief.
However they are Duke films, and sometimes, suffer we do!!!

Originally posted by ethanedwards@Aug 10 2005, 06:11 AM
The one thing I like about DONOVANS REEF ,is the opening music,
which is the lovely Hawaiian tune,'Pearly Shells'
after that, it's pretty silly.
Uncle Jack's last one with Duke,
and by this time, it is commonly known, the magic had gone.
Sadly it shows itself in the film.

I just happened to watch Donovan's Reef last night. It's an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Excellent humor and supporting cast, plus having it play out around Christmas time was a nice idea. The only thing in the film I didn't care for much was with Duke marrying his best friend's daughter (the doc). Maybe we can forget the age difference between the two, but falling for your friend's daughter? That just seemed a little strange to me...although, I guess you could argue that the doc didn't know her at all, till she arrived on the island.

Anyway, besides that little point, a fun film...and nothing for John Wayne or John Ford to be ashamed of.