Jet Attack

Not the worst Korean war film I have seen, but Jet Attack / Through Hell to Glory is a strong contender. A forgettable old war film that is only memorable for the amount of stock footage used within it (mostly of American aircraft flying) and some laughably bad Russian accents. The film has numerous equipment and hardware inaccuracies to annoy the military enthusiasts among us, and so is not enjoyable from that perspective. If you like to see bad acting, a ridiculous plot, and some slightly interesting stock footage of flying aircraft (and crucially have time to waste) this might be the film for you. If not, watch something better. Some really good Korean War films have come out of South Korea - such as Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. Watch that instead if you want to see a great film about the war.

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. Also there a few amusing scenes featuring Nickly Balir as Radioman Chick 'Meathead' Lane.

Aside from that, this is a very disappointing Korean war film with an unlikely premise - one in which far too many people are killed to try and save one man.

I had wanted to see this movie for years, after reading about it in the notorious book "The Fifty Worst Films Of All Time" - it sounded like it was hilariously inept. It recently played on AMC, so I finally got to see it. Is it as hilariously inept as I imagined it to be? It certainly has its share of unintended laughs. There's a LOT of obvious stock footage, the funniest being when we see the neon nightlife of Tokyo - when the scene is taking place in Seoul, Korea! There's also a plane that crashes into flames at high speed, and there's a survivor. The wilderness doesn't look anything like Korea. There's comic relief that fails so badly it becomes funny, and there are other script-written ineptness like jet pilots recruited for a commando performance and scientific talk that makes no sense.

Clearly, the movie has its share of unintended laughs. But is it one of the worst movies of all time? Of course not. It's not inept enough. Much of the movie is mediocre tedium, not inspired enough for laughs or to be considered a movie that's so bad it's BAD. While I guess I'm glad I finally saw it (I'm trying to watch all 50 movies from that book), I don't think other viewers will find enough to entertain them, either intentionally or unintentionally.

This movie could have been done a lot better if someone had actually paid attention to the rather obvious details.

The heroes are dropped into North Korea, from there we see the Russians using US jeeps, and "woodies" as vehicles. The "Migs" are obviously F-86's. A rescue helicopter is allowed to land without air cover(?) something that never would have been done for real.

Cheaply made, supposedly Korean war, WWII stock films used. Example a F-86 shoots down a Mitsubishi A5 during the rescue.

This film is regarded as one of the 50 worst films of all time. Its a quickly shot, cheaply made film with lots of stock footage and a dicey story which makes little sense. However you cannot doubt its sincerity or its workmanlike pretension.

A scientist who has developed a special type of radar is testing it on a plane and the plane has been shot down. Despite the crash looks fatal it seems the scientist has survived and there is a rescue mission behind enemy lines in Korea.

The reason is that the scientist did not leave detailed plans of his invention behind and therefore they need to retrieve him. Why would a scientist be allowed out on such tests near Korea when its all in his head, I have no idea.

John Agar leads a crack team to rescue the pilot after they have had a wild night partying in Seoul or from the scenes of the stock footage, Tokyo.

They must get help from a Russian double agent and Korean rebels and to escape they might have to fly some Russian MIGs.

The film is not as bad as Plan 9 from Outer Space but despite its low budget, so-so acting, dismal action sequences and nonsensical plotting it will at least keep you entertained and has a weird charm of its own.