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.

When he spots Abbott's parachute, Saville deliberately crash-lands his aircraft nearby, disobeying standing orders.

In doing a film, your characters can't think; they can only speak or move, and you've got to tell the story with their voice or their movements.

"[4] The flying scenes were principally filmed over the southwest United States in the vicinity of Luke and Williams Air Force Bases in Arizona.

[5] 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.

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 (1957) starring Mitchum.

Considered a lackluster war drama, The Hunters did not fare well with critics, although most audiences saw it as a widescreen epic.

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.

[7] 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.