Flying Leathernecks (1951)

Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Standoffish Direction by the Liberal Ray, Submitting to Howard Hughes and John Wayne's Ultra-Conservative Views for Career Reasons, its assumed. WWII was over, but wait...Here comes the Korean Police Action, or Conflict, or whatever the Hell it was. So Crank Up the Propaganda Machine, pull out as much Color Stock Footage that Hughes could lay His hands on, and have at it.Robert Ryan is given enough Screen Time to at least offer some Humanistic Points, but the Power of the Production and the Script is Weighed Heavily on the Side of Hollywood's Chicken Hawk, John Wayne. In Real Life, The Duke was Never in the Military (although to be fair he did make some effort to enlist, but how sincere and forceful will never be truly known), thus Never Fired a Shot in Uniform, but that didn't stop Him from Shooting Blanks, Strutting around, and Pointing Fingers.The Movie is Filled with Flying Bravado. The inter-cutting of Real Footage and Dramatizations is not as bad as has been reported. It is Good Enough to Pass and surely Amps Up the Film to the Level of Action needed in this type of thing.Overall, Hughes and Wayne accomplished what They wanted and made a Flying Flag Waver. Worth a Watch for the Color, Aerial Scenes, and Robert Ryan Trying to make Sense of a Senseless Thing like Tribal Warfare.

A Howard Hughes War breathtaking film that probably accounts for the brilliance of the cinematography of the aerial dogfights . Classic war film with a magnificent John Wayne as tough Major fighting Japanese and a nice secondary cast who provide stalwart support . This is a flag-waging and patriotic tribute to US fliers . Very decent war scenes along with documentary footage that convey us the assault troops supported by aviation to establish on the Pacific islands, but like the navy, the US army and Air Force fought its way from island to island in the Pacific . The squadron's designation in the movie was VMF-247 "Wildcats" but in the movie was based on VMF-223 "The Bulldogs". The Leathernecks of the film's title is military slang . Leatherneck is a common nickname for marines of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The film's dedication states : "Dedicated to the United States Marine Corps, and especially to Marine aviation . Appreciation is gratefully acknowledged for their participation and assistance which made this picture possible" . Regarding Marine Major Dan Kirby (John Wayne) is tough on his group of World War II aviators , he is even tougher than his subordinate Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan) . As squadron leader fights with his fellow officer in Guadalcanal island . Both of them are two-fisted officers whose inevitable feud ranges from the wartime Pacific to peacetime America . As Kirby proves that his method is more suited to the demands of war and he leads his soldiers to into victorious battle , winning the devotion and admiration of his fliers . As when the real fighting begins all is forgotten . They subsequently bomb a convoy that is nicknamed by Kirby as ¨Tokyo Express¨. The film is based correctly on Guadalcanal battle in a hard-fought US operation , one of the most difficult campaigns of the Pacific theater , detailing this fight as well as other battles in Orient . This is a Howard Hughes production as the opening credits declare . It is well known that Hughes himself was an aviation aficionado who also produced Hell's angel (1930), Sky Devils (1932) and Jet Pilot (1957), the latter of which also starred John Wayne . It's a good film dealing with war in human terms . This colorful movie contains action , breathtaking battles , thrills , stock-shots , historical events and the dogfighting scenes are impressively made . Stalwart main cast , Wayne and Ryan , both of whom give splendid interpretations . Being stunning supported by Don Taylor , Barry Kelley , James Bell , James Dobson , and special mention for J.C. Flippen as grizzled veteran . Big production design , lavishly produced , brilliant photography and rousing soundtrack by ordinary Roy Webb as you'd expect from RKO Pictures at the time . Superp photography in glimmer color by William E Snyder , superbly captured in bright , sharp Technicolor which nowadays' processors never seem able to reproduce .The picture was compellingly directed by Nicholas Ray , author of various master pieces and hits as Rebel without cause , The savage innocents , Johnny Guitar , King of Kings , 55 days at Pekin and many others . Nicholas has a sensitive handling of actors and provides an exact compositional sense . Ray is a classic director , his films deal with a deep description of civilized societies , he believes that corruption is an essential part of it , that society punishes sincerity , innocence and love, vengeance and greed determine the behavior of people. ¨Flying leathernecks¨ is often considered merely another assignment of Nicholas Ray's at RKO for Howard Hughes to prove his political and professional alliance during the Red Scare and being Nicholas Ray's first film in color.

During WW2 In the Pacific war American marine pilots flying Hellcat fighters defeat the Japanese.It is always easy to view a film made six decades earlier and see it as poorly made or badly written or acted or all three as just dated. Well they make plenty of unrealistic films today but war films in particular seem to suffer from the limitations of their time and this is a case in point. While all the aviation scenes are reused combat footage and thus ultra realistic the dialogue and attitudes represented grind hard against modern views and cynicism. This is a John Wayne film first a world war two film second and is undiluted in its patriotism and heroism in the worst American way but typical of the pre-Vietnam fifties. It is worth comparing British films of the same era "The Dam Busters" for example how understated they are by contrast. However as a action war film with lots of fabulous and original combat footage it is worth a look, but the John Wayne performance and part is just pure Hollywood all death or glory and the superiority of American power and the American way.

Don't get too excited about the prospect of seeing John Wayne and Robert Ryan in a Nicholas Ray-directed World War II drama. Considering those three names, "Flying Leathernecks" does not meet expectations. It's a mediocre Howard Hughes-RKO-commissioned war movie. Mr. Ray shows off his most "production line" direction. Mr. Wayne (as Dan Kirby) and Mr. Ryan (as Carl "Griff" Griffin) have an vacuous attitude conflict; it's interesting to watch their acting techniques, without being distracted by a sensible story. A script highlight is the cute reference to the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill went up the hill…" Jay C. Flippen (as Clancy) provides additional "comic relief", but check out the "narration track", for real laughs. Also notable is the inclusion of several scenes from the actual war, in color ; however, this footage would be more appropriately seen in a documentary.**** Flying Leathernecks (8/28/51) Nicholas Ray ~ John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Jay C. Flippen