'Flying Leathernecks' illustrates the problems of leadership...
Major Dan Kirby (John Wayne) is commander of a Marine Corps fighting unit sent to Guadalcanal to give support to the ground troops... He is short of planes and pilots, and drives his men to the point of complete breakdown...
The executive officer, Griff (Robert Ryan) objects to Kirby's hard treatment of the men, but he lets his human feelings cloud his judgment... For a soldier that is bad... Kirby is recalled to the States to train pilots in his new low-level attack technique, and before leaving he informs Griff that he does not consider him fit to command... He hasn't yet got the guts to lead...
When they are reunited later, the hostility between them is intense... An emergency arises, and there is a scramble to get into the air to intercept a formation of Japanese bombers...
In the air, Griff's brother-in-law develops engine trouble, turns back and suddenly finds Japanese fighters on his tail... He radios for help... It is Griff's decision... Reluctantly, he commands his men to proceed... They are not to turn back...
Ray was a dynamic, socially conscious director with a keen visual sense and a gift for attaining fluid motion on the screen... He was more comfortable with the darker shadings of 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Johnny Guitar,' but he gets fine performances from his stars...
Wayne's strict discipline play well against Ryan's angry intensity, even if everyone in the audience understands that they're going to wind up on the same side by the end of the film...
The air combats shots are impressive but Ray never really puts the viewer in the airplane the way the best flying films do... Nothing here comes close to John Guillermin's 'The Blue Max', 1966 or even Howard Hughes' 'Hell's Angels', 1930.
Major Dan Kirby (John Wayne) is commander of a Marine Corps fighting unit sent to Guadalcanal to give support to the ground troops... He is short of planes and pilots, and drives his men to the point of complete breakdown...
The executive officer, Griff (Robert Ryan) objects to Kirby's hard treatment of the men, but he lets his human feelings cloud his judgment... For a soldier that is bad... Kirby is recalled to the States to train pilots in his new low-level attack technique, and before leaving he informs Griff that he does not consider him fit to command... He hasn't yet got the guts to lead...
When they are reunited later, the hostility between them is intense... An emergency arises, and there is a scramble to get into the air to intercept a formation of Japanese bombers...
In the air, Griff's brother-in-law develops engine trouble, turns back and suddenly finds Japanese fighters on his tail... He radios for help... It is Griff's decision... Reluctantly, he commands his men to proceed... They are not to turn back...
Ray was a dynamic, socially conscious director with a keen visual sense and a gift for attaining fluid motion on the screen... He was more comfortable with the darker shadings of 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Johnny Guitar,' but he gets fine performances from his stars...
Wayne's strict discipline play well against Ryan's angry intensity, even if everyone in the audience understands that they're going to wind up on the same side by the end of the film...
The air combats shots are impressive but Ray never really puts the viewer in the airplane the way the best flying films do... Nothing here comes close to John Guillermin's 'The Blue Max', 1966 or even Howard Hughes' 'Hell's Angels', 1930.