"Three great scenes and no bad ones"

A pretty enjoyable film, with some good performances all around. The drama doesn't always work right but the film is strong enough that it still gets its point across.

This quite underrated film is actually one of the greatest chronicles about death in the history of fiction. While Hawks' usual speech gathers people that hate each other -- Mac Pherson, Kid, Geoff -- and unite them in a common quest -- to fly across the sky --, Only Angels Have Wings also deals with future in the most honest way: its characters don't think about it, they just do things -- drink, talk, curse, hate, and, as Geoff uses to say, doesn't ask anyone to do anything. There is no fate.

Great early adventure that makes the most of its sets and has a damn good ending.

Enjoyable black and white, afternoon viewing.

The flying scenes are action packed, the setting is exotic, and the characters are interesting. In my opinion, the romance element didn't make much sense, but it was still good.

I couldn't stop thinking how much better it would be with Bogart. Don't get me wrong, I love Cary Grant, this kind of tough-as-nails role isn't suited for him. When Hawks made To Have and Have Not a few years later, it's a very similar movie but with the proper casting of Bogart. However, Jean Arthur is spot on for her part. The plot seems cobbled together from pre-determined scenes, but it's a satisfying adventure story about man's men and their ideals, with a few terrific flying sequences.

218

Another strong work from Hawks: strong men, adamant women and outstanding dialogs. It even has airoplanes in it - what else one could wish for? A film without faults.

grant is good, arthur was horrible and hayworth was in here somewhere even though i can't remember her. so the gist of it is that if you cut out the love story entirely, you've got a pretty good movie.

#221

Probably the perfect role for Cary Grant, and certainly my favorite Howard Hawks film, as I think it perfectly illustrates his stoic, macho but heartfelt ethos. It is a film I find myself thinking back on fondly more often than most. And Hayworth and Arthur are of course a welcome presence.

Thomas Mitchell and Jean Arthur knock it out of the park. One of the better adventure films in existence. Meandering and strikingly purgatorial, like the first half of Casablanca.

Not a bad film and it is entertaining, but the two lead characters were awful. Cary Grant was terribly miscast and made the character completely unlikable and uninteresting. He had no chemistry with Jean Arthur, whose character is the typical weak, pathetic female character that always get inserted into films of this era. The story was interesting, but it seemed like they couldn't decide what story they wanted to tell and it got a bit jumbled up just before Hayworth arrives.

Will the planes make it or not? These situations were surprisingly suspenseful (although people raised on current Hollywood fare, may not agree). I sort of wished the filmmakers developed the relationship between Jeff and Bonnie a little more (she's absent for a little too long). Also, the film almost never had a musical score, and while that worked well in the suspense scenes, it may have hurt the non-suspense ones.

awesome flying sequences...and screw Gilda, Hayworth's r e a l l y sexy in THIS. :D

Classic Hawks flyboy drama. Great acting and directing, plus a little magic somewhere that makes it even better. Thomas Mitchell's death scene--and the aftermath--is a real standout.

Early mix of adventure/drama/comedy that pulls it off exceedingly well with pitch-perfect casting and technique. A classic in the best sense of the word.

"A bizarre and gorgeous film to say the least, this masterwork (based on a story fragment written by Hawks in 1938 titled Plane from Barranca) embodies a fantastic range of opposite states of mind and being." - Zach Campbell

One of Hawks' most endearing and accomplished films, with a fervent heart underneath its beautiful skin.

# 245

Hawks' macho-but-not-really paradigm gets the ultimate workout from the equally three-dimensional Cary Grant. If it lacks the political intrigue of Casablanca, it more than surpasses that film in warmth, adventure, plausibility (especially regarding the central romance) and character. A sadly underappreciated classic.