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Good concept, poorly executed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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.

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.

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 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).