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Directed by Nicholas Ray, Flying Leathernecks leans on a strong ensemble — John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Don Taylor — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.
The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about war titles of 1951.
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After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
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