John Wayne obtained a chance few actors have loved when he performed one in all his personal real-life buddies in The Wings of Eagles. Launched in 1957, the John Ford-directed film is a lesser-known collaboration between John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, in addition to the third of 5 films the 2 stars made collectively.
After starring in two John Ford films (The Quiet Man and Rio Grande), Wayne and O’Hara rejoined the director for The Wings of Eagles, a army biopic that noticed the pair step into the roles of Frank “Spig” Wead and his spouse, Min. Based mostly on a real story, the film dove into the life story of Frank Wead, a U.S. Navy pilot famous for the half he performed in getting the army department to develop its energy within the air.
Though it isn’t made apparent within the movie itself, John Wayne truly knew the real-life Frank Wead earlier than his demise in 1947. In truth, their relationship stemmed from a interval of the aviator’s life that was explored within the film, which was his time in Hollywood.
How John Wayne Knew The Actual-Life Model Of His Character In The Wings Of Eagles
Not solely did Wead boast a powerful army profession, however he was additionally a well-respected screenwriter. Between his first and second stints with the Navy, Wead labored in Hollywood, the place he wrote scripts for a number of late Nineteen Thirties and early Forties films. One such movie was They Had been Expendable, a naval battle film that starred John Wayne.
In keeping with Historycollection.com, John Wayne got here to know Frank Wead in the course of the making of They Had been Expendable. Having met and spoken with Wead instantly influenced John Wayne’s portrayal of him in The Wings of Eagles, because it allowed him to repeat the mannerisms he had witnessed personally.
Realizing Frank Wead Made Enjoying Him A Greater Problem For John Wayne
Made 10 years after Wead’s demise, The Wings of Eagles was crafted deliberately as a tribute to the aviator. These concerned with the venture, together with John Wayne and significantly John Ford, needed The Wings of Eagles to be an correct adaptation of his life story. Apparently, Ford and Wead had been shut buddies.
Michael Mann’s John Wayne biography, John Wayne: The Man Behind The Fable, recounted a comment from one of many film’s solid members, Ken Curtis, who stated that it was a movie Ford “actually needed to make.”
In truth, John Wayne’s fondness for Wead is why he was solid within the first place. Within the ebook, it is acknowledged that it was a precedence to John Ford that the actor who performed Wead be somebody who cherished him as a lot because the director did. And it was that reasoning that led him to solid Wayne within the position.
Because the ebook explains, getting Wead proper was as essential to Wayne because it was to Ford. The ebook quotes Wayne as saying that Frank Wead was somebody he “thought the world of.” Finally, The Wings of Eagles was his and Ford’s method of telling his story to the general public.
Dan Dailey, one other actor in The Wings Of Eagles’ solid, instructed Munn that Wayne believed that “he had an obligation to play Frank Wead with honesty and dignity.” As Dailey identified, this angle was the very purpose Wayne did one thing he had by no means carried out earlier than: for years, Wayne wore a toupee to cover his thinning hair, however saved it off in the course of the scenes the place he performed an getting old Frank Wead.
The Wings Of Eagles Is An Underrated John Wayne Traditional
It is simpler to understand The Wings of Eagles when figuring out the backstory behind it. The Wings of Eagles was criticized closely on the time of its launch, with critics hammering it for its use of comedy, which was thought-about out-of-place in a tragic, wartime biopic. However that notion misunderstands the real-life inspiration that went into John Ford’s film and Wayne’s portrayal of his pal.
Dan Dailey defended the tonal inconsistencies in The Wings of Eagles, arguing that the comedic scenes that preceded the movie’s tragic flip when Wead turns into paralyzed match with the actual occasions in his life. Its transitions from comedy to heartbreak have been in step with actuality, even when they weren’t precisely what critics and audiences could have needed.
There’s additionally the matter of what individuals anticipated from the film. Michael Munn’s ebook talked about that John Wayne himself made the case that the film was marketed as a “back-to-war image” for the actor, which was a disenguous interpretation of the purpose behind the film. This probably hindered its potential.
The Wings of Eagles was by no means a real John Wayne battle film, however a shifting, heartfelt biopic about somebody he and John Ford deeply cared about. Sadly, the film wasn’t acknowledged as such, which helps account for its disappointing 40% Rotten Tomatoes rating.