Only Angels Have Wings Overview:

Only Angels Have Wings (1939) was a Drama - Adventure Film directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hawks.

SYNOPSIS

A sparkling cast, well directed, highlights a film that represented the comeback of Barthelmess, a major leading man of the silent era. Grant plays the flinty director of a trans-Andes air courier operation. He is the eye of a hurricane of women who want him, Barthelmess, who may be responsible for the death of Mitchell's brother, and the nearly blind Mitchell himself, who dies on a dangerous mission while trying to spare Grant the risk. When the storm clears we glimpse a humanized Grant with Arthur on his arm.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Academy Awards 1939 --- Ceremony Number 12 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best CinematographyJoseph WalkerNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

Only Angels Have Wings (1939): Hawks’ Greatest Adventure Movie

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 6, 2019 From 4 Star Films

Howard Hawks always had a knack for creating worlds and subsequently building camaraderie between his characters simply by stringing scenes together one after the other. Only Angels Have Wings?sets?up a?premise — revolving around?a South American outpost —?then?settles in on two flyers. ... Read full article


Watching 1939: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

on Jul 4, 2019 From Comet Over Hollywood

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them.?As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, tha... Read full article


Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 17, 2018 From The Stop Button

The first forty-five minutes of Only Angels Have Wings is mostly continual present action. Jean Arthur arrives in a South American port town, looking around?followed by two possible ne?er-do-wells (Allyn Joslyn and Noah Beery Jr.)?and the film tracks her experience. Great direction from Hawks, beaut... Read full article


CCU37: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

By Aaron West on May 15, 2016 From Criterion Blues

May 15 Posted by aaronwest Mark and Aaron fly back to 1939 to discuss Howard Hawks’ classic Only Angels Have Wings. We evaluate the special effects, how the film built suspense, the context of aviation in the late 1930s, and later films that embody a similar masculinity. We also reveal the wi... Read full article


CCU37: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

By Aaron West on May 15, 2016 From Criterion Blues

May 15 Posted by aaronwest Mark and Aaron fly back to 1939 to discuss Howard Hawks’ classic Only Angels Have Wings. We evaluate the special effects, how the film built suspense, the context of aviation in the late 1930s, and later films that embody a similar masculinity. We also reveal the wi... Read full article


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Quotes from

Bonnie Lee: So you're still carrying a torch for her?
Geoff Carter: Gotta light?


Geoff Carter: What's all this?
Bonnie Lee: What?
Geoff Carter: All this cooking!
Bonnie Lee: Oh, that's coffee.
Geoff Carter: Look at this mess...
Bonnie Lee: Don't touch it, it's hot! You'll burn yourself.
[he touches it]
Bonnie Lee: Oh, I told you!
Geoff Carter: Ah, ah. Go away, go away!
Bonnie Lee: Ooh, that is a burn. Here, I'll put some butter on it.
Geoff Carter: I don't want any butter on it.
Bonnie Lee: Oh, but it'll make you feel better!
Geoff Carter: I told you, I don't want any butter on it!
Bonnie Lee: My grandmother always used butter...
Geoff Carter: I don't care what your grandmother did!
[referring to the coffee]
Geoff Carter: It's still boiling! What's all this about?
Bonnie Lee: Oh, I just thought I'd like to have a nice cup of coffee. It's so cold and rainy outside and nice and cozy in here.
Geoff Carter: Oh...
Bonnie Lee: Wouldn't you like to have one, too?
Geoff Carter: No, I wouldn't, and get out of here and stop making a mess and stay out of my room, and take this with you...
[reaches for kettle]
Bonnie Lee: Oh, don't ...
Geoff Carter: [picks up kettle, whistles in surprise]
Bonnie Lee: [laughs] I thought you never did that.
Geoff Carter: Did what?
Bonnie Lee: Got burned twice in the same place.


Geoff Carter: Wait a minute, you little fool, why don't you use your ...
[sees that she's crying]
Geoff Carter: Oh, come on. Stop it.
Bonnie Lee: I don't know how you can act like this when that poor kid, he's ...
Geoff Carter: [coldly] Yeah, I know, he's dead.
Bonnie Lee: Yes, he's dead!
Geoff Carter: That's right. And he's been dead about 20 minutes, and all the weeping and wailing in the world won't make him any deader 20 years from now. If you feel like bawling, how do you think we feel?
Bonnie Lee: Oh, I'm sorry...
Geoff Carter: Oh, come on. Go outside and walk around - and stay there until you put all that together!


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Facts about

Howard Hawks and Jean Arthur did not get along during filming. Arthur was not used to Hawks' highly improvisational style, and when Hawks wanted Arthur to play Bonnie much in a subtly sexy way (not unlike his other "Hawksian women"), Arthur flatly said, "I can't do that kind of stuff." Hawks told Arthur at the end of the shoot, "You are one of the few people I've worked with that I don't think I've helped at all. Someday you can go see what I wanted to do because I'm gonna do this character all over again." Years later Hawks returned home to find Arthur waiting for him in his driveway. She had just seen his To Have and Have Not and confessed, "I wish I'd done what you'd asked me to do. If you ever make another picture with me, I'll promise to do any goddamn thing you want to do. If a kid Lauren Bacall can come in and do that kind of stuff, I certainly could do it." Hawks and Arthur never collaborated again.
Howard Hawks had known a real-life flier who once parachuted from a burning plane. His copilot died in the ensuing crash and his fellow pilots shunned him for the rest of his life.
The Kid mentions that there are no bananas, parodying the novelty song, "Yes! We Have No Bananas" written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn.
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