The Wings of Eagles (1957)

A biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Read.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Frank Fenton (screenplay), William Wister Haines (screenplay)

Stars:

John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Dan Dailey

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Wayne	...	Frank W. 'Spig' Wead
Dan Dailey	...	'Jughead' Carson
Maureen O'Hara	...	Min Wead
Ward Bond	...	John Dodge
Ken Curtis	...	John Dale Price
Edmund Lowe	...	Adm. Moffett
Kenneth Tobey	...	Capt. Herbert Allen Hazard
James Todd	...	Jack Travis
Barry Kelley	...	Capt. Jock Clark
Sig Ruman	...	Manager
Henry O'Neill	...	Capt. Spear
Willis Bouchey	...	Barton
Dorothy Jordan	...	Rose Brentmann

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

flying | u.s. navy | world war two | jet fighter | based on true story | 

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Taglines:

WAYNE AS YOU WANT HIM...Reckless, Devil-May-Care -- as "Spig" Wead, Navy Flyer!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alas de águila

Filming Locations:

Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,644,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,300,000, 31 December 1957

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,650,000, 31 December 1957

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) Perspecta Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frank and Min's infant son is buried at St. Michaels Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida. According to the state's death records, he died on Feb. 28, 1920, just a little over two weeks after his first birthday.

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Goofs

Spig Wead was not transferred off the carrier at sea as shown at the end of the film. He actually remained aboard USS Essex until it docked at NAS Alameda in San Francisco Bay. He was given his official send off on the pier alongside Essex.

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Quotes

Min Wead: I'm not going
Frank W. 'Spig' Wead: Stay broke and keep moving, that's the story of our lives.
Min Wead: Spig, you've got two daughters and they've lived in seven different houses and seven seven states and seven different years back and forth across the country and out of it, too. Well, I'm just not going to move them anymore.
Frank W. 'Spig' Wead: Well, have a drink

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Connections

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

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Soundtracks

Anchors Aweigh
(uncredited)
Music by Charles A. Zimmerman, lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles and George D. Lottman
Used as a theme throughout the film

User Reviews

Touches Me

I have two fav John Wayne movies and this is one of them. The other is "McLintock!"

Today is the first time I've seen "Wings of Eagles, The" for years and years. Probably because it's always been such an emotional movie for me. I always cry at the ending...most likely because the very thing Spig Wead wanted seemed to elude him. Perhaps because his desire was never really clearly defined, even to him.

As I sat watching it, I got the bright idea of looking it up in the "IMDB" movie database. I was curious about the writing that Wead did and also the timeline. I came across a couple of reviews and decided to add my two sense (sic) worth.

I realized today that the things I like about the movie were partially the things that one of the other reviewers didn't. I LIKE the way Wead's story is presented. It isn't neat and orderly. No cheating endings or story movement. It seems like he was very self-involved and dealt better with other men than with his wife. I suspect that both Spig and Min were trapped by their societal roles in a way that many others were at that time. They did't have that same open way of spilling their guts that we've all embraced in today's world.

Men were men and women...weren't! LOL!

Anyway, I was always crazy about John Wayne and had such a crush on him whenever he'd appear in Navy whites. Something about that craggy face and those blue eyes grabbed me every time. Plus, I share his birthday so that made him extra kewl in my eyes.

Ford was wise NOT to turn this into a typical John "Hero" Wayne vehicle. That was probably why they worked so well together in all of those films. He was no more snowed by Wayne's larger than life personna than Wayne was of Ford's. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when those two were goin' at it.

Although Wayne was fiftyish when he did this film, I think he displayed a good youthful Wead as well as the somewhat more mature one. A better, more subtle acting job than the other reviewer gave him credit for doing.

Time for Spig to bite it so I'm off now...

dmombit