The Wings Of Eagles

An intensely personal and little-seen Ford film that serves as a biography of his close personal friend Frank W. "Spig" Wead, a career Navy man and writer who was one of the pioneers of naval aviation. Wead had written the screenplays for such aviation classics as Frank Capra's DIRIGIBLE, Howard Hawks's CEILING ZERO, Victor Fleming's TEST PILOT, King Vidor's THE CITADEL, and two Ford pictures, AIR MAIL and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. Wayne turns in one of his best performances as the naval man whose obsession with military life destroys his marriage, family, and health. The film begins just after WW I as Wayne and his men try to prove to the Navy the value of seaplanes i...