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works as an air traffic controller on the air base. Alas, Pete
takes one risk too many and is killed saving his buddy Al (John
Goodman). Pete's spirit doesn't immediately cross over to the
great beyond, however. He's informed by an angel called Hap
(the great Audrey Hepburn, in her final film appearance be-
fore her death in 1993) that he has the opportunity to serve as
a guiding spirit to an up-and-coming pilot named Ted (Brad
Johnson), to help another as he himself was helped in his own
life. Pete's mission becomes more complicated as a romantic
connection begins to form between the kluzty yet good-heart-
ed Ted and the grieving Dorinda. Can Pete help her to move on
before allowing himself to do the same?
Always was a project Spielberg had been wanting to pursue a
long time before it came to fruition. The film is a remake of one
of the director's favorite childhood movies, Victor Fleming's A
Guy Named Joe (1943), which starred Spencer Tracy as the pi-
lot, Irene Dunne as his beloved, and Van Johnson as his flight
protégé. The aviators are serving in WWII in that movie, and
the ethos of that era of studio filmmaking enthuses Spielberg's
movie; it's an enthusing influence throughout his oeuvre, from
the Indiana Jones films to 1941 (1979), a top candidate for the
worst film he's ever made. The Always milieu is aerial firefight-
ing in the American West, but the characters could be plugged
into a classic Hollywood picture and fit right in (there are even
instances of "ah shucks!" and "gee whizz!" being spoken
unironically). In a 1989 interview, Spielberg said, "I like the
period because it was naïve and it was somewhat innocent, and
it represented the growing pains of the 20th century."
While rewatching the film, I was struck by its resemblance to
Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings (1939). That movie
centers around an airmail company operating in an isolated
South American town surrounded by steep mountains, with
Cary Grant as the cynical flying ace with a gallows sense of
humor, and Jean Arthur as the woman who is both aghast at
American Buffalo,
by Old Wood Signs, Montana
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