NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Leofwine_draca FLYING TIGERS is one of those American war movies that came out while WW2 was still in full swing. I always find such pictures have a little more dramatism to them, a little more urgency in depicting a battle against a nefarious and overwhelming enemy. This film's milieu is a little different, chronicling as it does the adventures of a group of voluntary American pilots battling the Japanese in the skies over China just before Pearl Harbor.The film is low budget but effective and the lack of real plane interiors and the like is well disguised by the director's efforts. I suppose you could argue that all of these pilot films are quite similar and they are, but it's the human drama that makes them watchable. Most characters here play simply in support but John Wayne does his usual macho man stuff very well. The real star of the piece is John Carroll playing the brash young ace who undergoes an intriguing character arc and is far more complex than the trappings of the genre would have you assume. The ending is dramatic and thrilling in equal measure.

mark.waltz While the planes these American war heroes supposedly have the face and teeth of tigers painted on them, it is very apparent that they look more like sharks. As these military men of the United States protecting the Chinese from invasions of the Japanese, they are involved in combat even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. John Wayne is the jovial commander of the base, in love with nurse Anna Lee (of "General Hospital" fame) and dealing with a brash newcomer (John Carroll) whose arrogant presence is upsetting the other men. Carroll can't be described as a team player; In fact, he takes it upon himself to make his own rules without regards to the consequences. In spite of all that, Wayne remains on his side even though he's breaking a lot of rules. But when one of Wayne's men is killed (after being grounded due to issues regarding a lack of depth perception) while covering for Carroll (out on a dinner date with Lee), the Duke has had enough, and prepares to send Carroll back. Then, December 7th occurs, and the mission that they were previously on becomes more complicated.Not much different than other war stories about the Pacific, but lacking in some of the clichés that made others trite and stereotypical. Wayne is extremely likable, Lee an absolute delight, and the Chinese children she is taking care of totally adorable. Her description of the plight they went through to get through to her is very moving. Carroll's performance is a mix of arrogance, tenderness and insecurity, his cockiness obviously hiding a lack of self-esteem and ability to be part of an important team. The combat sequences are well filmed with some bloodiness thrown in to make them more realistic. This helps make the "Why We Fight" message of the film seem less obvious and results in a genuine crowd pleaser.

tmpj I got hold of a 50th Anniversary edition VHS of this movie. I dig old celluloid. This film is typical John Wayne stock of the period, though many of his scenes are stolen by John Carroll, who displays a lot of personality and gives the film a real boost. Carroll's character is introduced to the audience as a "devil may care' type, always bucking convention and discipline until...as you might expect...reality catches up with him. The Flying Tigers were a volunteer air security team stationed in China both before and during the second world war. Hostilities between Japan and China were in full sway by 1931, and the Chinese suffered many civilian casualties...especially women and children. But...not all of the volunteers were there for humanitarian reasons. Some were in it for the money, and a bounty paid for the number of Japanese planes downed by the Tigers made this an attractive means of income for some mercenary types. Woody ( Carroll) comes on-board just this way. But after a number of mis-steps...one of which costs the life of one of the members...he begins to take on a different perspective. There are the usual ups and downs of the crew in this situation...even to the point of Wayne and Woody jockeying for position with Wayne's girl, a nurse for the shelter. One tear jerking scene is where Woody gives his bounty earnings to the wife of a now dead flyer who was trying to right some past actions that had him thrown out of flying and which did not put him in good footing with the other men. Woody felt personally responsible, and made up a story that made the man's wife proud, though it did not take away the pain and grief of his loss entirely. Woody redeems himself in the end...but you will have to view the film in order to see that. In the cast are a few stalwarts of the period. Jimmie Dodd was there...he would later go on to Mickey Mouse fame and fortune. Mae Clarke was there...but no grapefruits were present. Tom Neal was also there, though "Detour" was yet several years off, along with other 'poverty row' features. This is the kind of film that is tolerable to watch, and the whole family can get in on the act, though it would be good if an adult is on-hand for the kids in order to answer questions about the "old school" way of doing things.

metaphor-2 This movie ought to have a good plot; it's shamelessly "borrowed" from the Jules Furthman/Howard Hawks 1939 classic ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS. What FLYING TIGERS lacks is any of ANGELS' snap or character chemistry. Everybody's performance feels a bit empty and wooden. Even Wayne seems to be doing the part more from memory than really feeling it. The plot holds up, for what it's worth, but the movie seems to be trying to wring some cheap emotionalism out of it, as though nobody can really get into the skin of this thing and make it real. If you can't tell the difference between real grass and Astroturf, you might like this movie a lot.