Ring of Fire (1961)

Too much of everything

So much average

Blistering performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A nicely photographed film with great special effects is ruined by a trashy plot. Though I have to admit I can see why solid sheriff's deputy David Janssen might well have strayed with what young Joyce Taylor was offering.Two punks and their junior moll do a bank robbery and are caught by Janssen. But the punks played by Frank Gorshin and James Johnson overpower him and hold him hostage. But they've fled into a forest and these city kids aren't equipped for forest survival. They need Janssen.Ring Of Fire has some nice scenic photography in Oregon as Janssen and his three go through the woods. The forest fire is also well staged.But having Janssen and Taylor really fall for each other, too too much.

Just caught this little gem and I must say, I was quite surprised... and entertained. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a great or even good movie, but what it lacks in acting and direction it more than makes up in well, ingenuity and effort. The basic plot is fine and the story plausible until the protagonists emerge from the forest and all hell breaks loose. There's a forest fire of massive proportions, an evacuation of equally massive proportions and disaster upon disaster. The bad guys buy it the good ones survive the good townspeople get away. What was amazing though is how many people crowded that little Rocky Mountain town. And the cars, they must have each owned a dozen. During the evacuation people kept running around, cars kept honking, and they all kept coming at you, scene after scene, with no letup. It also seemed like other than the three teenage protagonists and our hero, the town was populated by the middle aged and senior citizens. Quite spry I must admit, but where did the younger people go? It looked to me like the producers made the conscious decision to hire older actors. And then there was the forest fire. It was massive, awful, mesmerizing, utterly gigantic in scope. This must have been actual footage of a forest fire. I witnessed an unstoppable force of nature in all its awesome finality.As for the actors, the three principals were quite good delivering their cornball lines, especially Frank Gorshen and Joyce Taylor. David Janssen was well, David Janssen. Straight faced all the way, little emotion, the picture of composure in the face of utter despair. Gorshen was fun to watch but his character was too one dimensional. Joyce Taylor on the other hand was worth the price of admission. Saucy all the way, dangerously sexy and with more than enough complexity to make her character an interesting standout. And what a fox. I was sorry to discover that her career was quite limited. Nonetheless she impressed me and I'll be looking out for more films with her.So there you have it. Another bad film that's actually quite fun.

The movie was shot mostly in and around my hometown, Vernonia, Oregon. I was in sixth grade at the time, and I was an extra, one of the townspeople running to catch the escape train. We would run the length of the town center, then walk back six blocks, and do it over and over again. Andrew Stone, the producer/director had a lot of cooperation from the US Army; in the climactic scene of burning the town, there were flamethrowers on top of all the downtown buildings. I had the misfortune of being outside when a soldier was setting off smoke bombs. I couldn't see one foot in front of me. In the 1920's Vernonia had the largest all-electric sawmill in the world. But they cut down all the trees, and the mill closed in 1957. They completely stocked the mill with new lumber for the movie; then they burned it all down. If anyone is interested, Vernonia Sentry Supermarket sells DVD's of the movie, and they will ship.

This movie has always been special to me; The town scenes were shot in Oregon in Vernonia, but the rest around Shelton, WA in Mason County and Grays Harbor County. The Sheriff's dept depicted, and all the personnel - wear Mason County Sheriff's Uniforms and patches - complete with Christmas tree logo and 'Mason County' prominently displayed. I have one of these patches in my collection. The Mason County Sheriff played by Ron Myron was actually a real Mason County Deputy at the time. The State Trooper who is nearly killed in the telephone booth in Matlock (which has hardly changed at all by the way - and last time I passed through still had a telephone booth in the same spot!) was a real trooper from the shelton detatchment and was a fellow road trooper at the time with my Dad in Shelton. The best part however, is my uncle plays an extra in the 'posse' sent to hunt down the kidnappers. It's always great fun to point him out whenever it is on. The annual forest festival in shelton sometimes plays this movie during their celebration. I recall my parents, and relatives pointing out many more familiar faces in this movie. I have been to the site where the bridge was burned and the trains dropped - you can make out the train cars but I couldn't see the engine; Apparently it is very difficult to make out but it's not hard to find but VERY dangerous to try to actually go down to look at. FYI - this movie used to play fairly regularly on TNT network. I have taped this movie and copied it onto a DVD. I would love to see this film released on a commercial DVD and in wide-screen if it was shot that way, which I believe it was. I invite anyone else - particularly those involved with this production at the time to leave comments as well. For small town folk - even those like me who weren't born yet, it is still an incredibly interesting piece of local history.