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The Wings of Eagles (1957) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   1,254 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 10% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John Ford
Writers:
Frank Fenton (screenplay) and
William Wister Haines (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Wings of Eagles on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
22 February 1957 (USA) more
Genre:
Biography | Drama | War more
Tagline:
What A Guy Wayne ! more
Plot:
A biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead. | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
Touches Me more (22 total)

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
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
110 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System) | Perspecta Stereo
Certification:
Argentina:Atp | West Germany:12 (nf) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | USA:Approved (PCA #18317) | Sweden:15
Company:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The character of John Dodge was a fictional version of John Ford. Many of the props in Dodge's office - the Oscars, the pipe, the hollow cane - were borrowed from Ford. more
Goofs:
Continuity: In the first scene where Lieutenant Junior Grade Wead is flying with Captain Hazzard, on the ground Captain Hazzard is in the front seat, but in the air Wead is in the front seat. more
Quotes:
'Jughead' Carson: [the General has just given him some whiskey for Spig] Well, thank you sir!
'Jughead' Carson: [he chugs it and throws it behind the mirror] They can make better booze in a bathtub!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) more
Soundtrack:
Song of the Islands more

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User Comments

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful.
Touches Me, 28 July 2002
Author: dmombit from Memphis, TN, USA

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

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