The Wings of Eagles

source: The Wings of Eagles

I just caught this on TCM. It's a stretch in acting for Wayne, I think. He rarely did characters with flaws, either physical or mental.But he does a great job. Did anyone catch a wonderful comment made by Wayne while he and the naval staff were watching films of the carriers being bombed? Wayne is commenting that the solution to the Navy's problem is obvious, but it is eluding him. There is some banter about how to get your thinking going when it's at a standstill. That is, how to get into action when things seem unworkable. Wayne comments, "In Hollywood we'd stop and look around and here's the 7th cavalry coming." All things considered, I thought it a great comment!

This movie surprised me when I first saw it-I wondered where had it been? This movie is just flat out terrific, Wayne, O'Hara, all the supporting cast members, the story, the fact it's true(based on a true story), and that John Wayne is human make for a 9 in my book. (I give The Shootist a 10, as the best John Wayne western.) This is also a great love story, between Wayne and O'Hara-which is more realistic than most of these "guys in war" stories. Also, a tip of the hat to the part of the story dealing with nerve injuries and rehab, and the backdrop of America's unpreparedness in air power post-WW I, think about Billy Mitchell while you're watching this movie. Must see for Wayne, O'Hara, or John Ford fans.

John Wayne plays Spig Wead, credited with starting the Navy flying program, and Maureen O'Hara plays his long suffering wife. My husband loves this film, but neither Wayne nor O'Hara seem to have been trying to act in it. They really just walk through their performances. It's worth seeing for the aerial sequences, and if you like war movies. It's got a lot of the John Ford acting company in it, but Ford must have been sick during the direction of it. There is no spirit in this film; compare it to "The Quiet Man" and this film falls flat on its face. The only good scenes have Ward Bond in them, when he plays a film director named "John Dodge"; he does a wonderfully hammy impression of John Ford.

I feel like I'm missing something...Spig sacrifices his personal life with that bad-ass Maureen O'Hara because of his sense of duty to the Navy. Maureen is smoking all the time because she's frustrated. His daughters are these barely - seen cutie pies. His real love affairs are with the Navy, and by extension with his colleagues. Dan Dailey does the kind of Ford extension of the Walter Brennan surrogate wife thing. And plays the hell out of the Ukelele. Ward Bond does a cool John Ford impression. The Army vs. Navy fights are that kind of usual Ford free-for-all that later becomes the subject of Donovan's Reef. They're very stylized but not particularly compelling. Some people put this one up with Ford's best. Why?

Historically inaccurate, clichéd, and quite silly at times. The movie starts in an almost farcical way, showing the hero as a lovable larrikin and defier of authority. It gets worse from there (and I didn't think that was possible at the time), as the next few scenes mainly involve silly punch-ups. At this point the movie looked like it was meant to be a slapstick comedy, and a very bad one at that. From a point, however, it loses the silliness and becomes a drama. Some scenes are quite emotional and engaging but many feel trite and clichéd. The WW2 stuff contains a host of historical inaccuracies. Things occur in the wrong chronological order and this part just seems very sloppily done. This is all despite the producers having some great WW2 footage at their disposal, and the help of the US Navy. I mainly watched this because it starred John Wayne. He does fine in the lead role, but is miscast. He is far too old for the character he is playing. Considering this movie was made long after WW2 had ended, so isn't a propaganda movie, and considering how little known Commander Wead is in terms of military history, I'm not really sure why this movie was made.

Frank "Spig" Wead's life story, as directed by real-life friend John Ford, starring John Wayne as the hot-shot aviation expert who transforms the U.S. Navy in the 1920s with his piloting prowess, rivaling (but not alienating) the Army in aviation power; later, after suffering a spinal cord injury and a separation from his wife and children, Wead discovers an untapped talent for writing, becoming a successful screenwriter and playwright! Ford bounces jovially from aerial slapstick to human drama to personal tragedy to wartime chaos, and, despite some bumps, keeps this biography lively and colorful. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, both of whom toss cigarettes and matches away with abandon, are reassuring as husband and wife, and though O'Hara's initial exit is perplexing, Ford's handling of the narrative doesn't jar us with unresolved feelings. The third act during WWII is just a jumble of patriotic scenes, but Wayne's expression at the finale is surprisingly genuine. He and Ford do Wead's incredible story justice. **1/2 from ****

John Ford remarked that Wings of Eagles was the last really good film he directed and though I disagree with that, Wings of Eagles does rank as one of his and John Wayne's best films. It's a loving tribute to a great American hero and friend of theirs, Frank W. "Spig" Wead. Wead was an early Navy flier who sustained a broken back during a fall down a flight of stairs in his home. Washed out of the Navy, Wead turned to writing and became a noted screenwriter on mostly military subjects. For John Ford he did the screenplays for his films Airmail and They Were Expendable. After Pearl Harbor Wead applied for and got active duty though he was desk bound at first. And eventually he did get to the Pacific Theater and served on one of the carriers he fought so valiantly for in and out of uniform. Wayne gives one of his best screen performances and he's equally matched by Maureen O'Hara as his wife and Dan Dailey as his good friend who sees him through the paralysis and eventual recovery. There's no happy ending here for the Duke and Maureen, unlike Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. Spig is a flawed human being, as dedicated to partying and carousing as he is to the Navy and Naval Aviation. The carousing gives John Ford an opportunity to do some of the rough house comedy his films are known for. As for Maureen who has to deal with the death of one child and the raising of two daughters, it does become too much for her. O'Hara is not given enough credit for her performance in Wings of Eagles. She calls him, "Star Spangled Spig" but from a term of derision it becomes one of admiration. Wings of Eagles proved to be the last film for character actor Henry O'Neill who plays one of Wead's Navy doctors. And it is the last film that Ward Bond did for John Ford and the last film the trio of Ford, Wayne and Bond worked together on. They did an episode on Bond's Wagon Train series which he was starting right after the shooting of Wings of Eagles. The episode aired right after Bond died in 1960. And wouldn't you know it. Bond's role was as director John Dodge which in fact was John Ford. Rather unique in the annals of Hollywood that a noted director had a broad characterization of himself in his own film. Was this how John Ford saw himself? As long as America produces men and women like Spig Wead this country will endure. And hopefully films about them will be made to record their deeds and courage.

I, am retired US Navy, from a Navy family. I am also a naval history buff. I can watch this movie time and time again. I have seen some errors in the cinematography over the years. 1. In the scene where Spig and Jughead give each other the thumbs up. See if you can find it. 2. When Spig attends the accident board for loosing his aircraft, he is standing at attention holding his hat. The hat is missing the gold band. Dialog When Spig arrives at the ship, he refers to: being back with "Joc, and the ole Doc". The ole doc I assume refers to the senior medical officer at San Diego. who never appears again after the hospital scenes. Joc, is the CO of the Carrier, but I cannot find him in any scenes prior to the pier side scene at the ship.

Really quite boring story that drags on. An air force guy who ignores his family and gets to drink beer and party with his mates, while having an exciting career and being appreciated (while he treats his wife like dirt and she is not appreciated at home)is the main character. Typical of the era when men just moved on when they got tired of the "little wife" complaining at home and the kids who were ignored and mainly raised by mothers. Reflective of Mr Wayne's own home life where he left his wife for a younger version and had new younger children whom he appreciated more because he was older and realized he wasn't going to live forever. Sad for the first children, but great for him and the second family (who told reporters what a wonderfully attentive father he was). Anyway, this film blows.