A dark sci-fi prequel, huge performances at the Oscars, and a star-studded new season of mockumentaries are our picks of the week. Presented by M&M's.
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Share this Rating
Title: The Starfighters (1964)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Learn more
More Like This
Mitchell
(1975)
Action
|
Crime
|
Drama
Director:
Andrew V. McLaglen
Stars:
Joe Don Baker,
Martin Balsam,
John Saxon
Tormented
(1960)
Horror
|
Thriller
Director:
Bert I. Gordon
Stars:
Richard Carlson,
Susan Gordon,
Lugene Sanders
To the Shores of Hell
(1966)
War
|
Drama
Director:
Will Zens
Stars:
Marshall Thompson,
Richard Arlen,
Robert Dornan
Capture That Capsule
(1961)
Adventure
Director:
Will Zens
Stars:
Richard Jordahl,
Pat Bradley,
Dick Miller
Comedy
|
Action
Director:
Will Zens
Stars:
Sherry Robinson,
Don Jones,
Tonia Bryan
Blood Thirst
(1971)
Certificate: GP
Horror
Director:
Newt Arnold
Stars:
Robert Winston,
Katherine Henryk,
Yvonne Nielson
Edit
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 |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
See All (12) »
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. Written by David Conner <dconner@clark.net>
Plot Keywords:
fighter plane | aerial refueling | refueling | bad acting | u.s. air force |Taglines:
The blazing adventure of the men and planes who rocket to the very edge of outer space!Genres:
DramaParents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
Edit
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
25 March 1964 (USA) See more »Filming Locations:
George Air Force Base, Victorville, California, USACompany Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The name of the movie is a reference to the true star of the film, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. See more »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!See more »
Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
Watch Hollywood hits and TV favorites for free with IMDb Freedive. Start streaming on IMDb and Fire TV devices today!
Enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with Prime Video.
Though it does kind of play out like Top Gun in certain ways, I am guessing this one did not inspire the more successful and known film in the least. This film was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and is essentially almost a commercial for the Starfighter jet. I almost think this was supposed to simply be a short explaining the virtues of said jet, but the director got out of hand and it ended up being a movie. Well, something that sort of resembles a movie in a minimalist sort of way. I mean, there are scenes featuring more than stock footage of these jets flying and doing things. There is some dialog in there and a romantic subplot! In the end though it all seems to be pointing towards the virtue of this particular jet and of small jet fighters in general. It's almost as if the military were going to mass market these bad boys to the public or something. Though I guess in the end this film was also trying to get more young men into the air force by saying, "Look here! We've got awesome jets to fly and you can get a nice girl who was raised on a corn farm, now listen to some more easy listening music and watch us refuel!"
The story, well, hard to pinpoint it. Let's just say, the Coleman Francis film, "Skydivers" had more of a plot going on than this thing. In the end, we watch a refueling scene and then three new pilots come to the base to train on the jet of the title. We watch them train by flying around, dropping bombs, shooting missiles and blasting their machine gun. Then they give us more refueling as it seems like their fall back or something. They try to generate excitement and peril with a lame wheels may have malfunctioned and then have an off screen storm and crash, but the film is rather tame and ends in very anticlimactic fashion as the pilots try their poopie suits and then just take off again and fly away.
This made for a very funny episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as this film was just so pointless and riddled with elements to riff. One can be pretty sure that you are not missing much of the movie for the show either as it only clocked in at 1 hour and 19 minutes, meaning that the fact the film is all over the place is not due to editing down for the show. You have your long drawn out training sequences to make fun of with easy listening music, a very tepid romance subplot that is obviously just something to give one a break from those plane sequences and you have the poopie suit!
So, yeah, this film is not going to be a favorite of many people. I know people like other films that the gang have riffed, but I just do not see adult, kid or anybody sitting down to this film and going, "Wow, this is amazing! I sure want to fly those jets!" So I do not think anyone's feelings will be hurt when I say this one is bad, even Manos Hands of Fate had more semblance of a plot than this thing! Just a long look into how the air force trains their guys on jets with a totally weak finish. I wonder how many of those Starfighter jets they managed to sell to the public?