The Starfighters war movie

The Starfighters (1964, United States)

Categories: aircraft movies military base movies

The Starfighters

Director: Will Zens

Czas: 80 minut

Laguages: English

war movies infoAdam 'Frey' Barczynski
2024-04-07 / 1970-01-01

Group of pilots arrive to air base, where they will train on the most advanced fighter of its times - F-104 Starfighter. Especially the mid-air refuelling.

Lieutenant John Witkowski arrive together with few other pilots to George Air Force Base in California to be retrained to fly the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the supersonic interceptor that at the time was the fastest fighter plane US Air Force had available and the one that was able to reach the highest altitude. All of the pilots arriving that day had previous experience on fighter planes, but it took a single flight to prove them Starfighter is a completely different construction. Witkowski and his pal Lieutenant York try to acclimate in the new base by going on a double date. John meets Mary, a girl from Iowa. Witkowski received a phone call from his father, US congressman and veteran of B-52 during World War II, who would prefer him to flight on heavy bombers and not interceptors, since the bombers will decide in future war, not the fighters. The son does not agree with father and continues his training on F-104.

American war movie, obviously supported by US Air Force or Lockheed, since it is nothing more than advertisement for F-104 Starfighter - f.e. scene in which the instructor presents that leading edge of F-104 was sharp enough to cut the paper in two or the scenes where the three pilots attack ground targets. When it comes to plot... there isn’t one. The pilots arrive, train (especially mid-air refuelling) and then leave. The acting? None. Dialogues? Horrible. No wonder the movie was featured by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and place in the top 10 most unwatchable movies in history. But when it comes to in-flight scenes there are some interesting parts of the movie, at least for the fighter planes aficionados. But if you’re not obsessed with supersonic interceptors there are millions of more interesting things you can do instead of watching this movie.

Our rating

4.4

Film value

3 / 10

Realism factor

4 / 5

Adventure factor

1 / 5

Historical accuracy

3 / 5

2024-04-07