If there was one film which would be the perfect example of what Howard Hawks cinema is, it would be "Only Angels Have Wings". The film is just about the best summation of the relationship between men, their profession, and the woman who try to understand them. "Only Angels Have Wings" dives deep into these themes along with giving us some truly suspenseful, breath holding flights.I first saw "Only Angels Have Wings" at a young age. By that time I had seen some of Hawks' films mostly his comedies starring Cary Grant. Seeing the cover of the film I assumed another Hawks/Grant comedy, yet that was not what I got. I can't say I can remember much about my first viewing of the film, I don't remember being that impressed with it. I don't think I really got the male camaraderie that Hawks was going for. I was confused about the middle section where Jean Arthur's character just seemed to disappear for a long period of time, thinking this was supposed to be a love story between her and Cary Grant.
Years later, after learning more about Howard Hawks cinema, I tried "Only Angels Have Wings" again and this time being much more impressed by it.
The film is about a rugged crew of pilots who operate a small air-mailing post in South America. We see very early on that their job isn't just a walk in the park. When an American showgirl named Bonnie (Jean Arthur) comes off a boat, two pilots see her and compete with eachother on who will be the one to buy her dinner. When one of the pilots, Joe gets the chance to ask her out, he is called upon by his boss Geoff (Cary Grant) to head out on a delivery. Joe leaves, and failing to obey orders, dives into a dense fog and crashes, Joe is dead. The next scene shows the pilots pretending Joe never existed, it's their way of coping, but Bonnie doesn't seem to understand it.
The beginning of this film is a brilliant set up to the danger these pilots deal with every day and the and the sort of silent bond with these men that Hawks is getting at. The fact that Joe dies comes as a shock, since we get to know him and see that he's a nice guy, and it's certainly too early in the film for a person to die just yet, we are all expecting him to survive the crash. The men know it wouldn't do any good to mourn for their fallen comrade, they know it's a common occurrence and they must move on in order to do their job.
Bonnie becomes somewhat of an observer to the professional attitude in these men, as she can't help but be interested in it, and predictably she must fall for Geoff who is the hardest of the men to break. The romance between Bonnie and Geoff almost takes a backseat to the more complex relationship between Geoff and his best friend The Kid (Thomas Mitchell). The two have been flying together for years, and the most emotional scenes in the film are the ones that include the two of them. One of the most heartbreaking scenes comes when Geoff must ground The Kid after he realizes he's going blind, and then (SPOILER ALERT) there is the brilliant underplayed death scene of The Kid where very little is said between the two, and when The Kid asks Geoff to leave him to die alone, it's as hard to take as any romance film.
The film was made in 1939 where it can be said that special effects weren't at their peak, and I'm not going to pretend the some of the planes we see in the air don't look like models, however because it was shown early on that men do die from this, Hawks makes every time a plane goes up in the air a life or death situation. Personally I don't like flying myself, and there were moments such as when a plane dives into a cliff or lands right at the edge of one where my heart didn't drop. It's a thrill, but at the same time it's drama as the characters are so well drawn, we put our stake into anyone who goes up there.
"Only Angels Have Wings" is one of Hawks' perfect films, and funny enough it was the only non-comedy he made with Cary Grant. Grant had good relationships with many directors, but it was really with Hawks he was able to show a variety of talents. As Geoff he keeps a very hard exterior, but we know there is more to him as the film progresses. Hawks knew how to get that out of Grant which is something other directors didn't or couldn't try with him. The film is a testament to their relationship.
"Only Angels Have Wings" is an important film in the cinema of Howard Hawks. It probably wasn't until I saw this that I was finally understanding what his movies were about and what they meant. It would cheapen Hawks' legacy to simply call movies he did like this one as a "guys movie". It isn't really, it's a film about guys, but Hawks was one of the few directors who knew there was something underneath the tough exterior, something that wasn't superficial but real and intense, and Hawks knew that perhaps the only other people who could understand men were other men.
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