The quintessential Howard Hughes movie: boobs, anti-Communism, wacky humour, planes, and extensive post production tinkering. Russian pilot Janet Leigh defects to the West to avoid being shot at home and is romanced by John Wayne, who is trying to get information out of her.
Leigh is about as Russian as, well, John Wayne, but she is very fresh faced and pretty and the boobs do hold up (there's a camp classic scene where she takes off her coat and thrusts out her chest as the sound of a jet roars by outside). This was shot in 1950 so she seems very young. She's a real Howard Hughes kind of gal - beautiful; well endowed; has her own career that is very glamorous, skilled and hard to do (flying a jet); feisty; loves nice dresses and sex. He must have been thinking of Ava, Kate, Kathryn, Terry and all the others when making this. There are several scenes where the spy agencies tape her conversations, too!
The jets are lovingly shot and make great sounds, although there's too many scenes of them zipping around in long or mid shot and Wayne and Leigh talking. The story is confusing - I kept losing track of when they were really in love or pretending or being spies. They seem to benefit an awfully lot from luck and the film lacks a real villain.
It's a mad mess, and you're not likely to enjoy it unless you know a bit about Howard Hughes, but if you do, you'll have a great time.
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