L'aigle vole au soleil

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!

"The Wings of Eagles" starred John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara and was directed by John Ford. While not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination, the film nevertheless has some great touches that would make a viewer wish to see the film again. Wayne played Lt. Commander Frank "Spig" Wead, the man credited with getting the Navy an air wing to support its military ships, and Maureen O'Hara plays the wife that has to contend with Spig's love of country first and family second. Dan Dailey has a good role as Wead's best friend in the military, while other members of the John Ford company of players contribute their talents to the film. Ken Curtis shows up a good bit, and Ward Bond has a role as a film director that smacked of a caricature of John Ford. Bond plays this to the hilt, and seemed to enjoy the chance to show Ford how he came off, at times.

The scenes that were very watchable could include several fight scenes between members of the Army Air Corps and their Naval counterparts, plus a very heart rending view of Wayne's efforts to rehabilitate himself, following a fall down a flight of stairs at his house. Good, but not great, an 8/10.

Not one of Ford's best works as a director, but it's an excellent film nonetheless. It's one of the best biopics I've ever seen. The subject is Frank "Spig" Wead, a Navy man through and through who, despite all his success in the service, was never able to make much of a connection with his wife and daughters. It was a very personal story for John Ford, who was a good friend of Wead's. Wead was the screenwriter on Ford's excellent They Were Expendable (and also Air Mail, which I haven't seen). The film concentrates on the man and his relationships. John Wayne gives a downright excellent performance as Wead. Maureen O'Hara is back as his love interest, and their interactions here are marvelous. Also giving excellent performances are Ken Curtis (maybe his best role in a Ford film), Dan Dailey, and Ward Bond as the first movie producer who hires Wead. Bond's performance is in loving imitation of John Ford. The Wings of Eagles is a very touching tribute to a friend. The only problem is that it is such a personal story to Ford that the most interesting part, the relationship with the wife and kids, is not treated fully in order to make Wead look better than he probably did in real life. 8/10.

Despite the title and the time frame (and the misunderstanding of the movie by other reviewers), this is not a typical war movie. This movie is really a biography and personal study of the obsessiveness and dedication that is necessary in the technological nature of warfare today. In one respect it is too bad that the movie stars John Wayne because the expectation is that it would feature a "gung ho" performance. Instead it is an amazing acting effort by Wayne as a suffering, crippled, insensitive Navy officer and author whose vision and commitment made much of the Naval air force possible. It is an excellent performance by Wayne and almost more of a "stretch" for him than Dustin Hoffman portraying an autistic "Rainman."

The iconic director and his usual cast of players take on Naval Aviation in this look at a man who helped to advance navy aviation as John Wayne again looms on the screen bigger than life in the role of Frank "Spig" Wead, a pioneer of the navy air corps. Based on the autobiography of Wead the usual themes of adventure, patriotism and romance abound with stellar supporting roles with veteran actors like Ken Curtis, Dan Daily, and Ward Bond as a thinly veiled portrait of director Ford himself. Set against the background of World War II the film is about courage and commitment in a big way, and there really is not another actor who could have brought it to the screen with the believability that the "Duke" manages so easily. One of his finer roles.