Only Angels Have Wings
| Only Angels Have Wings | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Howard Hawks |
| Produced by | Howard Hawks |
| Written by | Howard Hawks (story) Jules Furthman |
| Starring |
Cary Grant Jean Arthur Rita Hayworth Thomas Mitchell |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography |
Joseph Walker Paul Mantz (aerial scenes) |
| Edited by | Viola Lawrence |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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121 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Only Angels Have Wings is a 1939 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, based on a story written by Hawks. The film also marked the first significant role in a major film for Rita Hayworth. It is generally regarded as being among Hawks' finest films, particularly in its portrayal of the professionalism of the pilots of the film, its atmosphere, and the flying sequences. The supporting cast features Thomas Mitchell and Richard Barthelmess.
Only Angels Have Wings was based on a number of real incidents witnessed by Hawks, and although Air Mail (1932), Night Flight (1933), Ceiling Zero (1936, also directed by Hawks) and Flight From Glory (1937) have similar stories, they are not related. The film inspired the 1983 television series Tales of the Gold Monkey, which in turn, inspired the 1990 television series TaleSpin.
Geoff Carter (Grant) is a pilot and the manager of Barranca Airways, a small, barely solvent company owned by "Dutchy" Van Ruyter (Sig Ruman) carrying airmail from the fictional South American port town of Barranca through a high pass in the Andes Mountains. Bonnie Lee (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). One of the characters dies due to irresponsible flying.
The situation is complicated by the appearance of pilot Bat MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess) and his wife (and Geoff's old flame) Judy (Rita Hayworth). MacPherson is revealed to be an alias and his real surname is Kilgallen. He is infamous among the pilots for having 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. When Geoff is forced to ground Kid because of failing eyesight, he is short on pilots and agrees to hire MacPherson on the condition that he fly the most dangerous missions. MacPherson understands and accepts the setup: none of the other pilots would shed a tear if he were lost.
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Wikipedia