Back in 1951, John Wayne starred in the World War 2 action movie Flying Leathernecks, which celebrates its 73rd anniversary this week.
Bankrolled by billionaire pilot Howard Hughes, the eccentric businessman decided to film the picture in Technicolour, using the colour wartime combat footage.
The film follows the adventures of the US Marine Corps aviators who had long had the nickname leathernecks, as the Marines would originally wear leather stock around their necks.
Allegedly, director Nicholas Ray chose Robert Ryan to star opposite Duke as he’d been a boxer in college and was the only actor the filmmaker could think of who could “kick Wayne’s ass”.
As a conservative Republican Wayne had hugely different political views to Ryan who, although he served in the military, was a pacifist. He’d also been a member of the short-lived Committee for the First Amendment during the Communist witch hunts of the House Committee on Un-American Activities over the previous years.
Although the pair managed to put aside their differences during the Flying Leathernecks shoot, Ryan was appalled by Duke’s support for the Hollywood blacklisting. He was also gobsmacked at Wayne’s support for extending the Korean War by launching nuclear strikes on Chinese cities and using the US military to force the Soviets out of Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile, there was almost a disastrous set of deaths on set that were narrowly avoided.
During filming on Flying Leathernecks, Air Boss Paul Mantz and his photo crew were shooting a low-altitude attack when they suffered a premature dynamite detonation. Their B-25 camera platform was badly damaged, but Mantz managed an emergency landing successfully. Talk about a close shave.
