Howard Hawks (1896–1977)

Howard Hawks fashioned Jules Furthman’s good screenplay into a true screen classic of male camaraderie and the women who love them, and must choose to accept it. Hawks had Martinique as the setting for “To Have and Have Not” but showed his preference for exotic locales much earlier by setting “Only Angels Have Wings” in the South American port of Barranca. It makes a colorful backdrop to an even more colorful story of what it is to be a man — according to Hawks.

The banana boats are coming in and Geoff (Cary Grant) is sending the mail out by plane in dangerous conditions in order to keep afloat his rag-tag outfit of pilots, who live dangerously and like it. They all wear guns but it’s the weather that’s more likely to take them down.

This is made clear early on when Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) hits the port for a short layover and attracts the good-natured attention of a couple of Geoff’s pilots, one of whom will go down in flames just a few hours later. It is only then that Bonnie, already attracted to Geoff, will get a glimpse of real men and what their world is like.

Hawks puts a spotlight on the suspicion men who've been with a woman or two often harbor towards every female in a telling scene when Bonnie takes a memento from the fallen pilot’s belongings and Geoff scoffs at her greed. Only moments later when she gives it to the young Mexican girl who adored him does he give Bonnie a few points, and then only in surprise.

Arthur is terrific here trying not to let her emotions show so she can live in Geoff’s world. When a new pilot with a checkered past shows up (silent film star Richard Barthelmess), with Geoff’s old flame in tow (young Rita Hayworth), Bonnie realizes just how serious Geoff is about never asking anything of a woman. There is a ton of male adventure filling the screen in the meantime.

There are dangerous flights with nitro, and daring flights for doctors; Hawks even allows a female into the act with some accidental gunplay. Arthur eventually breaks under the stress, of course, because Hawks is filming a world long ago and far away, where men were men, and women weren’t. I’ve never met a guy who doesn't love this film and perhaps that’s why. Hawks adds his own spin on the romantic touch with the flip of a coin.

Grant is great here and Arthur sparkles. The rest of the cast is excellent, with Thomas Mitchell especially memorable as Geoff’s best friend. Any male who wants to hang out in a bar with their pals and not talk about what every man already knows by virtue of their kind, will love this one. You'll wish there were a few girls like Arthur still out there too. Just a fantastic look at good men, jaded about women, but still needing them. Another film masterpiece from director Howard Hawks.… (més)