Only Angels Have Wings
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Rita Hayworth, Thomas MitchellBrand: COL
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-08-31
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Only Angels Have Wings
Movie Review: See this movie and soar! Don't see this movie and ...
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't think this is a great movie .... YOU SHOULD FALL OUT OF AN AIRPLANE!
Once he became a star, Cary Grant insisted that the girl should puruse *him,* rather than the other way around. And that's exactly what Jean Arthur does in this movie.
Opening with her arrival at a private airfield in some South American banana republic, Jean Arthur goes into a bar, starts playing the piano, makes friends with everybody, and for the rest of the movie *throws* herself at Cary Grant. (Wot a guy!)
Oh, sure, a few people crash or nearly crash in the airplane sequences, but who cares -- the chemistry between Cary Grant and Jean Arthur is irresistible.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you: there's an awful lot of drinking in this movie.
... A pilot crashes -- "Have a drink."
... Thomas Mitchell is grounded because his vison is failing -- "Have a drink."
... Rita Hayworth still has a torch for Cary Grant -- "Have a drink."
... Cary Grant gets shot in the arm by Jean Arthur, but she didn't really mean it -- "Have a drink."
Drink-drink-drink. There's more drinking in this movie than at Toots Shor's bar mitzvah. And he wasn't even Jewish. (Rim shot: ba-da-bing-bing!)
When you see this movie and tell all your friends how great it is --and I know you will -- I mean, it's either that or falling out of an airplane right? -- when you see this movie pay particular attention to Jean Arthur's nose. Jean Arthur has one of the most interesting noses in movie history. ...
Had she fixed her nose, which is a teeny-weeny bit too big, Jean Arthur might have qualified as a legitimate "glamour girl." But she didn't fix it, which I think was very shrewd on her part. That little, yet readily noticeable imperfection typifies what makes her so ingratiating to audiences in general and men in particular -- she's *approachable,* she's *vulnerable.* And yet she's strong, liberated; full of you-know-what and vinegar.
(That's right, friends, here at "Sal's Full Service Movie Reviews" you not only get opinions on acting, you get piss & vinegar reports, too.)
In most of her major successes, Jean Arthur was "the-gal-who's-a-pal" to the male lead, and this gave her a great advantage over other attractive actresses back then. For example, Rita Hayworth, a world class dish if ever there was one, is also in this movie and like other glamour girls it's impossible for her to connect with Cary Grant as anything more than a one-dimensional sex symbol. And this limits Hayworth's appeal to men; and, I imagine, women as well.
Jean Arthur, on the other hand, scores both ways -- she can sexually excite a man and, at the same time, befriend him. (Quick: name three actresses who can do that!) Howard Hawks, the director, along with the movie's screenwriter, understood this, so that in addition to playing to her strong suit, her "pal-relationship" with men, they made sure Arthur got a great deal of sexual attention at the beginning of the movie from the various on-the-make flyers who fall all over each other to make a good impression, hoping to get a date with, as they put it, "the blonde."
This duality on Jean Arthur's part -- her appeal to men on a sexual basis as well as a friendship basis -- may have particular relevance to Cary Grant's well-known bisexuality. For example, as much as he tries, in this movie as well as other "action movies," Cary Grant just can't be a tough, hard-bitten guy in the mold of a Humphrey Bogart or a Jimmy Cagney or a Paul Muni -- all appealing leading men but all of whom, unlike Grant, did movie after movie and rarely if ever established "chemistry" with their co-stars. ...
In other words, Cary Grant's bisexuality may be the underlying reason why the chemistry he created vis-a-vis his leading ladies is so appealing. While, at the same time, his bisexuality, as it manifested itself in his acting, made it difficult for him to fill in the macho requirements of an action movie such as this one. So that Jean Arthur's "butch-palness"-cum-"blonde-heterosexuality" makes you forget about Grant's inadequacies as a legitimate cinema tough guy. In short, because Arthur can hold her own with the boys, Grant can be tough with her, but not necessarily with the other male actors in the movie, as a Bogart or a Cagney would be.
It's not for nothing that Grant rarely appeared in action movies such as this one, not quite pulling off the macho part of the role.
Katherine Hepburn, too, possessed this "butch-heterosexual duality" -- with Grant, more than any other actor she worked with, facilitating that duality. Think about how natural and spontaneous the scenes are between Cary Grant and his most famous "butch-heterosexual" leading ladies: Katherine Hepburn, Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne. After a while the audience suspects that they are having as much fun sparring with each other as they would have copulating with each other.
("Copulating" -- the way I come up with 'em, huh?)
Hepburn, rumored to be a lesbian, manifests her pal-relationship with Grant in a masculine way (quick, bossy, thin-lipped); whereas Jean Arthur, whose screen persona is just as liberated as Hepburn, balances her "sex-with-friendship" relationship without losing her femininity.
Notice, how smoothly and how effortlessly Cary Grant connects with Rosalind Russell's masculinity in "His Girl Friday," another of his collaborations with Howard Hawks.
Contrast this with the scenes between Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth in "Only Angels Have Wings." Rita Hayworth is lightyears more glamorous than Kartherine Hepburn or Jean Arthur or Rosalind Russell -- but there's no chemistry at all between her and Cary Grant. You can immediately see this in the way Hayworth is costumed; with sexy, shiny, tight-fitting clothes; and with the way the camera leeringly and unabashedly follows her rear-end, step-by-step up a flight of stairs.
Whereas you sense in Jean Arthur (costumed in a no-nonsense tailored suit) a sexually-charged, independent woman; but also someone who doesn't take herself nearly as seriously as either Rita Hayworth *or* Katherine Hepburn -- this being the main reaosn why I prefer Jean Arthur over Katherine Hepburn.
Grant bossily tells Arthur what to do in several scenes, and Arthur objects! But when Grant continues, abruptly cutting off her objections, she retreats -- but not because she's weak or unassertive, rather because she instinctively senses that she's as emotionally strong as Grant is, maybe stronger.
See this movie and see if you don't agree.
And if you *don't* agree, Ga bless ya and I wish ya a lotta luck.
Summary of Only Angels Have Wings
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 08/31/99
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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