Jet Pilot (film)

Plot

A Russian defector lands a jet fighter aircraft on an American airstrip. The base commander, Air Force Colonel Jim Shannon (John Wayne) is surprised to find that the pilot is an attractive woman, Lieutenant Anna Marladovna (Janet Leigh). When she asks for asylum, but refuses to disclose any military information, Shannon is assigned to seduce her. They fall in love. Worried about the possibility of deportation, Jim marries her without permission.

When they return from their unauthorized honeymoon, Major General Black (Jay C. Flippen) takes Jim aside and informs him that his new wife is a spy, sent to relay information back to the USSR. The Americans decide to play along, and escalate the situation.

Shannon goes home to tell Anna that she is to be imprisoned for years, then deported when she is finally released. To save her, they hatch an escape plan, steal an aircraft and fly to Soviet airspace. Their arrival is not shown, but Anna is criticized for allowing Shannon to crash the more advanced American aircraft when Russian fighters closed in, rather than fighting back. She says that she considered shooting him, then decided that he would be more valuable for his knowledge than the plane would have been.

While they are there, Shannon discovers that Anna is pregnant. Shannon is then assigned to help test new aircraft, a pretext for drugging him and pumping him for information about American aircraft. He learns much about Soviet capabilities from the questions he is asked, while only giving up outdated information in return. When Anna discovers this, she initially plans to turn him in, learns he is to be drugged into permanent insensibility, then lets her personal feelings override her sense of duty. She finds herself under suspicion, disposes of the agent sent to keep an eye on her, steals an aircraft and escapes back to the West with Shannon.

Cast

As appearing in Jet Pilot, (main roles and screen credits identified):

Production

Hughes intended to make a "jet-age" Hells Angels to the extent that the flying scenes were the most important element, and led to his obsessive re-editing that stretched into years. The lead actors fretted that the screenplay was "silly" with Wayne only taking on the role because he thought it would make a political statement, but soon realized it would become "one of the worst films" he would ever make. Wayne would later recall, "The final budget was something like four million. It was just too stupid for words."

Location filming took place primarily at Edwards Air Force Base and Hamilton Air Force Base, California, with full cooperation from the United States Air Force. Much of the filming of flying scenes was done at Edwards using a North American B-45 Tornado bomber as a camera aircraft. Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, along with Charles Rayburn Cunningham, another senior jet pilot, was assigned by the U.S. Air Force to fly for the film.Yeager would fly in the X-1 on its final flight, staged for the film cameras, on May 20, 1950.

The F-86A Sabre jets depicted in the early sequences were actual operational aircraft of the 94th Fighter Squadron, the first unit so equipped in the USAF, shortly after their conversion to the type in 1949. Yeager would also fly the F-86A in a series of aerobatic maneuvers, under the direction of "air boss" Paul Mantz who coordinated the aerial sequences.

Location filming for the Russian air base was done at George Air Force Base, a World War II air base with many of its wartime structures still intact, giving the base a primitive appearance. The 94th FS and its parent 1st Fighter Group were actually based at George during filming, and had just finished a deployment to Ladd Air Force Base, Alaska, as depicted in the storyline.

The "Soviet parasite fighter" that Shannon flies is actually a Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft design in the world.

The "mother ship" for the Soviet parasite fighter is actually a Boeing B-50, a development of the B-29. The "Yak 12" at the films beginning is a black-painted Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star; the black fighter that appears near the finale, taxiing on the parking ramp, and the unpainted fighter that Olga is to test fly, are both Northrop F-89 Scorpions. An F-86 Sabre is used to depict a Russian chase aircraft, painted in dark colors, high visibility orange, and gray juxtaposed to obscure its actual silhouette.

Reception

Despite the obvious similarities to other successful films including Ernst Lubitschs Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, Comrade X (1940), starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr, as well as the more recent dud, The Iron Petticoat (1956), starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, by the time Jet Pilot hit the screens, it looked dated and received universally poor reviews. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, referred to it as "silly and sorry", doomed by a "weak script, poor direction and indifferent performances by all" and concluding, that it was far from being Hughess next Hells Angels. For aviation fans, even the aerial scenes were greatly reduced as much of the principal photography had taken place early in 1950, relegating Jet Pilot to more of a historical curiosity.