FORGOTTEN GEM? Jet Pilot (1957)

                        In the early 1950’s, the U.S. was deep into the Cold War.  Howard Hughes felt the patriotic thing to do was to make a film that would help us win that war.  He envisioned “Jet Pilot” as a jet version of his “Hell’s Angels”.  John Wayne was conned into making it after being told it would be a take-down of Communism.  The production took 18 months and was finished in 1953.  Officially, it was directed by Josef von Sternberg, but there were several uncredited directors, including Hughes.  Hughes kept tinkering with the film during the editing process which was part of the reason why the movie was not released until 1957.  By that time, most of the jets were either obsolete or obsolescent.  All those jets were provided by the U.S. Air Force which also gave access to two bases.  Chuck Yeager was provided as a stunt pilot.  He flies the X-1 and one of the F-86’s in the film.  He almost crashed when an acrobatic stunt went wrong.  The cinematographers were given a B-43 Tornado bomber as a camera aircraft.   The Air Force did not get much of a boost in enlistments because the movie was an expensive box office flop.  However, it was Hughes’ favorite movie and he watched it many times.

                        The movie opens with some nifty shots of F-86 Super Sabers (our main jet fighter in the Korean War).  You have just seen the best actors in this movie.  An F-86 forces a Soviet jet (actually an F-80 painted black) to land at a base in Alaska.  The pilot is a dame!  Lt. Anna Marladovna (Janet Leigh) is defecting and fetching.  Col. Jim Shannon (Wayne) is put in charge of this hot potato.  She may not be a potato, but she sure is hot.  She takes off her flight suit like she is doing a strip tease.  Shannon immediately decides he can overlook her being a communist.  He comments about her breasts (which must have interfered with her instrument panel):  “This may be some new form of propaganda.”  Their first date is a flirtatious jet ride.  And I’m not talking about him taking her up in his plane.  They are each flying F-86’s!  If you think the cockpit chatter in most air combat movies is lame, imagine what these two future love-birds are saying.  She’s a good pilot, but how is she in bed?  They go through the frenemies stage to marriage.  He shows her the materialism of America, but that doesn’t change her mind about being a spy.  Shannon is down with that.  I guess we know the answer to that question about her in bed.  They end up in the Soviet Union where the tables are turned.  If you are still watching at this point, keep drinking.

                        I was a big John Wayne fan growing up.  It was a legal requirement for Baby Boomer males.  And yet, I had never seen this movie until recently.  Now I know why.  It was not on any retrospectives when Wayne passed away.  Probably by his request since he did not like it.  He and Hughes had opposite views on its quality.  He was right and Hughes was wrong.   The movie is a crapfest.  The plot is ludicrous. The characters are ridiculous.  Wayne and Leigh are not bad and probably deserved awards for keeping a straight face.  Even the hard-core anti-communist Wayne found the script laughable.  There are many unintentional laughs in the film.  It is hard to understand why Hughes felt this was effective propaganda.  None of the developments are realistic.  The Air Force may have provided the hardware, but not a technical adviser.  How else to explain not vetting a script that has a Soviet defector allowed to pilot our most state of the art fighter.  Speaking of which, any movie with F-86’s is going to be partially watchable (like the superior “The Hunters”).  That jet was one sleek puppy and very photogenic.  So was Leigh in this film.  She may be forced to spout simplistic Marxist platitudes, but that figure is pure capitalism.   I guess her breasts are supposed to blind us to the fact that she is a traitor.  But she’s our traitor.

                        Wayne made worse films than “Jet Pilot”, but not many.  It is definitely in his bottom five.  Only watch it if you are committed to watching all his films or every aerial combat film.  If it’s the second reason, fast forward and only watch the aerial scenes.  And watch the Janet Leigh scenes, muted.

GRADE  =  F