ma-cortes Wonderfully shot Ford film with a lively look at the spirit of Navy , including glorification of military life , familiar drama , love and sentimental nostalgia with interesting character studio of a varied assortment of individuals . It's a first-rate war melodrama , including comedy , and masterfully directed by the great John Ford . It's based on the life of one of America's greatest air heroes , Frank ¨Spig¨Wead , an Air hero who wrote plays about the war . He starred some rousing exploits in the ¨Schneider Cup Air Races¨. But he suffers a home accident and is interned in ¨San Diego National Hospital¨, and despite being crippled and wheel-bound he subsequently made a substantial contribution to America's war effort in the Pacific during WWII. He was a famous aviation pioneer become Hollywood screenwriter and one of them was ¨They were expendable (1945) ¨ directed by the same Ford and also with Wayne in the main role . This is a great and stolid drama, a John Ford's lusty realization and marvelously constructed. This classic picture ranks as one of the best of John Ford's work. It contains Ford's usual themes as familiar feeling , a little bit enjoyable humor, friendship and and sense of comradeship among people . Multiple highlights as the fights between Air and Army soldiers and of course the sensible final farewell on the carrier . Interesting screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface is written by Frank Fenton, John Ford's habitual, and based on the life and writings of Commander Frank W. 'Spig' Wead . This excellent film featuring a magnificent performance by whole casting . Awesome John Wayne in a larger-than-life character . Enticing and intimate Maureen O'Hara in a sensible role with sensational acting . Excellent co-starring cast as War Bond as John Ford-alter ego, including pipe-smoking and hat . In the film appears , as usual , Ford's favourite actors as Ken Curtis , Mae Marsh , Kenneth Tobey, Willis Bouchey, Jack Pennick , some of them are uncredited . Good cinematography by Paul Voguel and jingoist musical score by Jeff Alexander. Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .

RanchoTuVu This bio-pic about the naval aviation proponent and writer Frank "Spig" Wead may have one sitting on the fence for a moment or two at the beginning, not sure whether or not to stay with it, but there's a magic that slowly casts its spell, with the Metrocolor and a great opening set in Pensacola, Florida in the 20's, and John Wayne as "Spig" Wead commandeering a pontoon plane and crashing it right into a big party for southern belles and military brass. And the rest of the film does its best not to let the opening down. For a John Ford-John Wayne collaboration that maybe not that many people have ever even heard of, this film is a true surprise, not only looking fantastic with the sets and color, but featuring great acting from Wayne in a very different role for him. The chemistry between him and Maureen O'Hara had a few years to refine itself after "THE QUIET MAN", and here it seems even more interesting and mature, if a little less fiery.

antcol8 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?

MartinHafer The fact that I called this film "Dopey" isn't exactly a slam against the movie--really. It's more a reference to the light and silly spirit of the first half of the film where John Wayne and Dan Dailey act a little more like frat boys than navy fliers. This aspect of the movie was not my favorite part, I admit, but it was still a lot of fun. Once 'Spig' Wead (Wayne) is nearly killed in an accident and is so badly hurt that his flying days are over, the movie seemed a lot more like a real-life version of the life of this actual person who served in the US Navy and was a consultant to Hollywood. However, the only negative I have is about Wead's life. If his marital difficulties were as they were described in the movie, it was a bit of a downer and made connecting to his character a little difficult for me. While he was a brave and dedicated man, any guy who'd give up his wife that easily seems nuts. Plus, it just seemed wrong for Wayne and O'Hara NOT to be together. Too bad they couldn't, for once, change his life to make a better movie (after all, they did this in Errol Flynn movies all the time!).