Jet Pilot (1957)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writer:

Jules Furthman (written by)

Release Date:

October 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Greatest Air Spectacle of the Jet Age! Earth-shaking, sky-shattering ... SO BIG it took years to make!

Plot:

Air Force Colonel Shannon is assigned to escort defecting Soviet pilot Anna. He falls in love with her...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Beautiful Woman

Cast

John Wayne	...	Col. Jim Shannon
Janet Leigh	...	Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon / Olga Orlief
Jay C. Flippen	...	Maj. Gen. Black
Paul Fix	...	Maj. Rexford
Richard Rober	...	FBI Agent George Rivers
Roland Winters	...	Col. Sokolov
Hans Conried	...	Col. Matoff
Ivan Triesault	...	Gen. Langrad

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1974) | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

In a later flight, his plane's engine lost a turbine disk during a routine climb, forcing a dead-stick landing.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the fighter breaks off after the radar intercept, the markings on the plane are backwards (flipped film).

Quotes:

Lt. Anna Marladovna Shannon: [screaming at Jim] Give me back my skirt!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000) (TV)

Gruff US pilot assists female Russian pilot to defect.

Howard Hughes produced this ahead-of-its-time film in the late 1940's, but couldn't get it released until US Air Force clearance was approved in 1957. It sat on a shelf in storage for 8 years until its release. John Wayne is his usual macho self, an American flyer, ladies man, infatuated with a Russian pilot who treats him like a spy. A very young Janet Leigh is the pilot who falls in love with tough-guy Wayne and agrees to defect to the US as his wife.

The special effects in this film are quite convincing in spite of its age. Of course, the US Air Force helped everywhere needed to make the picture seem real. Thought that the idea of a female Russian pilot was interesting since the movie was made long before women's lib.

John Wayne and Janet Leigh are especially good together as are the usual cast of colorful characters who help pad out the storyline. This is one of my favorite John Wayne pictures. He is surprisingly natural in his performance with a light touch of good humor thrown in for good measure. Most any John Wayne fan would enjoy this film heartily.