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Flying Tigers

1942, Movie, NR, 102 mins

Flying Tigers: Review

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This was Republic's salute to the all-American Volunteer Group flying for China and Chiang Kai-Shek under the command of Gen. Claire Chennault long before Pearl Harbor. These men were both patriotic and mercenary, receiving $500 for every Japanese plane shot down. John Wayne is Jim Gordon, the leader of one squadron of carefree pilots, backed up by Hap Davis (Paul Kelly), his tireless second-in-command, a weary veteran whose eyesight is failing. New recruit Woody Jason (John Carroll), a wisecracking nonconformist, arrives on the scene, disobeys orders, and creates dissension among the men. In the air, Woody relentlessly cuts in on the "kills" of other pilots to glean the $500 payoff, disregarding orders and jeopardizing his fellow pilots. Gordon is disgusted by Woody's behavior and eventually grounds him, but the disliked pilot is finally given a chance to redeem himself on a mission to bomb a bridge deep inside Japanese-held territory. FLYING TIGERS is wholesale propaganda with a narrative structure blatantly cribbed from Howard Hawks' ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939). (Kelly takes Thomas Mitchell's role, and Carroll assumes the part of the disgraced pilot, played by Richard Barthelmess.) This was Wayne's first war film, one that set the pattern for him as a two-fisted--but soft-hearted--combat leader. Director David Miller provides plenty of action and all the standard WW II film cliches. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Special Effects. leave a comment
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