Absolutely the worst movie.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I don't believe I've ever seen so much stock footage interspersed with movie action before, used rather extensively here to provide an added sense of realism to the horrors of war. Some of it rather graphic too as related to men wounded and bleeding while being hauled off the battlefield.In the story, Major Daniel Kirby (John Wayne) is brought in to command the VMF 247 Wildcats stationed in Oahu, a Marine fighter squadron that presumably would have gone to Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan), who for reasons that are revealed later, was passed over for promotion when the former commander was killed in action. Kirby has a battle theory of providing close air support for combat ground troops, an idea not embraced by the top brass because of the potential for friendly fire casualties.Interestingly, most of the tension in the story takes place between Kirby and Griff, who's questioning attitude of the commander's leadership calls upon the viewer to evaluate one's own feelings about the need to follow orders explicitly. Kirby's life and death battle decisions are made on the basis of achieving a greater good rather than attending to the needs of the individual, a concept that gets played out in combat situations a number of times in the story. The idea predictably comes full circle in the latter part of the picture when Griffin is faced with a difficult decision during an air battle that involves his own brother in law."Flying Leathernecks" is pretty much what you'd call a standard John Wayne vehicle in which he kicks a.. and takes names, best described by Robert Ryan's character when he admonishes his superior officer for not winning any friends among the men under his command, but certainly influencing them whether for good or ill. It's the same kind of hard boiled excess Wayne brought to other war films he appeared in, notably 1942's "Flying Tigers" and 1949's "Sands of Iwo Jima".

I just watched this predictable, laughable flag-waving chestnut on Turner Classic Movies. Really dated piece of pro-war propaganda with low-quality RKO Pictures production values.Director Nicolas Ray, whose reputation has been more highly respected in recent years than during his own lifetime, did what he could with limited resources. A cliché-ridden, trite script, a weak leading man and third-rate technical support, yet Ray manages to craft all of this into a film that's at least somewhat watchable, but, in the context of passing history, inadvertently hilarious at times.Most noteworthy is the typical Hollywod mythos-generation of John Wayne Winning WWII Singlehandedly. What a sad joke. That coward ducked out of his military commitment during the war, yet is positioned as the rah-rah, he-man, stalwart Man Of Action. In actuality, Wayne was classified as too old for service (but, only 34 when the war broke out) and also subject to a family exemption. This is curious, because other established Hollywood stars of his age, who also had families, served in active duty during WWII. Eddie Albert and Gene Autry, to name just a couple.The head of Republic Pictures, Herbert Yates, threatened to sue Wayne if he enlisted and put his contract on hold. Such would have been a specious lawsuit that would not find any standing in a court of law, and could have given Wayne an opportunity to bring serious suit against his employer on the grounds of public defamation. So, apparently, Wayne didn't make much effort at getting into the war effort.His co-star, Robert Ryan, actually served stateside as a DI at Camp Pendleton, yet Wayne is portrayed as the Superior Tough Guy in this film. How absurd.If you like simplistic plots, synthetic studio production, and Chicken Wayne's generally wooden and one-dimensional attempts at acting, this might be your kind of cinematic fare.

I have seen "Flying Leathernecks" countless times since I was a boy. This morning on TCM, it was on again and I almost missed my Saturday morningtee-time with my golf buddies. They were forgiving though, as they, like me, had grown up with the stories of our fathers, uncles and cousins whohad served in WWII and of course, it was a JOHN WAYNE film. You ALWAYS have to stop and watch the Duke anytime he takes on the Japanese. The movie utilizes much Navy combat film from WWII, most of it not of the Guadacanal campaign and the aerial "combat" was typical of most war flicks in the 1940s and '50s. While it has many production errors (not matching recreated action with actual combat footage, reversing damage/wounds on planes and pilots, etc.) it is still a good movie to kick back with and watch a simple story.

I had previously watched this one on TV, but I recall being underwhelmed by it: I liked the film better a second time around, but it’s clearly no classic (despite director Ray and co-star Robert Ryan’s involvement); contrary to Ray’s best work, which is marked by his personal touch, he’s strictly a director-for-hire on this particular title.The film is one of several war-themed Wayne vehicles from this era, a good number of which I’ve yet to catch up with – FLYING TIGERS (1942), THE FIGHTING SEABEES (1944), BACK TO BATAAN (1945) and OPERATION PACIFIC (1951). It’s similar to Wayne’s FORT APACHE (1948), where he’s now portraying the martinet role played in that John Ford cavalry picture by Henry Fonda – though he’s well-matched with the long-suffering Ryan (cast against type as an overly sensitive executive officer dedicated to his squad). The latter element, then, links the film with such archetypal flying pictures as ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) and TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (1949) – where the group leader is constantly forced to make tough decisions in which the life of his men has to be put in jeopardy. For this reason, too, Wayne’s a generally glum presence here – apart from his interaction with Jay C. Flippen as an amiably roguish old-timer; from the remaining supporting cast, Don Taylor is equally notable as the wise-guy crew member who happens to be a relative of Ryan’s.The action sequences are exciting (domestic asides are unsurprisingly dull but thankfully brief).even if utilizing an astonishing amount of grainy WWII stock footage which, while giving it a sense of raw authenticity, also tends to stick out rather too obviously alongside the soft yet agreeable Technicolor adopted for the rest of the film! In the end, FLYING LEATHERNECKS may be corny but it’s reasonably enjoyable – and occasionally stirring – for all that.