| Complete credited cast: | |||
| John Wayne | ... | ||
| Dan Dailey | ... |
'Jughead' Carson
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| Maureen O'Hara | ... |
Min Wead
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| Ward Bond | ... | ||
| Ken Curtis | ... |
John Dale Price
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| Edmund Lowe | ... |
Adm. Moffett
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| Kenneth Tobey | ... |
Capt. Herbert Allen Hazard
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James Todd | ... |
Jack Travis
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Barry Kelley | ... |
Capt. Jock Clark
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Sig Ruman | ... |
Manager
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Henry O'Neill | ... |
Capt. Spear
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| Willis Bouchey | ... |
Barton
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| Dorothy Jordan | ... |
Rose Brentmann
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U.S. Navy pilot Frank 'Spig' Wead is a fun-loving and rowdy adventurer, but also a fierce proponent of Naval aviation. His dedication to the promotion of the Navy's flying program is so intense that his marriage and family life suffer. When an accident paralyzes him, Spig finds a new means of expressing his love of flying: screenwriting. Successful and acclaimed, he finds the U.S. entry into World War II to be an irresistible call. Pleading that he be reinstated in the Navy despite his paralysis, Spig finds he has an enormous contribution yet to make. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
I just caught this on TCM. It's a stretch in acting for Wayne, I think. He rarely did characters with flaws, either physical or mental.But he does a great job.
Did anyone catch a wonderful comment made by Wayne while he and the naval staff were watching films of the carriers being bombed? Wayne is commenting that the solution to the Navy's problem is obvious, but it is eluding him. There is some banter about how to get your thinking going when it's at a standstill. That is, how to get into action when things seem unworkable. Wayne comments, "In Hollywood we'd stop and look around and here's the 7th cavalry coming." All things considered, I thought it a great comment!