The one part of this that I didn't like were the weird, blatant errors in the terrain below the planes. They're flying over the Pacific. Cut to John. He radios something. Shot of Other plane: it's now over Hawaii. Cut to Japanese plane-real footage of Midway or whatever over the Sea. Cut to American planes--they're over California mtns and deserts(Camp Pendleton again?!). And so on, allll thru the movie.
Oh well you take the good w/ the bad. The plot is simple-Duke leads a squadron of Marine Pilots in WWII in the Pacific, Robert Ryan is his second in command and has been there along time, he and Wayne clash, guys die in their missions, lotsa combat stock footage is used, there is a domestic interlude, then back to the War and more death.
The use of stock combat footage is quite amazing considering how graphic it is and how long ago this was made. I applaud director Ray for using it. I liked some of the familiar faces here-Don Taylor, Flippen, etc-and the performances of both Ryan and Duke are just fine.
This movie isn't anything you haven't seen before, but it does what it sets out to do rather well, if not spectacularily.
*** outta ****
Oh well you take the good w/ the bad. The plot is simple-Duke leads a squadron of Marine Pilots in WWII in the Pacific, Robert Ryan is his second in command and has been there along time, he and Wayne clash, guys die in their missions, lotsa combat stock footage is used, there is a domestic interlude, then back to the War and more death.
The use of stock combat footage is quite amazing considering how graphic it is and how long ago this was made. I applaud director Ray for using it. I liked some of the familiar faces here-Don Taylor, Flippen, etc-and the performances of both Ryan and Duke are just fine.
This movie isn't anything you haven't seen before, but it does what it sets out to do rather well, if not spectacularily.
*** outta ****