Hans Conried, Ivan Triesault, Janet Leigh, Jay C. Flippen, John Wayne ...( see more  see more... ) , Paul Fix , Richard Rober , Roland Winters

If Jet Pilot seems hopelessly out of date today, imagine how filmgoers in 1957 reacted when this relic from 1949 was taken off the shelf. Many, many years in the making due to the maniacal tinkering b...( read more  read more... )y producer Howard Hughes (who reportedly lost $4 million on it - a massive sum back then), the film was deemed unreleasable upon completion; only when Universal-International took over distribution of a handful of RKO Radio productions did it finally see the light of day. John Wayne stars as an air force colonel stationed in an Alaskan outpost only 40 miles or so from the Soviet Union. Wayne is put in charge of Russian jet pilot Janet Leigh, who claims that she wants to defect. Actually, Leigh is a Communist spy, but thanks to Wayne's affectionate attentions she is won over to the side of Democracy. Thus it is that Leigh rescues the Duke when he is kidnapped and nearly brainwashed by her Commie comrades. Jet Pilot was eventually bought back from U-I by Hughes for his personal collection; not only did he buy into the propagandistic plotline, but he was also enthralled by the aerial scenes, some of which were staged by legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager. The 1949 production date for a number of sequences explains not only why so many of the actors look young for 1957, but the existence of several supporting cast members who had died in the interim (such as Jack Overman and Richard Rober).~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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50% liked it

1,563 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Josef von Sternberg, Jules Furthman

Release Date: January 1, 1957

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DVD Release Date: March 10, 2000

Stats: 33 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (33)


  • October 5, 2009
    The legendary talents of producer Howard Hughes, director Josef von Sternberg and actor John Wayne combine to bring a thrilling and often humorous Cold War adventure to the screen, accentuated by outstanding aerial photography and thunderous action sequences.
    The special effects ...( read more)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.
    Wayne and Janet Leigh are especially good together as are the usual cast of colorful characters who help pad out the storyline.
  • March 11, 2009
    Outstanding movie John Wayne is my family favorite actor
  • June 5, 2008
    Silly cold war romantic drama featuring some excellent photography of stunt flying
  • March 24, 2008
    This movie had potential, but fell through the cracks. To bad.
  • August 21, 2007
    i would like to see this one..
  • May 26, 2007
    The movies you find flipping through channels. Im not a big John Wayne fan, but he did a decent job in this. Janet Leigh did a good job in it. The dialogue was a bit cheesy at times. It was good enough to keep watching it, but not one I would watch again.
  • February 20, 2007
    I seen this John Wayne movie 3 times now he is great she aren't
  • January 25, 2007
    Janet Leigh's potrayal of a ruskie mig pilot is just horrible. Like she didn't even try. Good action though and the Duke kills it, naturally.
  • November 20, 2006
    This is a really and I mean a really bad John Wayne movie as one of his non-western movies made that should not have been made.

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Jet Pilot Trivia


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