My perspective when I review this movie is quite a bit different from the average person because I have always loved films about aviation and I know WWII aircraft very well. So while I'll see inaccuracy after inaccuracy (beyond just the ones noted in the IMDb section on Goofs),the average person might not notice most of these mistakes--though some are so glaring that they are easy for anyone to spot. And the reason for all these mistakes is that although the script was pretty good as well as the acting, the powers that be at RKO just didn't seem to care and slapped on more grainy WWII stock footage than I have seen in any film, except perhaps MIDWAY. Both films had decent actors and budgets but to pay for this expensive talent, they only shot about half a film and then padded the rest with horribly inaccurate footage taken during the war.

Aside from being very, very grainy, other footage problems abounded. While most of the film the marines were flying Hellcat fighters, when John Wayne is talking to his young son, they are referred to as Wildcats. In reality, during Gaudalcanal, the marines were mostly flying the older and less capable Wildcat plus whatever else they could scrounge together and the insignias on the plane were quite different. Plus they could NOT have flown the Hellcat because it did not appear in action until September, 1943--about six months after the Battle of Guadalcanal concluded.

Other errors were due more to sloppy editing. For example, in flight, during the Guadalcanal campaign in the film, several Hellcat fighter planes became the larger and quite different looking Helldiver bombers (which didn't come into the war until nine months after Gaudalcanal). In another scene, the Hellfighters are attacking ships and it changes from day to night and back again mid-scene (just like in the Ed Wood classic, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE). And one final mistake I noticed was during one scene, a squadron of six planes lost one plane but moments later, there were six planes in the formation!

As for the rest of the film, it was pretty good. John Wayne and Robert Ryan were excellent actors and it was exciting to see them on screen. Wayne was tough but fair as the C.O. and Ryan was pretty good as the second in command who constantly questioned Wayne's tough approach to the men. However, a quibble about all this is that the marines serving under Wayne seemed incredibly whiny and complained a lot. They didn't like their C.O., but isn't that often the case? Shouldn't they have just "sucked it up" and done their jobs?! As a result of all this complaining, the marines seemed, at times, like insubordinate wimps! Plus, at times, the whole hating the C.O. thing seemed more like a cliché and plot device than anything else.

In addition to Wayne and Ryan, I also loved Jap Flippen, who appeared in tons of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart films. He provided excellent comic relief as the Sergeant that had a knack for "finding" needed supplies. One reviewer thought Flippen was a liability in the film but I liked him because his antics helped me to temporarily forget how much I hated much of the film

Unfortunately the cast was hindered by the fact that this film was a retreaded plot--being an awful lot like THE DAWN PATROL and 12 O'CLOCK HIGH. These movies were so good that you can't help but see FLYING LEATHERNECKS as a shadow of the other films. So my advice is see either versions of DAWN PATROL (1930 or 1938) or 12 O'CLOCK HIGH--they are simply better made and not filled with horribly inaccurate, sloppy and grainy footage. So overall, I would say this is a pretty good time-passer and that's about it.

One final comment--in an odd scene, Wayne returns home to his wife and son (who appeared to be about 8). As a gift, Wayne gave the little scamp a Japanese "katana" (long sword)! Talk about dangerous and inappropriate gifts! And then, the kid starts to take it out to play with it! Now THAT'S an accident waiting to happen! Maybe Wayne should have also given him a gun and taught him now to make napalm! Plus, as a pilot, how could he have gotten this wickedly cool souvenir?!

Flying Leathernecks finds John Wayne in the Marines again, but this time as a commissioned officer/pilot. He has an idea about better coordination with ground troops on that lovely tropic isle of Guadalcanal and he inherits a squadron that essentially become guinea pigs to test his theory out.

He also inherits a resentful Executive Officer in Robert Ryan who keeps getting passed over for command. Ryan's a favorite with the men and he bleeds over the prospect of any of them being killed. Fine traits for a human being, but not something that works in a war situation.

As so many others have said, Flying Leathernecks has a whole lot of the elements that made Sands of Iwo Jima a critical and popular success. Wayne and Ryan work well together, possibly the political differences with both in real life lent itself to the performances of both men.

In the supporting cast you will like Jay C. Flippen as the larcenous sergeant in charge of the ground crews. Flippen provides a lot of what comic relief we have in Flying Leathernecks. Years later Flippen and Wayne worked together again after Flippen lost a leg to diabetes. Wayne gave him a small part in The Hellfighters to help him with medical expenses. Wayne did that on numerous occasions when he later produced films himself or had a say in casting. He wasn't about hand outs, but he always was ready to help an ill colleague with a pay day that did not rob folks of dignity. He didn't give jobs, he hired men as he said in a later film

Not the best stuff technically speaking for the air sequences. That Howard Hughes put in Jet Pilot with unfortunately a ridiculous story to go with it, not anything like the Flying Leathernecks story which admittedly is average at best.

Still it's far from the worst or best work John Wayne ever did.

FLYING LEATHERNECKS is an example of the typical WW2 movie starring John Wayne. This one's unusual in that it was made in vivid Technicolour, and that it has a second lead in the form of Robert Ryan, himself a leading man familiar from many film noir movies made during the era. Much of the entertainment value comes from seeing the two stars butting heads while the main story involves the battle of Guadalcanal.

I find that WW2 movies concentrating on pilots are more limited than those dealing with ground infantry; the action is invariably based around either special effects footage or, as in the case here, genuine stock footage of WW2 action. When the action's on the ground, you get up close and personal to it in a way that airborne movies lack. Still, this is acceptable enough genre fare for undemanding viewers, even if the pro-war message is wearyingly wholesome.