The Starfighters (1964)

A young Air Force lieutenant falls in love with fighter planes while his father, a Congressman and war hero, yearns for him to fly heavy bombers.

Director:

Will Zens

Writer:

Will Zens

Stars:

Robert Dornan, Richard Jordahl, Shirley Olmstead

Bottom 100 #27 | See the Bottom 100 movies as voted by our users.

Cast

Cast overview:
Robert Dornan	...	Lt. John Witkowski
Richard Jordahl	...	Maj. Stevens
Shirley Olmstead	...	Mary Davidson
Richard Masters	...	Col. Hunt
Steve Early	...	Lt. York
Robert Winston	...	Lt. Lyons
Carl Rogers	...	Congressman Witkowski
Ralph Thomas	...	Capt. O'Brien
Joan Lougee	...	Betty Lyons

Storyline

The story of young Lt. Witkowski, an Air Force F-104 Starfighter pilot, and his attempts to prove himself a worthy pilot to his father, a congressman and Air Force war hero. Aerial refueling is prominently featured in this tale of the peacetime Air Force.

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Plot Keywords:

refueling | fighter plane | aerial refueling | gatling gun | military | 

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Taglines:

The blazing adventure of the men and planes who rocket to the very edge of outer space!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 1964 (USA)

Filming Locations:

George Air Force Base, Victorville, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Will Zens Productions, Robert Patrick Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Col. Hunt: Listen, I just got back from the Victorville Chamber of Commerce meeting, where I gave them my anti-communist speech... and I'm still fighting mad!

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Deadly Mantis (1997)

User Reviews

Why America is the greatest country on the planet!!

The Starfighters is a brilliant MST episode but THE most perplexing film in non-MST form. I wonder if it was actually shown outside the realms of air bases. Something for strictly drive-ins? What was the director trying to show the audience and did he think the audience would be throughly entertained?

Bob Dornan is John W. Wikowski Jr, son of congressman John W. Wikowski (Sr.)who is actually Liberace's secret twin brother. He and Goober from the Andy Griffith Show go to George (not Larry) Air Force base to fly F-104 around, re-fuel forever, blow up white rectangles, wear poopie suits and fly to Europe. There's some annoying subplots involving a girlfriend from Iowa and their snuggling, some mundane conversations with big faced Major Stevens and his commanding officer and a crashed jet which is only implied, not seen. Director Will Zens went to great lengths to find as much stock footage as he can for this film due to the high salaries demanded by Dornan and Liberace. The poopie suits themselves took up most of the rest of the budget.

This was a tough film for MST since there is so much you can comment on in re-fueling scenes. This would have been an impossible film to sit through without Mike and the bots.