Salute

1929
Passed
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

269

YOUR RATING

Helen Chandler, William Janney, and George O'Brien in Salute (1929)

Drama Romance Sport

Fraternal rivalry intensifies when two brothers play on opposing teams in a big Army-Navy football match.Fraternal rivalry intensifies when two brothers play on opposing teams in a big Army-Navy football match.Fraternal rivalry intensifies when two brothers play on opposing teams in a big Army-Navy football match.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

269

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
John Wayne was responsible for assembling a group of USC football players for the cast, one of which was Ward Bond. The director was furious at Bond for constantly ordering steak and drinks from hotel room service and fired him. Wayne stood up to the director and forced him to keep Bond on, and a lifetime friendship was born.

Goofs
John Wayne is introduced in the film as one of the new midshipman, visible in their early training, especially in the rowing sequence. But later, he has a noticeable role as an upperclassman hazing the new men.

Connections
Featured in Men Without Women (1930)

Soundtracks
Anchors Aweigh
(1906) (uncredited)
Music by Charles A. Zimmerman
Played at the dance and as background
Sung by the John Wayne, Frank Albertson, and midshipmen
Played on piano by Helen Chandler
Sung by Helen Chandler and William Janney

User reviews7

Review

Featured review

5/10

The Army/Navy Game

Salute is an early talkie directed by John Ford and it will never rank in anybody's list of great John Ford films. He honed this particular genre of military academy films down to a science in much better films like The Long Grey Line and Wings Of Eagles.

George O'Brien and William Janney are brothers raised by different grandfathers, O'Brien by a general and Janney by an Admiral and they both go to the service academies of each. O'Brien being older got to West Point before Janney arrived at Annapolis.

Janney is always playing second fiddle to O'Brien and when O'Brien puts some moves on Helen Chandler who Janney has flipped over, that makes the Army/Navy game a bit more personal than usual.

John Wayne and Ward Bond are a pair of upper classmen in Annapolis who take Janney over the coals. Best performance in the film is from Frank Albertson as Janney's smart mouth roommate.

It was interesting to see both Wayne and Bond before either of them was any kind of a name. The integration of newsreel footage of the Army/Navy game was well done by Ford, very similar to how he used newsreel film from Ireland in The Plough And The Stars. But Salute is a film for John Wayne or John Ford completists.