rogerdarlington As a film, this is pretty awful: a crude piece of American patriotism with a stereotypical view of the Soviet Union shown at the height of the Cold War. In fact, the work was produced by RKO in 1950 which was owned by Howard Hughes but, by the time it was released in 1957, Hughes had sold RKO and the film was released by Universal. It is presented as a kind of old-fashioned rom-com with John Wayne (a strong anti- communist) playing a United State Air Force colonel opposite Janet Leigh who is appallingly miscast as a Soviet defector (she makes no attempt at a Russian accent).For aviation buffs, however, the film has some interest. The USAF was very helpful and we see a great deal of the the North American F-86 Sabre in single, paired and formation manoeuvres. One sequence features a night interception of a Convair B-36 Peacemaker by a Lockheed F-94 Starfire. We even have the inclusion of the last two flights of the first Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis", launched from a Boeing B-50 Superfortress, representing the part of a Soviet "parasite fighter", as well as some stunt flying by the Bell X-1's most famous pilot Chuck Yeager.

robbybonfire Interesting film, in that the contrast of positives and negatives is as glaringly apparent as The Grand Canyon is wide.First, to get the negatives out of the way, the (mis)casting centers around Jay C. Flippen, a career "character actor," as John Wayne's Air Force Commanding General. John Wayne reporting to Jay C. Flippen is like Humphrey Bogart reporting to Jerry Lewis, as in "Something is amiss, here." Where the John Wayne-Jay C. Flippen seniority debacle is concerned, it makes one wonder, "Where have you gone Dean Jagger?" - who did such a credible job propping up Gregory Peck in "One O'Clock High," filmed in the same year of 1949.It has already been noted, elsewhere here, the credibility gap of Janet Leigh lacking a hint of a Russian accent. This, of course, is the typical Howard Hughes bravado of just getting his "starlet of the year" up there on the screen, and to hell with the consequences of in-default major details undermining everything else. Ava Gardner, Jean Peters, Jane Russell, and Janet, et al, never complained, we may assume. Some may think this is strictly an Air Force public relations-type vehicle. However, the real motivation behind this film may have been more subtle, such as putting Janet Leigh's kissy face and contour-friendly mammary gland dimensions opposite John Wayne, to propel her into the national "silver screen" luminary spotlight. And giving John and Janet multiple kissing scenes validates this theory, as John Wayne indulged in few kissing scenes with his leading ladies, over the entire span of his career. And as smiling fate would have it, Janet's career went full bore right into the 60's, complete with "Psycho" shower scene immortality, without so much as a "leg up" from this film, which was finally released in 1957 for political red red tape reasons far in excess of any political statement this film actually makes.The most compelling question surrounding this film has to do with the V.I.P. treatment this "off course" seductive female Soviet fighter pilot receives, courtesy of the U.S. military, as John Wayne is assigned the task of escorting her on a whirlwind tour of parties, clubs and dances, ad nauseam. This begs the question: at what point does the U.S. Government come to regard her as a spy(?), which is the delayed reaction, two-thirds into the film. So that, if a cold war spy suspect is pretty, she gets a pass? Hollywood script writers are known for their apostasy when it comes to sticking to the facts, but this one is off the chart for script-writing license absurdity.The saving grace for this film is simply that John and Janet seem a great "opposites attract" pairing, complete with a smoldering physical attraction chemistry. Janet does not seem over-matched as John's intellectual rival when it comes to social banter and as regards discussing the nuances of advanced-technology aviation. She holds her own, in fact.Call this film entertaining and well worth seeing, so long as you don't take it too seriously. After all, those who produced it didn't make that mistake, either.********

caa821 Like one of the others who have commented here, I just saw this film for the first time, despite the many years since its release.My all-time favorite of a flick which rates a solid 10-stars for its awful, bizarre weirdness, is the Bruce Jenner/Village People picture, "Can't Stop the Music" - however, this one is a VERY close contender.There are several comments which depict the "plot" at length, so I'll simply outline the ending. To conform to the site's caveat regarding spoilers, I've indicated same - but there is little here actually to "spoil," since suspense and plot revelation are hardly among its components.Janet Leigh is about as believable as a Russian air officer and pilot as, say, Yakov Smirnoff attempting to play Jed or Jethro in a "Beverly Hillbillies" remake.Big John, hardly a Gielgud or Olivier at his most serious, has his tongue so far in his cheek here, that he is in danger of severe jaw damage. But this is all accomplished in a surprisingly effective, amusing manner, as the title figure "ace," and Leigh's American love interest.The climax of the film pretty well sums things up. In separate jets, Leigh and Wayne have landed at a Russian base. John runs from his plane to Janet's, hops in and she takes off. All of this is accomplished amidst a hail of bullets from the Russian soldiers on the base. Naturally, they don't hit anything.Janet takes-off, and they are pursued by a horde of Russian jets (they are fleeing to Vienna!). She actually asks Big John what she should do. Honestly, again...honestly!!! ------------HE TELLS HER TO "TURN RIGHT!!!"Well, this apparently works, because in the next scene they are at dinner, presumably in Vienna, and Janet is enjoying immensely her steak, the size of one Hoss might enjoy on "Bonanza."She then says something about how she'd like for the folks in her country (remember, she's a 1950's, Cold War-period Russkie) to become more interested in these (i.e. steaks) than guns.Immediately after this sage comment, Big John leans toward her and plants a kiss as the film ends.Movies can't be much more fun than this.

cnturn I watched the movie Jet Pilot with John Wayne and Janet Leigh and I would have to rate it at least 8 out of 10 scale. I did notice one scene in the movie with a small bet between two radar operators. Each bet a coin on whether Col. Shannon (John Wayne) who was flying with Lt. Anna Marladovna (Janet Leigh) would make contact (on radar) with a large cargo type plane (B-36)in 35 seconds. The actual time watching the movie, from the point to contact was 23 seconds not 35 seconds, but the radar scope operator when he lost the bet said he was off just 1/5 second. It was a great movie and interesting plot.I watched the movie on AMC December 1, 2006. I am an Avid John Wayne fan and hadn't even realized that this movie he made. Your Website IMDb provided extensive detail on specifics regarding characters etc. and I appreciate your effort in providing this for the public.