User Reviews

Any tension FLYING LEATHERNECKS has as a war film from the '40s about the fight against the Japanese on Guadalcanal is bolstered considerably by the decent acting jobs done by JOHN WAYNE and ROBERT RYAN as men who are soon in conflict with each other over training methods. Wayne has his usual tough guy role, hard on the surface but soft inside, and Ryan is the man who stands up to him but soon appreciates him when the going gets rough.

Whatever inaccuracies there are in historical details (as pointed out by other reviewers) don't really harm the story which is well photographed in Technicolor and includes a number of hard-hitting action scenes that are the best moments in the film. The domestic moments are the weakest elements of the story.

Wayne and Ryan are well supported by JANIS CARTER (as Wayne's worried wife) and DON TAYLOR as a carefree soldier. Well directed by Nicholas Ray, it's not as tense and exciting as it could have been but it passes the time efficiently in its own way with lots of actual war footage appearing in the action scenes.

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.

Watching the interaction between Wayne and Ryan took me back to my days in submarines. A captain who remained distant yet caring and an exec who seemed more crew friendly and down to earth. I thought this was played out very well. Ryan only had to look at his own actions to realize why he had been passed over for command. I believe every command had a scrounger and this was a good addition for realism. I overlooked some location errors and airplane types and focused on what was the real story. Young men were trained quickly and sent into combat and as all young people do even now, feel invincible. This movie portrays war as a reality, men die. As long as the earth is inhabited there will be wars. One reviewer termed this movie as a snuff movie. This was war. Men fought and men died. Guadelcanal was not a pristine resort. We were attacked by an enemy who showed no mercy and as sad as it is, men die in war to protect our freedom. This movie shows how new pilots are forced to face the reality that they may be killed and that they must kill. They were led by a squadron commander (Wayne) who was a veteran and knew what it would take to give his men the highest odds of living. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone who has a moral problem with war. The bottom line for the anti-war crowd is, "reality sucks."

Major Kirby (John Wayne) takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers Wildcats. The men are undisciplined as they are sent to the Guadalcanal battle. Everybody expected the squad's best flier Captain 'Grif' Griffin (Robert Ryan) to be the new commander but Kirby finds him unable to make the tough decisions.

The story is rather pedestrian wartime action. John Wayne is the hard but fair commander as his usual fare. He's a real man and the college boys are weak. He's there to make real men out of the boys. The movie is most compelling with the real color war footage. Howard Hughes paid for the Techicolor to weave in with the color footage. The action is pretty compelling and makes this more than another bland war story.

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.

i thought this was a fairly decent war picture.it's not what i would call a classic,but it passes the time.the action sequences are pretty good,sometimes exciting.there's some obvious stock war scene footage mixed in with the film scenes.the acting is decent enough but not stellar,by any means,with maybe a bit of overacting going on possibly intentional.there's a bit of lite comedy thrown in that works well.the movie definitely has a pro war slant to it,so if that's not your thing,you may want to avoid it.otherwise,i'd say the movie is worth a watch on a lazy day when you have nothing better to do.for me,Flying Leathernecks is a 6/10

I saw this overlooked Nicolas Ray film for the first time this week and was surprised by the director's ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear within the tight limitations of the post WWII propaganda war genre. Of course, the jingoism, the low budget fx and the formula finishing lines are dated and tedious, but the core of the film is the fascinating relationship between Wayne, as the tough Major with a good heart, and Robert Ryan as his compassionate second-in-command with a tough mind. If you zapped past the battle and home front scenes, you would have a highly charged exploration of male-bonding issues. As well, the film seems to be covertly raising questions which go as far back in our literature as ancient Greece when officers initiated their men into rites of passage. The intensely rich Technicolor and the interior tent sets evoke a crucible environment which powerfully thrusts along the character development. Ray draws from Ryan a brilliant portrayal and from Wayne a solid effort that seems to prepare him for his splendid characterization in a similar conflicted relationship with Maureen O'Hara for his very next film, John Ford's "The Quiet Man", for which Wayne got an Oscar nomination in 1952.

"Flying Leathernecks" has the virtue of a director taking on a run of the mill commercial film project, infusing it with his idiosyncratic style and providing the audience with some thematic depth and many fine moments. The most interesting example for me is a scene two-thirds into the film when John Wayne receives orders to depart immediately for another assignment and seeks to explain to Robert Ryan why the command of the squadron will be passed to another officer and Ryan not promoted into the job. Instead of an explosive argument, the conflict is conveyed mainly through non-verbal signals that each man is unable or unwilling to read from the other. A frustrated Wayne finally shrugs his shoulders and strides out of the tent while a tight-jawed Ryan keeps his backed turned away from him. Fortunately, there are enough of such involving scenes to make this a worthwhile film, even though this is not in the same league as Ray's great ones like "Rebel Without a Cause".

The central story is elementary. Wayne arrives to command a group of Hellcats on Guadalcanal. His executive officer is Robert Ryan. Wayne is a taciturn, no-nonsense typa guy who doesn't suffer humanitarians easily. Ryan is a humanitarian. (A fairly decent reflection of offscreen attitudes here.)

Ryan is always saying things about his wisecracking, fun-loving men like, "They're just kids." And Wayne's first priority is to force them to become disciplined and efficient warriors. He's distant enough that when he sends the men a bottle of saki, he tells the messenger not to reveal the identity of the donor. Not that Ryan is a namby-pamby. He's shown as gentle but not coddling. And he's smart too. One of his men complains that every time he goes up, his chances of coming down alive are narrowed. Ryan explains Baldt's theorem, or whatever it is, which states that your chances remain the same no matter how many times you've flown. Just like flipping a coin. With each flip, your chance of getting heads or tails is even, no matter how many times you've flipped it. (This ignores something called The Law of Limits, I think, but I don't want to get in over my head here so I'll quit.) Okay, maybe Ryan thinks too much, but at least statistics isn't as bad as a taste for Shakespeare, which was John Agar's failing in "Sands of Iwo Jima." Math is a man's job, finally, whereas Shakespeare is only one step removed from fairyhood.

Anyway the conflict intensifies and Ryan finally turns on Wayne, saying, "I've had a belly full of you!" There is a fierce confrontation and Wayne departs to train pilots elsewhere in ground support using Corsairs, a legendary Pacific fighter. He does not recommend Ryan as his replacement because Ryan, as we all know, hasn't got the guts for command.

Now -- you've got the picture of the conflict. We have, on the one hand, the stern, distant, not unfeeling Wayne leader. And on the other hand we have the casual, humanitarian Ryan who identifies with his men too much. Okay. The conflict is resolved at the end of the picture and the two men agree to meet later and get drunk together. I ask you: in whose favor is this conflict resolved? No power on earth could drag the answer from me.

This movie was directed by Nicholas Ray, although you'd never know it. Comedy relief is provided by the scrounging line chief, J. C. Flippen, who refers to non-aviation types as "mud Marines" and is patronizingly tolerated by Wayne. All the combat footage is from official Navy film. You have seen every shot exactly one thousand, two hundred, and forty-two times before.

Those F4U Corsairs were marvelous airplanes with a top speed of about 450 miles an hour.

On one level this is a standard flag-waving WW2 film--which was what audiences wanted. On another level, though, this movie says some pretty harsh things about war. Mixed in with the combat footage are several scenes of wounded soldiers covered in blood, the sort of images that were censored from pictures made during the war. Some have objected to this... but I think it adds an extra layer of realism. Yes, they are shocking images--maybe that was Ray's point. We should be shocked that men get killed like this. The interplay between Robert Ryan and John Wayne is fascinating. Ryan turns in a splendid performance and Wayne surprised me with the depth of emotion he displayed, particularly when he visits his family. The movie shows us the emotional toll of ordering men to their deaths. The movie has pacing problems, particularly in the final battle, and Jay C. Flippen's scrounging sergeant wears a little thin. Still, this is a well-done war film.

John Wayne is a genre all to himself. The silent type with the gruff exterior but the hidden heart of gold was the patented John Wayne part like Sergeant Striker in SANDS OF IWO JIMA. Yet beyond syrupy WWII era propaganda, few John Wayne films have very much stuffing to them.

The story is parallel to the script of Dawn Patrol.

Flying Leathernecks along with Flying Tigers and Horse Soldiers are an exception. In command is John Wayne in his patented character type, silent and distant Major Daniel Xavier Kirby. Major Kirby's goal is simple: accomplish the mission.

There are shades of General Savage from 12 O'Clock high in this film but Major Kirby unlike General Savage does not have the political dimension of proving Americans to be the equal of the British RAF.

As a perfect counterpoint to the forbidding figure of Major Kirby is Robert Ryan as Captain Carl 'Griff' Griffin the second in command who argues the case of the men. Together they must get the planes aloft in harrowing close combat support of the mud marines. Can they do it without tearing each other and the marine corps apart? In Dawn Patrol the departing commander deems it poetic justice to force his second into the ultimate responsibility of leadership. What will Major Kirby do?

"Flying Leathernecks" takes an old theme, namely, a struggle between commanders and their subordinates about how to conduct a mission, but treats it rather lamely compared with other films. "Leathernecks" tries to cover too much territory in advancing the cause of air combat Marines as a documentary and establishing a personal story line within a Marine unit.

A subplot concerning one commander's over-identification with his men has resonances with "Twelve O'Clock High," but is not explored to the extent of the latter picture. Again, the result of trying to cover too much ground in one film.

Two Clark Gable pictures, "Command Decision" and "Run Silent, Run Deep," are much stronger in their depiction of such conflict. Even better still are films like "The Caine Mutiny" and "Crimson Tide."

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.

Hard-assed Marine major (John Wayne) drives his men hard. Robert Ryan is his second-in-command with a different method of leadership. It's the iron fist versus the velvet glove in this entertaining if not overly original war picture. Really nice technicolor. Lots of stock war footage. It doesn't fit seamlessly with the film footage. That's a minor issue to me but it might bother other viewers more. Wayne and Ryan are good, which should surprise no one. Great character actor Jay C. Flippen offers strong support. Pretty Janis Carter has a small part in the picture but she certainly improves the scenery. It's nothing exceptional but never dull.

Flying Leathernecks finds John Wayne in the Marines again, but this time as a commissioned officer/pilot. He has an idea about better coordination with ground troops on that lovely tropic isle of Guadalcanal and he inherits a squadron that essentially become guinea pigs to test his theory out.

He also inherits a resentful Executive Officer in Robert Ryan who keeps getting passed over for command. Ryan's a favorite with the men and he bleeds over the prospect of any of them being killed. Fine traits for a human being, but not something that works in a war situation.

As so many others have said, Flying Leathernecks has a whole lot of the elements that made Sands of Iwo Jima a critical and popular success. Wayne and Ryan work well together, possibly the political differences with both in real life lent itself to the performances of both men.

In the supporting cast you will like Jay C. Flippen as the larcenous sergeant in charge of the ground crews. Flippen provides a lot of what comic relief we have in Flying Leathernecks. Years later Flippen and Wayne worked together again after Flippen lost a leg to diabetes. Wayne gave him a small part in The Hellfighters to help him with medical expenses. Wayne did that on numerous occasions when he later produced films himself or had a say in casting. He wasn't about hand outs, but he always was ready to help an ill colleague with a pay day that did not rob folks of dignity. He didn't give jobs, he hired men as he said in a later film

Not the best stuff technically speaking for the air sequences. That Howard Hughes put in Jet Pilot with unfortunately a ridiculous story to go with it, not anything like the Flying Leathernecks story which admittedly is average at best.

Still it's far from the worst or best work John Wayne ever did.

Good slice of how the Marine flyers used to do things in WW 2 Guadacanal from the young officers to the high ranking ones and the problems they faced.Nothing spectacular here but nothing done wrong either.Great for Wayne fans......

Major Dan Kirby {John Wayne} is a tough no nonsense leader, he takes control of his new unit, the Wildcats Squadron, and from the outset they find him overly harsh. They were hoping that the more amiable Captain Carl Griffin {Robert Ryan} was to lead them, and as the war rages both Kirby & Griffin find themselves at odds with each other, but as the battle of Guadalcanal looms, this unit must come together or face the consequences.

The Flying Leathernecks has its problems for sure, the production is poor and the inter cutting of real footage is overkilled to the maximum. However the acting is very good and its tale of men under pressure trying to do the right thing is highly engrossing. The aerial sequences have the desired effect, and the horrors of war are fully realised, but ultimately what makes The Flying Leathernecks a worthy picture is the portrayal of the two lead characters by Wayne & Ryan, how the two men do what it takes to give their squadron the best chance of surviving, both Wayne & Ryan shine and put much gravitas to the picture. As a character study it isn't as good as something like Twelve O'Clock High, but it's a very involving picture that deserves to be considered a worthwhile entry to the sub-genre of psychological war films. 7/10

My perspective when I review this movie is quite a bit different from the average person because I have always loved films about aviation and I know WWII aircraft very well. So while I'll see inaccuracy after inaccuracy (beyond just the ones noted in the IMDb section on Goofs), the average person might not notice most of these mistakes--though some are so glaring that they are easy for anyone to spot. And the reason for all these mistakes is that although the script was pretty good as well as the acting, the powers that be at RKO just didn't seem to care and slapped on more grainy WWII stock footage than I have seen in any film, except perhaps MIDWAY. Both films had decent actors and budgets but to pay for this expensive talent, they only shot about half a film and then padded the rest with horribly inaccurate footage taken during the war.

Aside from being very, very grainy, other footage problems abounded. While most of the film the marines were flying Hellcat fighters, when John Wayne is talking to his young son, they are referred to as Wildcats. In reality, during Gaudalcanal, the marines were mostly flying the older and less capable Wildcat plus whatever else they could scrounge together and the insignias on the plane were quite different. Plus they could NOT have flown the Hellcat because it did not appear in action until September, 1943--about six months after the Battle of Guadalcanal concluded.

Other errors were due more to sloppy editing. For example, in flight, during the Guadalcanal campaign in the film, several Hellcat fighter planes became the larger and quite different looking Helldiver bombers (which didn't come into the war until nine months after Gaudalcanal). In another scene, the Hellfighters are attacking ships and it changes from day to night and back again mid-scene (just like in the Ed Wood classic, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE). And one final mistake I noticed was during one scene, a squadron of six planes lost one plane but moments later, there were six planes in the formation!

As for the rest of the film, it was pretty good. John Wayne and Robert Ryan were excellent actors and it was exciting to see them on screen. Wayne was tough but fair as the C.O. and Ryan was pretty good as the second in command who constantly questioned Wayne's tough approach to the men. However, a quibble about all this is that the marines serving under Wayne seemed incredibly whiny and complained a lot. They didn't like their C.O., but isn't that often the case? Shouldn't they have just "sucked it up" and done their jobs?! As a result of all this complaining, the marines seemed, at times, like insubordinate wimps! Plus, at times, the whole hating the C.O. thing seemed more like a cliché and plot device than anything else.

In addition to Wayne and Ryan, I also loved Jap Flippen, who appeared in tons of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart films. He provided excellent comic relief as the Sergeant that had a knack for "finding" needed supplies. One reviewer thought Flippen was a liability in the film but I liked him because his antics helped me to temporarily forget how much I hated much of the film

Unfortunately the cast was hindered by the fact that this film was a retreaded plot--being an awful lot like THE DAWN PATROL and 12 O'CLOCK HIGH. These movies were so good that you can't help but see FLYING LEATHERNECKS as a shadow of the other films. So my advice is see either versions of DAWN PATROL (1930 or 1938) or 12 O'CLOCK HIGH--they are simply better made and not filled with horribly inaccurate, sloppy and grainy footage. So overall, I would say this is a pretty good time-passer and that's about it.

One final comment--in an odd scene, Wayne returns home to his wife and son (who appeared to be about 8). As a gift, Wayne gave the little scamp a Japanese "katana" (long sword)! Talk about dangerous and inappropriate gifts! And then, the kid starts to take it out to play with it! Now THAT'S an accident waiting to happen! Maybe Wayne should have also given him a gun and taught him now to make napalm! Plus, as a pilot, how could he have gotten this wickedly cool souvenir?!

This technicolor feast isn't much more than a soap for men, but especially lamentable are the continuity problems director Ray had with anything military. He clearly doesn't know a Hellcat from the Hindenburg as his aerial sequences at Guadalcanal feature badly matched combat footage from Europe (look for the Thunderbolts) in front of live action cockpits of Marines flying Hellcats and Japanese flying Hellcats painted a different color. Other shots do throw in a few Texans subbing for Zeroes (a pleasant improvement) but all the shots jump around so much and are so unrealistic that the overall effect is disorienting and more than a little dishonorable to the brave lads who survived the Canal.

The director and star of 'On Dangerous Ground' join forces with the writer and star of 'Big Jim McLain' under the eye of Howard Hughes; thus ensuring plenty of footage of planes in flight and combat (as well as some remarkably graphic colour footage of Guadalcanal).

Meanwhile back down on the ground easy-going second-in-command Robert Ryan (SPOILER COMING:) learns grudging respect for abrasive disciplinarian John Wayne.