The Spielberg film festival resumed with his 1989 romantic drama Always, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman. Always is a remake of the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe.
A Guy Named Joe stars Spencer Tracy as a WWII pilot, who is a bit of a daredevil. He is killed on a mission and finds himself sent back to earth in the form of a guardian angel to watch over the next pilot who takes his place. Unfortunately the next guy, played by Van Johnson, also falls in love with his girl, Irene Dunne. Dunne and Tracy are forced to face issues about their love before both can move on to the next phase.
Always follows the same story line, but updates it to the present (1989) and the pilots are fighting fires and not Germans, and there lies the beginning of the problems I have with this film. It's a nice fantasy to think that men go off to war and when they are killed in action they are sent back by the powers that be, to watch over the next fellow. There is a nobility and sacrifice in the wartime setting that is absent in Always. Some of this is even addressed in lines of dialog in the movie.
Also Spencer Tracy lent the film that sense of moral certitude and gravitas that he gives every performance. He was a commanding, paternal presence in the movies and Richard Dreyfuss is no Spencer Tracy. Very few actors can ever hope to equal him. Currently I can only think of two, Tom Hanks (who used to be compared to Jimmy Stewart until Saving Private Ryan) and Morgan Freeman.
John Goodman and Holly Hunter are capable in their roles and lend some fun to the proceedings, but Brad Johnson as the neophyte pilot is stiff and wooden in his first big screen role.
All the Spielberg touches are there, but I don't buy into the fantasy. The dead don't get to come back to tie up loose ends with those they left behind. It is possible to make a good romantic fantasy ghost story (look at Ghost which came out 6 months later) but Always isn't it!
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment