just watch it!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

***SPOILERS*** Trying to prove to himself and the US Air Force that he still got it, guts and a pair of you know what, washed out air flight commander Maj. Lincoln "Link" Bond, William Holden, wants a chance to get back in the cockpit and test pilot the newest and fastest jet planes that the US military has in it's arsenal. The trouble for Link is that he lost his nerve while being held as a POW in North Korean where he was forced, under extreme torture, to sign a confession that he used chemical and biological weapons against North Korean civilians.Given a chance by the boss of Edwards Air Force Base and good friend Brig. Gen. Bill Banner, Lloyd Noland, Link while trying to screw his head back on later gets involved in an altercation with fellow flier Maj. Bromo Lee, Murray Hamilton, at the base officers club that almost has him grounded for life. It was Maj. Lee who felt that he was to fly the new and improved X-2 jet plane that Link was assigned to pilot in it's maiden flight. The fact that Link wanted to walk away from the confrontation, in that Lee was so drunk that he couldn't stand on his feet, was soon discovered through dozens of eye witnesses to the event has Gen. Banner reinstated Link to fly the plane. Link of course was looking after his friend Gen. Banner, who in suffering fainting spells, was in no shape to fly the plane himself as he at first planned to do. Ther's also link's old flame Gen. Banner's secretary Connie Mitchell, Virginia Leith, who feels that Link is not the at his best, due to his alcohol or drinking problems, to fly the plane either. ***SPOILERS*** Link finally gets his wish to fly the X-2 only to have it brake up in mid-air some 10 mile above the earth with him losing consciousness as he was bailing out. But as things turned out Link's parachute opened up just in time thus preventing him to crash land, on his head, and get killed as he finally hit the ground breaking both his legs in the process. As the movie ends Link out of the base hospital, against orders, embraces Gen. Banner who's to leave for a higher position, Let.General?,in a desk job in Baltimore and rides or flies into the sunset with Connie Mitchell who's now, after breaking up with him, back as his once ex and now study girlfriend.P.S Check the fun loving and lovable without a care in the world James Garner as USAF pilot Let. Col. Joe Craven. Garner is so cool and untouched by the dangers he faces flying jet planes in the movie that when he end up falling to his death from his out of control plane at 4,000 feet after his parachute failed to open that for a while you don't even realize that that it was him who was killed! Maybe by Garner wearing an oxygen mask at the time of his fatal crash you didn't recognize who he was!

The one and only film that William Holden produced as well as starred in is this great tribute to the test pilots of the United States Air Force who were breaking all kinds of flying speed records in the Fifties, the new age of jet and rocket propulsion. Toward The Unknown is about as authentic as you can get in a film about flying, being shot at Edwards Air Force Base as it was.Holden plays an Air Force pilot who was a POW in Korea and was tortured and broke under it. For that reason General Lloyd Nolan is reluctant to give him a chance at test flying the latest jets and even more so with the untried rocket technology of the X-2. Pulling for him is Nolan's second in command at Edwards, Charles McGraw, and Virginia Leith who is Nolan's secretary. In fact Nolan and Holden are both out courting her as well which puts another dimension to the situation.This film is an absolute must for aviation buffs just like Jet Pilot, the Howard Hughes produced film that starred John Wayne and Janet Leigh. Unlike that film, the story plot is reasonable and coherent in Toward The Unknown.James Garner has a small part in this film as another test pilot in one of his earliest feature roles. So does Murray Hamilton who has a drinking problem and a real dislike for Holden whom he sees as a rival.Toward The Unknown, fine product that it was, was the last film that William Holden was involved on the production end with. He found he did not like being involved in all the aspects of production as it were as so many of his other contemporaries enjoyed. Still as a producer Holden batted 1.000. Toward The Unknown is a fine production and should be required viewing for aviation buffs.

I admit I am somewhat biased by the subject matter, as I am very intrigued by the 1950's era of rapid aviation development and flight testing.It seemed we were willing to try anything if it would give us a hand-up on the Russians, similar to the effort of the German war technology in WW2 to stave off the Allied advance. At any rate, the movie is an enjoyable time capsule of 1950's test aircraft and prototypes, especially a rare view of the Martin XB-51 (Gilbert XF-120 in the movie)of which none of the two built survive as they were destroyed in real-life crashes.The story-line is of course clichéd and predictable, though loosely based on actual test pilot Pete Everest. Stars William Holden, with a supporting role by James Garner who makes his motion picture debut. By the way, the movie is not available in the mass market, but I paid $45.00 for an excellent (legal) DVD copy off an internet company from Hollywood. It was worth it, as I hadn't seen the movie for 40 years. There is a website for this movie (search under "Toward the Unknown")that mentions the DVD company, as the name escapes me.

Three things noteworthy about this movie, which though big in its day is almost completely forgotten now.It is one of a class of movies where the humans are second class citizens and the prime characters are machines. This class originated almost at the beginning of the form in clips featuring locomotives. Locomotives were the rough semiotic equivalent to fighter planes. Oddly, the script features two different episodes, one with a high performance fighter and another with a piloted rocket.These two "characters" are a different as can be and completely confuse the ethos of tough guy test pilot which is so celebrated.That ethos is the focus of the other two items of interest. William Holden, a bad actor by any measure, plays a POW from the Korean "conflict" who was forced to betray his country in some unspecified way. He now returns to test piloting and has to prove himself to the general, himself and his girl. Most of the exposition is clumsy, but it is a remarkably sophisticated notion in a genre that was exclusively jingoistic.The final surprise is the girlfriend. She is played by a little-known actress with a wonderful, rich silvery voice. She's quite plain and unremarkable unless you know "The Brain that Wouldn't Die," often pilloried as a bad movie. Actually, it is a terrific movie with comically low production values.She plays Jan, who for most of "Brain" is a disembodied but living head on a cookie sheet. The movie is often called "Jan in a Pan." You cannot see that movie and be unaffected if you are serious about movie ideas. And if you have seen it, you cannot see this without thinking about it.In this one, the girlfriend is a test pilot groupie. She is secretary and lover to the General of the place, who is both kind and bold (but 25 years older). When our hero Link shows up, she shuffles between their beds, ultimately staying with Link when the General leaves because she just likes to be around test pilots.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.