Jet Attack

One of the jets at the "North Korean" airbase is an American F-86 fighter; although it has a red star - the North Korean identification mark - on the fuselage, at the top of the tail assembly at the back of the plane can be clearly seen the words, "California Air National Guard".

During the Korean War, a US plane testing a new radar system is shot down by the North along with scientist inventor Dean Olmstead. With reports of Dean being taken prisoner, a rescue team led by pilot Capt.

This film has a bad rep, mostly because it was included in a well-known book documenting the supposed '50 Worst Films Ever'. But this movie ain't half bad.

The one-star is for the 15-minute version of this film. Yes, for some unknown reason, Jet Attack was edited down from 69 minutes to 15.

Jet Attack (1958) ** (out of 4) Ultra-cheap and ultra-stupid but mildly entertaining action pic from AIP has John Agar playing a hot shot pilot who crosses enemy lines to try and determine if an important scientist was killed a week earlier when his plane was shot down. Along with the help of two of his men, Korean rebels and a Russian spy (Audrey Totter) he must try and locate the scientist without getting caught.

JET ATTACK is a wartime drama from AIP, the studio best known for their mildly entertaining monster and horror movies of the era. This one's talky and dull, lacking the kind of money necessary to shoot decent action scenes and thus going for hackneyed plotting overall.

Not the worst Korean war film I have seen, but Jet Attack / Through Hell to Glory is a strong contender.

Poor acting from the supporting cast throughout the entire picture and footage of Tokyo at night meant to be Seoul (two quick cuts at the beginning) make it quickly apparent how this one was made on the cheap. Taped this off of AMC and thought about keeping it just for Cold War culture kitsch value, but it's so bad that I think I'm not going to even keep it for that.

If you're a fan of Mr. Agar, you might derive some small enjoyment out of his leading man role in this film and his character's (an all American pilot named Captain Tom Arnett) unlikely on-screen romance with Audrey Totter's Russian double agent character named Tanya Nikova.