Wings

The storyThe lore 📖

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.

Two besties, Jack and David, are crushing on the same girl, so naturally they both become fighter pilots in World War I ✈️. Main character energy in the clouds, fr. Meanwhile Mary, the girl next door, has lowkey liked Jack forever and he is giving NPC-level obliviousness. The war tests their friendship hard, and not every bestie makes it home 💔.

What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾

Tomatometer 94% Fresh #30 of 98 winners

IMDb 7.5 17K votes #70 of 98 winners

Metacritic 78 / 100 #67 of 93 winners

TMDB 7.2 / 10

Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍

• Kelly Field

  San Antonio, Texas

  The film was shot here over seven months, with Army Air Corps pilots flying the dogfights in Thomas-Morse MB-3s and Curtiss P-1 Hawks.

  Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming

• San Antonio

  Texas

  Wellman rehearsed 3,500 infantrymen for ten days and built a trench-and-barbed-wire battlefield on location to stage the Battle of Saint-Mihiel.

  Map ↗About this place ↗Source: Wikipedia · Filming

Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓

1. William A. Wellman got the directing job because he was the only director in Hollywood at the time who had World War I combat pilot experience.Wikipedia · Script and experience
2. Buddy Rogers' drunk scene wasn't acting: although he was 22, he had never tasted liquor before and quickly became genuinely inebriated on champagne.Wikipedia · Notable scenes
3. When financier Otto Kahn wandered onto the set and disrupted Wellman's explosion timings, injuring several extras, Wellman profanely ordered him off. That evening Kahn told Wellman he was impressed and could have whatever he needed to finish the picture.Wikipedia · Cast exploits
4. Wings remains the only silent film to win Best Picture. At the first ceremony, Sunrise's 'Unique and Artistic Production' award was considered an equal top honor, until the Academy retroactively decided Wings' award was the highest.Wikipedia · Accolades
5. For many years Wings was considered a lost film, until a print turned up in the Cinémathèque Française archive in Paris and was quickly copied from nitrate to safety film stock.Wikipedia · Legacy
6. Gary Cooper's small role as Cadet White helped launch his Hollywood career, and he began a tumultuous affair with star Clara Bow during the production.Wikipedia · Cast exploits
7. Richard Arlen could do his own flying, but Buddy Rogers, a non-pilot, underwent flight training during production so he too could be filmed in close-up in the air.Wikipedia · Script and experience
8. Jack kissing the dying David near the corner of his mouth has led some to call Wings home to cinema's first male-to-male kiss, though there is no consensus on which film holds that milestone.Wikipedia · Notable scenes
9. When Paramount sent an executive to San Antonio to complain about the swelling budget, Wellman told him he had two options: 'a trip home or a trip to the hospital'.Wikipedia · Cast exploits
10. Some 300 pilots took part in the filming, and because aerial battles needed ideal skies, the crew once waited 18 consecutive days for the right weather in San Antonio.Wikipedia · Aerial and battle sequences