"The Flying Leathernecks"

JimBob55 · Post by **JimBob55** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:36 pm

I just saw the old movie "The Flying Leathernecks" (1951). It was a passable movie, but had some great aircraft footage. They used Hellcats in place of Wildcats (representing the Guadalcanal operation), but the movie's Hellcats were great to watch. You could see the painted out Navy Reserve markings on the movie's Hellcats. The Japanese are shown in Hellcat cockpits throughout the movie. Later in the movie, there is good footage of Corsairs, which was historically accurate for the Marines in the Pacific. Good focus on the need for ground support mission. Howard Hughes bankrolled this film, and he was apparently able to use a bunch of Navy Reserve Hellcats and Corsairs for the film.

Also much good actual war footage, both ground and air-to-air. They mix up the A/C, though, like showing contemporay footage of Helldivers instead of the Corsairs being represented at that point in the movie. But still, I'd highly recommend it to watch, particularly those interested in Navy/Marine planes of the Pacific theater.

Here's a link to one description of the movie:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flying_leathernecks/

JimBob

Emil Frand · Post by **Emil Frand** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:33 pm

Im thinking they used Wildcats painted off white for the Japanese planes in that movie.

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:31 pm

Was that the John Wayne film? Interesting story, but when the Japanese show up flying white hellcats I was turned off... However, in the same period was also the film "The Bridges of Toko Ri," which though somewhat of a navy propaganda film and taking place in the Korean war, was an excellent film accuracy-wise.

JimBob55 · Post by **JimBob55** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Yes, it was the John Wayne movie. The movie itself wasn't great for acting, etc, and the aircraft portrayed were not accurate until they got to the Corsairs. But I found it still fun to watch. Based upon when the movie was done, there were a bunch of Hellcats and Corsairs still in the Navy Reserves that they were able to round up.

BTW, I remember the movie "Bridges At Toko-Ri"... great movie with William Holden and Grace Kelly.

JimBob