Destination 60,000

As directed by George Waggner, this late fifties jet pilot drama is in the vein of Howard Hawks (The Dawn Patrol, Only Angels Have Wings), and as a programmer does its job well. The casting is a bit odd, with a hefty, fifty-something Preston Foster in the lead, and the strangely named Jeff Donnell as the female love interest. Denver Pyle is excellent in a small, pivotal role. There are some nice aerial scenes, and the script emphasizes rather than runs away from clichés, and tends toward repetition in dialogue and situation (also very Hawksian), and it works amazingly well. As the superannuated star player, Foster is as forceful here as he was as a gladiator in The Last Days Of Pompeii twenty years earlier, leaving one to wonder why his talents weren't better utilized in the movies.

Preston Foster and Colleen Gray romance one another while test flights take place in southern California over the Mohave desert.

Rather formula plot, especially for a mere 65-minute movie. Directed by George Waggner with an adequate musical score written by Al Glasser.

OK editing by Kenny Crane (Director, 'Monster From Green Hell', 1957).