Only Angels Have Wings1939
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Only Angels Have Wings Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Geoff Carter
as Bonnie Lee
as Bat Mac Pherson
as Judy MacPherson
as Kid Dabb
as Dutchman
as Sparks
as Gent Shelton
as Les Peters
as Tex Gordon
as Joe Souther
as Lily
as Dr. Logario
as Hartwood
as Felice
as Mike
as Pancho
as Baldy
as Balladeer
as Native Cook
as Musician
as Servant
as Lily's Aunt
as Purser
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Mechanic
as Hartwood Jr.
as Assistant Purser
as Ship Captain
as Blonde Spanish Girl
as First Mate
as Banana Foreman
as Banana Foreman
as Planter Overseer
as Tourist
as Tourist
as Tourist
as Planter
as Tourist
as Tourist
as Tourist
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Critic Reviews for Only Angels Have Wings
All Critics (26) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (0) | DVD (2)
'Only Angels Have Wings' uses its paper-thin plot as an excuse to mount a scalpel-sharp analysis of men under pressure: bitching, blaming and refusing to back down.
Howard Hawks's stirring tale of a fledgling airmail service that traverses the Andes from a strip in a South American banana port is the ultimate workplace dramedy.
It's a fairly good melodrama, nothing more.
The flying effects, obviously, have dated, but everything else crackles with chemistry and class.
It's great stuff, silly and stirring and romantic, made at a time when thrills could be achieved without special effects and heroism conveyed with a few words or a shrug, and without an ounce of aggression.
"Only Angels Have Wings" is... wet, atmospheric, and even a bit tragic. These men live close to death, and, as such, have to live quickly. There is a sadness hanging over these people.
Audience Reviews for Only Angels Have Wings
Cary Grant leads a tight ensemble of mail pilots in the Andes Mountains for whom frequently bad weather conditions turn every regular day of work into a dance of death. Somehow Jean Arthur gets off the boat and gets involved with the guys first and then with Grant. Much of this doesn't make sense or add up and yet the presentation is so atmospheric and well done that damned if one doesn't hang around for the ride. Rita Hayworth, in her first A picture, sizzles even then.
Super Reviewer
It's a film about adventure and romance, but what we really have here is a study on the nature of death by director Howard Hawks. A lone adventuress (Jean Arthur) steps off the boat in a tiny South American banana port, and makes quick friends with some lonely american pilots working for the local mail company. It's a friendship that ends all too suddenly and all too violently. But where she would shed tears for a soul lost to dust, his fellow pilots choose to sing songs and even laugh it off, as death could come for any one of them at any time. The dashing head of the crew (Cary Grant) is perhaps the most cavalier of the group, but then, he has to be, as he's the one who sends them out (possibly to their deaths). She's attracted to him, and he to her, not as some flighty dame, but as a real woman who knows how to value life. But it becomes her task to convince him that she won't try to change him like his last love (Rita Hayworth) did, and he must make the effort to want something, to want her, for more than a passing fancy. He, who never owns so much as a book of matches, feeling it's too much of a commitment. In the face of the constant threat of death, maybe this all seems unimportant, or maybe it's the only thing that IS important. Maybe that's the heart of the matter, the issue of what this life is all about and what are we doing here and why are we doing it. There is a scene towards the end of the movie, a pilot is going on "one last flight", and it's one he must make alone. It's the elephant in the room, the fact that everyone knows, but no one wants to say aloud. That we all must one day die, and that we will die alone. The light will die within us and the mystery of death will finally be revealed. It may be wrong to fixate on our ultimate fate, but it's more wrongful still to deny that fate completely. Only Angels Have Wings is a microcosm of all our own little lives put together. We push forward and persevere in our work and loves in spite of our own mortality, because to do otherwise would be to negate our whole existence in the first place.
Super Reviewer
Great little drama packed full of twists and great characters.
Super Reviewer
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