Flying Leathernecks (1951)

Flying Leathernecks (1951) – A Marine Corps Major (John Wayne) leads a squadron of pilots into battle over Guadalcanal during the Second World War.  He will fight with one of his officers (Robert Ryan) as they train their pilots in a new style of flying during one of the most brutal battles in the Pacific.
Directed by Nicholas Ray                          Starring John Wayne, Robert Ryan

This is one of the movies I watched many times on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon that made me fall in love with motion pictures.  Forty years ago the kind of “patriotism on your sleeve” in this picture was just falling from grace.  Newer war movies were much less unquestioning about why we went to war and what we did.  This is a John Wayne movie, and it’s about being tough and not even thinking about who gets killed.

Looking at it again, all these years later, I was surprised to discover that there was more nuance here than I expected.  It is a gung-ho fan letter to Marine aviation. It’s also a pretty fair, if slightly simplistic, look at the challenges of command.  Is Wayne’s Major Kirby a cold-hearted SOB that puts unit performance ahead of the feelings of his men?  That’s certainly one way of looking at it.  The reality is that a commanding officer has to make decisions that he knows will get men killed but are required to achieve his military objectives.  It can be a cold, hard profession.  When done well, it makes sure that the largest number of troops possible make it home.  War is not a game.

It’s interesting, in a day when there is a lot o f talk about politics in the movies and actors being political, that this movie had so much politics going on during its production.  The movie company was split.  Wayne and veteran character actor Jay C. Flippen (who plays Line Chief Clancy), were outspoken conservatives who supported the Hollywood Blacklist.  Meanwhile, Ryan and director Ray were equally outspoken liberals who opposed the list.  The pro-war movie was a project of Howard Hughes, who owned RKO Pictures at the time.

The flying scenes creak along, showing their age through effects that simply no longer realistic to any degree.  There’s a lot of actual battle footage throughout the movie.  You won’t be surprised by any part of the plot, it’s pretty standard stuff.  It’s the interplay between two actors with profound differences in real life, bringing that conflict very much alive on the screen, that makes the movie.

Why You Should Watch This Movie: Wayne and Ryan carry the story and all the interest.  As a 101 level course in the challenge of command, it’s not a bad little story.

Rating – *** Worth A Look