Main Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, John Carroll, Allyn Joslyn
Release Year: 1939
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Virtually a textbook example of Howard Hawks' "macho" mode, Only Angels Have Wings takes place high in the Peruvian Andes. Cary Grant heads a ramshackle airmail and freight service, forced to fly in the most perilous of weather conditions to the most treacherous of destinations. Facing death on a near-hourly basis, Grant and his flyers have adopted a casual, all-in-day's-work attitude towards mortality. If a pilot cracks up and dies, it's simply because he didn't have what it took, and that's that. Stranded showgirl Jean Arthur can't stand this cavalier attitude at first, but before long she becomes, in true Hawksian fashion, "one of the guys". Complicating the story is the presence of Richard Barthelmess, who has been persona non grata with the other pilots ever since his carelessness cost the life of one of their number. In addition to a surfeit of guilt, Barthelmess is saddled with a faithless wife, played by Rita Hayworth in her first important A-picture role. Hayworth makes a play for Grant, but he spurns her, finally realizing that, in spite of himself, he's in love with Arthur. Grant himself is riddled with guilt when near-blind pilot Thomas Mitchell insists upon taking on one final flight. Having lost his best friend, Grant drops his hard-bitten shell, and for the first time opens himself up emotionally to Arthur-which of course leads to a nail-biting climax wherein Arthur suffers mightily as Grant faces certain death. Scripted by Jules Furthman from a story by Hawks, Only Angels Have Wings is a treasure trove of terse, pithy dialogue: our favorite scene occurs when, upon discovering that he's about to die, Thomas Mitchell says he's often wondered how he'd react to imminent death-and, now that death is but a few moments away, he'd rather that no one else be around to witness his reaction. Though sometimes laid low by obvious miniatures, the aerial scenes in Only Angels Have Wings are by and large first-rate, earning a first-ever "best special effects" Oscar nomination for Roy Davidson and Edwin C. Hahn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Only Angels Have Wings exemplifies the complex, taciturn male bravado common to the films of Howard Hawks. Unfairly lumped into the genre of the airborne drama, it is one of Hawks' more neglected films. An experienced pilot himself, Hawks based Angels on real people and events from his time spent on the airfields; his brother was killed in a plane crash. Cary Grant plays the courageous, fatalistic lead, and Jean Arthur is the typical Hawksian heroine, strong with a subversive, gender-bending edge. Supporting player Rita Hayworth became a major Hollywood star after Angels. The film would receive a wartime update as 1942's The Flying Tigers. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Sig Rumann - The Dutchman; Noah Beery, Jr. - Joe Souther; Melissa Sierra - Lily; Lucio Villegas - Dr. Logario; Forbes Murray - Hartwood; Cecilia Callejo - Felice; Pat Flaherty - Mike; Pedro Regas - Pancho; Pat West - Baldy; Manuel Maciste - Balladeer; Enrique Acosta - Tourist; Harry Bailey; Don "Red" Barry - Tex Gordon; Wilson Benge - Assistant Purser; Dick Botiller - Tourist; Stanley Brown - Junior Harkwright; Candy Candido - Musician; Rafael Corio - Purser; Vernon Dent - Ship Captain; Curley Dresden - Mechanic; Budd Fine - First Mate; Eddie Foster - Mechanic; Victor Kilian - Sparks; James Millican - Mechanic; Charles Moore - Servant; Inez Palange - Lily's Aunt; Rafael Storm - Purser; Sammee Tong - Native Cook; Bud Wolfe; Lou Davis; Francisco Maran - Planter Overseer; Ed Randolph - Mechanic; Al Rhein - Mechanic; Victor Travers - Planter; Jack Lowe; Ky Robinson - Mechanic; Harry A. Bailey - Tourist (uncredited)
Credit
Lionel Banks - Art Director, Paul Mantz - Consultant/advisor, Robert Kalloch - Costume Designer, Arthur S. Black, Jr. - First Assistant Director, Howard Hawks - Director, Viola Lawrence - Editor, Morris W. Stoloff - Composer (Music Score), Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), Manuel Maciste - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Elmer Dyer - Cinematographer, Joseph Walker - Cinematographer, Howard Hawks - Producer, Roy Davidson - Special Effects, Edwin C. Hahn - Special Effects, Edward Bernds - Sound Recordist, Paul Mantz - Stunts, Jules Furthman - Screenwriter
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) is a movie directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. It is generally regarded as being among Hawks' finest films, particularly in its portrayal of the professionalism of the pilots, its atmosphere, and the flying sequences.
Geoff Carter (Cary Grant) is a pilot and the manager of a small, barely-solvent air service owned by "Dutchy" Van Reiter (Sig Ruman) carrying mail from the port town of Barranca (short for Barrancabermeja) in Colombia over the Andes Mountains. Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), a piano-playing entertainer, arrives one day and becomes infatuated with Carter, despite his fatalistic attitude about the dangerous mountain flying, and stays on in Barranca (not at Carter's invitation, as he insists on telling her).
The situation is complicated by the appearance of Bat Kilgallen (Richard Barthelmess) and his wife Judy (Rita Hayworth). Kilgallen is a pilot shunned by other fliers because he once bailed out of a plane, leaving his mechanic—the brother of 'Kid' Dabb (Thomas Mitchell), Carter's best friend—to be killed in the resulting crash. Carter refuses to hire Bat until Judy, Carter's former lover, pleads for a chance for her husband. Carter gives in, provided Bat takes the most dangerous jobs.
Dutchy can obtain a lucrative government mail contract if he can provide reliable service over a certain trial period. On the last day of the trial, bad weather forces Bat and Kid to try flying over the mountains in a new Ford Trimotor rather than through a pass. However, they are unable to climb high enough. On the way back, birds crash into the airplane, paralyzing Kid. Bat refuses to bail out and manages to land the burning plane. Kid dies, but not before telling Geoff of Bat's heroism.
Bonnie finally gives up on Geoff and bids him goodbye. He offers to toss a coin to decide: heads, she stays; tails, she leaves. Then the weather clears; Geoff rushes out to secure the all-important contract. Bonnie is unwilling to decide her life so haphazardly, until she sees that the coin has heads on both sides.
