Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Danger, desire, death and a donkey – Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth are flying high in Howard Hawks's peerlessly entertaining tale of aviation in the Andes.

Somewhere on the coast of South America there’s a ramshackle, fog-bound port and a landing strip from where mail pilots risk their lives over mountain passes to win a lucrative delivery contract. Into the life of an ace pilot and despatcher (Cary Grant) arrive two women: one a sassy nightclub pianist (Jean Arthur), the other his ex-lover (Rita Hayworth).

The plot sounds pure Hollywood hokum, but it’s one of Howard Hawks’s most enjoyable explorations of his favourite themes: the connections between strong-willed women and stoical men, and the love and loyalty between men. Jean Arthur is obliged, like later Hawks heroines, to declare ‘I’m hard to get – all you have to do is ask me’, while Rita Hayworth, in an early role, is devastatingly lovely as the wife of a disgraced pilot seeking redemption.

1939 USA
Directed by
Howard Hawks
Produced by
Howard Hawks
Written by
Jules Furthman
Featuring
Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Only Angels Have Wings

Critics

Julien Allen
UK
Colin Beckett
USA
Robert Beeson
UK
Leonardo Bomfim
Brazil
Kameron Collins
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José Manuel Costa
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Mike D'Angelo
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Francisco Manuel Díaz
Spain
Paul Duane
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Lautaro García Candela
Argentina
Ruy Gardnier
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David Hare
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Nima Hassani Nasab
Iran
Murielle Joudet
France
Peter Labuza
USA
Maria João Madeira
Portugal
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Chile/UK
Vikram Murthi
USA
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Michał Oleszczyk
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Iran
Dan Sallitt
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Lucy Sante
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Jesse Trussell
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Craig Williams
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Directors

Bruce Beresford
Australia
John Carpenter
USA
Wim Wenders
Germany

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