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.
utgard14
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.
disdressed12
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
Don Rogers
Made only two years later, this plays like a pale (albeit colorized) remake of Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Not only does it have the same star (Wayne) playing essentially the same tough-as-nails Marine sergeant character, it also has the same screenwriter (James Edward Grant).Though this film was directed by Nicholas Ray, it has none of his characteristic directorial excesses. It feels much more like a (lesser) Howard Hawks film. The use of color in the battle sequences must have seemed to 1951 audiences like a step forward in gory realism, but they are not that impressive by today's standard.The film benefits from a very good second-lead performance by Robert Ryan, who plays the more humane foil to Wayne's hard-bitten taskmaster. On the other hand, Jay C. Flippen more than exhausts his welcome as the stock comedy relief.An OK Duke/WW2 picture -- worth seeing once. But by all means, see Sands of Iwo Jima and They Were Expendable first.
AD
