" . . . because Hap paid the check," Jim says to his girl and the guy who just paved the way for Japan's successful sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Surprisingly, some FLYING TIGERS viewers haven't put two and two together. They think they're watching a simple war flick, not realizing that this John Wayne vehicle actually is a film noir outing featuring Brooke, the deadliest Femme Fatale in recorded human history. It's clear that Jim's night patrol just before midnight, Dec. 6, 1941, was perfectly positioned to give the U.S. Pacific Fleet a heads up on TORA! TORA! TORA! But hot-to-trot Brooke lures key pilot Woody from his duty station for a night on the town, since Woody is much better looking than Wayne's Jim, her stodgy steady. As a result, visually impaired Hap dies in Woody's place, and Jim's assigned mission is cut short before it can blow the whistle on PEARL HARBOR. As John Wayne stares into the distance while socialist president FDR drones on from the radio about "Days of Infamy," you can tell that he's thinking "Some day my grandchild will drive a Lexus." FLYING TIGERS is a cynical look at war profiteering and mercenaries from beginning to end. Despite its opening on-screen tribute to "Chiang Kai-Shek," viewers soon see that Jim is musing "Just wait till my buddy Ronnie Reagan sells your world council seat to the Commies."

A very good movie to help military enrollment soon after the U.S. entered WWII. And what could possibly be wrong with a John Wayne flick? Capt. Jim Gordon(Wayne)leads an American Volunteer Group which flew for the Chinese against the Japanese...right up to that fateful day December 7, 1941. Some very graphic scenes of aerial combat blends with a little romance and comic touches. Gordon comes to odds with an old friend Woody Jason(John Carroll), who seems to need to prove his prowess in the air. Plus Woody forces himself into a relationship with the Captain's girl(Anna Lee). This ambitious war drama also stars: Paul Kelly, Mae Clarke, Gordon Jones and Jimmie Dodd. Not among the greatest of the genre, but memorable.

Many of the posts here are so filled with diatribes and inaccuracies that I had to laugh! One poster complained that the Flying Tigers actually were only flight trainers for the Chinese Air Force, and only lost three pilots in combat. At least two complained that John Wayne was a draft dodger. One stated that the Tigers were in combat two years before Pearl Harbor. One stated that the Japanese were unfairly treated as bad guys in the film. One declared that the Flying Tigers were up against a superior plane in the Japanese Zero....First off, the Flying Tigers started training in September of '41 and were disbanded in July of '42. In that roughly ten month period they shot down 286 CONFIRMED kills for the loss of 12 Flying Tigers. They were not "Chinese Air Force flight instructors!" Their kill-to-loss ratio remains one of the finest in aviation combat history. Secondly, the Tigers never encountered the Zero in Combat. Their foes were primarily J.A.A.F. pilots, and the Zero was a Navy plane. Third, the Japanese indeed DID SHOOT AT PILOTS in parachutes and in life rafts, whenever possible, because they were taught that the enemy must be killed at all costs, lest he survive to fight you another day. Fourth, the Japanese committed the most UNSPEAKABLE horrors against the Chinese people during WW II, as the book, "The Rape of Nanking" can testify to. Fifth, John Wayne was NOT a draft dodger. He had a bum ear due to an infection which rendered him physically 4-F. Sixth, the outdoor sequences of "The Flying Tigers" were not filmed in Northridge, California, but rather in the high desert area around Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the (successful) attempt to give the foliage a more "foreign" look.As to the film itself, I would suggest you go to the Fighter Museum in Phoenix, AZ, or the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH, and find out just how close the film was to reality. The Tigers WERE usually outnumbered about 8 to 1 in combat. The 3 squadrons of the Tigers DID USE outdoor facilities as shown in the film. The Tigers were indeed mercenaries, paid by the kill, as well as by the month. The Tigers WERE frequently short of spares and fuel. The Tigers DID have nicknames, like "Tex" (David Lee Hill) and "Pappy" (Gregory Boyington). The Tigers DID have a few beautiful nurses on station. (In fact one of them, Jane Foster, ended up marrying a Tiger, who was subsequently shot down and killed a week before they were to leave for the States.) Truthfully, the only real overt fiction in the film is the pre-Pearl Harbor combat, as in fact, the Tigers did not start combat operation until after Pearl Harbor, (being in training prior to that.) Why is the film so accurate? Because two guys who weren't able to cut it as Tigers decided to take the story of the Tigers to Hollywood to sell it. They were the "technical advisers" for Republic, which was able to glean much about the unit from them.Leave your politics at home and take a second look. This is actually an excellent depiction of the organization and the men, backed up with a superior special effects unit and a great score. (Both nominated for Oscars.)

I just saw Flying Tigers for the tenth or so time on AMC, and I really enjoyed it. I took me back to when I was a kid. I had a model of this airplane complete with the shark mouth (even though it was supposed to be a "tiger." I noticed that one of the other commenters was able to recognize the two different types of P-40 airplanes used in making the movie. He certainly seems to know his old fighter planes. Anyway, I am curious as to what kind of an airplane John Wayne and the other guy were flying trying to drop the nitro on the Japanese. It is a small twin-engine passenger plane but it has an unusual tail design having triple rudders and dual horizontal stabilizers. I have been Googling for hours, and I cannot find that airplane anywhere. I would appreciate any information. Thanks. --jer