Always

Plot

For all its state-of-the-art special effects, Always is essentially a remake of the 1943 Spencer Tracy-Irene Dunne fantasy vehicle A Guy Named Joe--minus the wartime context. Richard Dreyfuss stars as a reckless fire-fighting pilot who is killed in what was to have been his final mission. Ascending to Heaven, Dreyfuss is introduced to businesslike angel Audrey Hepburn (playing the equivalent of the Lionel Barrymore role in A Guy Named Joe). Hepburn instructs the spectral Dreyfuss to pass on his aviation knowhow to his young successor, Brad Johnson. Our ghostly hero also smoothes the course of romance for his earthly girl friend Holly Hunter, who after several months' worth of grieving has fallen in love with Johnson. John Goodman injects a dose of comedy relief as Dreyfuss' faithful buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

One of the smaller films of Steven Spielberg's oeuvre, Always still bears many of the filmmaker's trademark elements: otherworldly magic, gorgeous cinematography, and a childlike fascination with the skies. There are plenty of loving shots of aircraft arcing across brilliant blue horizons, but the rest of the film serves more as a support structure on which to hang these images, too neat and predictable to stick in the memory. The result is that Always feels prepackaged, a sentimental exercise with little daring beyond the swooping maneuvers of Richard Dreyfuss' fun-loving pilot. It becomes accidentally noteworthy for having been the last film appearance of Audrey Hepburn, who died four years later; that she plays an angel walking through the cornfields gives viewers a serene last image of her. Always may also serve as a balm for those grieving over the loss of a loved one, unsure how to move on with their lives. But with Dreyfuss so much easier to root for as the object of Holly Hunter's affections than the bland Brad Johnson, this becomes something of a mixed message. Spielberg fans may want to check it out for another chapter in the director's ongoing preoccupation with flying machines, which has marked his career from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) to the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001). ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast

• Richard Dreyfuss - Pete Sandich
• Holly Hunter - Dorinda Durston
• Brad Johnson - Ted Baker
• John Goodman - Al Yackey
• Audrey Hepburn - Hap

Roberts Blossom - Dave; Keith David - Powerhouse; Ed Van Nuys - Nails; Marg Helgenberger - Rachel; Doug McGrath - Bus Driver; J.D. Souther - Singer; Ted Grossman - Fisherman #2; Brian Haley - Alex; Michael Steve Jones - Grey; James Lashly - Charlie; Alan Rachins; Kim Robillard - Air Traffic Controller; Jim Sparkman - Dispatcher; Rick van Nutter - Nails; Dale Dye - Fire Boss; David Kitay - Band; Joseph McCrossin - Mechanic; Taleena Ottwell - Bar Girl; Gerry Rothschild - Carl the Barkeep; Loren Smothers - Bartender

Credit

Christopher Burian-Mohr - Art Director, Lora Kennedy - Casting, Bob Banas - Choreography, Kathleen Kennedy - Co-producer, Frank Marshall - Co-producer, Ellen Mirojnick - Costume Designer, Steven Spielberg - Director, Michael Kahn - Editor, Steven Spielberg - Executive Producer, John Williams - Composer (Music Score), James McCoy - Makeup, Don L. Cash - Makeup, James D. Bissell - Production Designer, P. Michael Johnston - Production Designer, Mikael Salomon - Cinematographer, Richard Vane - Producer, Jackie Carr - Set Designer, Carl Stensel - Set Designer, Michael Wood - Special Effects, Industrial Light & Magic - Special Effects, Steve Lambert - Stunts, Chandler Sprague - Screen Story, David Boehm - Screen Story, Ronald Bass - Screenwriter, Jerry Belson - Screenwriter, Melissa Mathison - Screenwriter, Frederick Hazlitt Brennan - Short Story Author

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