Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

LeonLouisRicci Standoffish Direction by the Liberal Ray, Submitting to Howard Hughes and John Wayne's Ultra-Conservative Views for Career Reasons, its assumed. WWII was over, but wait...Here comes the Korean Police Action, or Conflict, or whatever the Hell it was. So Crank Up the Propaganda Machine, pull out as much Color Stock Footage that Hughes could lay His hands on, and have at it.Robert Ryan is given enough Screen Time to at least offer some Humanistic Points, but the Power of the Production and the Script is Weighed Heavily on the Side of Hollywood's Chicken Hawk, John Wayne. In Real Life, The Duke was Never in the Military (although to be fair he did make some effort to enlist, but how sincere and forceful will never be truly known), thus Never Fired a Shot in Uniform, but that didn't stop Him from Shooting Blanks, Strutting around, and Pointing Fingers.The Movie is Filled with Flying Bravado. The inter-cutting of Real Footage and Dramatizations is not as bad as has been reported. It is Good Enough to Pass and surely Amps Up the Film to the Level of Action needed in this type of thing.Overall, Hughes and Wayne accomplished what They wanted and made a Flying Flag Waver. Worth a Watch for the Color, Aerial Scenes, and Robert Ryan Trying to make Sense of a Senseless Thing like Tribal Warfare.

georgewilliamnoble During WW2 In the Pacific war American marine pilots flying Hellcat fighters defeat the Japanese.It is always easy to view a film made six decades earlier and see it as poorly made or badly written or acted or all three as just dated. Well they make plenty of unrealistic films today but war films in particular seem to suffer from the limitations of their time and this is a case in point. While all the aviation scenes are reused combat footage and thus ultra realistic the dialogue and attitudes represented grind hard against modern views and cynicism. This is a John Wayne film first a world war two film second and is undiluted in its patriotism and heroism in the worst American way but typical of the pre-Vietnam fifties. It is worth comparing British films of the same era "The Dam Busters" for example how understated they are by contrast. However as a action war film with lots of fabulous and original combat footage it is worth a look, but the John Wayne performance and part is just pure Hollywood all death or glory and the superiority of American power and the American way.

SnoopyStyle 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.

armandomontelongo715 Flying Leathernecks is the 1951 retelling of the air effort in the Pacific and the fighting specifically on Guadalcanal. John Wayne plays Major Kirby a veteran fighter pilot from the Battle of Midway that takes command of a squadron with little combat experience. It is a character study of the effects of combat and war. It is interesting to see its impact on these pilots, particularly Robert Ryan's character, referred to usually as 'Griff.' Different from WWII pictures of the time, Flying Leathernecks depicts some of the harsh realities and casualties of war. Some of the characters that were developed throughout the film, some that you grow to like, are sadly the ones that are killed and injured in combat. However, the best part of the film is the friction of Major Kirby and Griff. Ultimately the tough an unrelenting attitude of Major Kirby is what develops Captain Griffin into a fine pilot and a man Kirby recommends becoming an officer. This movie is good, but is saddled by the era it was created in. For any John Wayne fan, it is of course a must watch.