Flying Tigers (1942)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

David Miller

Writers:

Kenneth Gamet (screenplay) &
Barry Trivers (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 October 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War | Romance

Tagline:

NUNCA COMO HASTA AHORA SE FILMO LA GUERRA EL EL AIRE TAN CRUENTA, TAN REAL, TAN VIOLENTA! (original Argentine poster - all caps)

Plot:

The Flying Tigers are a band of American Mercenaries called upon by China to help fight the Japanese two years before Pearl Harbour

Plot Keywords:

China | Pilot | American | Japanese | Flying Tiger

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

John Wayne	...	Capt. Jim Gordon
John Carroll	...	Woodrow 'Woody' Jason
Anna Lee	...	Brooke Elliott
Paul Kelly	...	Hap Smith - Pilot
Gordon Jones	...	'Alabama' Smith
Mae Clarke	...	Verna Bales
Addison Richards	...	Col. R.T. Lindsay
Edmund MacDonald	...	'Blackie' Bales - Pilot
Bill Shirley	...	Dale
Tom Neal	...	Reardon - Pilot
Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart	...	McCurdy - Pilot (as Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart)
David Bruce	...	Lt. Barton - Pilot
Chester Gan	...	Mike - Mechanic
Jimmie Dodd	...	'Mac' McIntosh - Pilot (as James Dodd)
Gregg Barton	...	'Tex' Norton - Pilot

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8468) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Co., Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

No scene of the interior of the airplane could be shown for security reasons. The instrument boards shown were fake.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The AVG did not engage in any combat prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their first combat mission against the Japanese was December 20, 1941.

Quotes:

Woody Jason: [as he charges outside during an air raid] C'mon, everybody! The bank's open!
Woody Jason: [minutes later, after he grabs an unarmed and radio-less fighter to join the battle... even after Jim has told him to wait until he gets combat training] Get your checkbook out, General.
[He's about to shoot down some Japanese, or so he thinks]
Woody Jason: [after getting winged by a Japanese bomber and making a forced landing, right into a tree] ... Well, I walked away from THAT one!
Another Pilot: Yeah... A few more landings like THAT, and you'll be a Japanese ace!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Raggedy Man (1981)

Soundtrack:

That Old Feeling

Tigers Opted Out

Several friends of mine flew with the AVG. One of them who attended the premiere (c. October '42) recalls that he and a couple other Tigers were so embarrassed by the film that they were caught sneaking out of the theater.

However, the loathing of John Wayne contained in other reviews on this site demonstrates a total lack of objectivity. Wayne was 35 at the time of Pearl Harbor, and not even his friendship with then-Cdr. John Ford could get him accepted for military service. (according to one bio, his distinctive walk resulted from a football injury.) On one tour of the Pacific, Wayne got dead drunk with some fighter pilots in New Guinea. They placed his inert form on a cot and carried it into the middle of the compound and allowed him to awake with a hangover: stark naked. He rolled over and went back to sleep...

Whatever anybody thinks of Wayne or the Vietnam War, he was still visiting troops in-country at age 63.