#80: Only Angels Have Wings
Part of the Top 150 Films series
Only Angels Have Wings is classic Hawks: its rhythmic patterns, subtle mise-en-scène, and a group democracy that remains a base ideology are on full display. The first 30 minutes alone constitute a tour de force of shifting dynamics, as what appears to be a light comedy turns abruptly tragic, then pivots on most of the characters’ refusal to acknowledge that upheaval. As it turns out, however, this introductory drama (which could have filled out three films in its own right) is the Trojan horse into an offbeat South American airmail community, which thereafter becomes a stage upon which multiple dramas, crises and comedies play out. Expertly played by the fantastic cast (especially Jean Arthur, Cary Grant and Richard Barthelmess), and edited with razor-sharp precision, Only Angels Have Wings is the greatest celebration of pragmatism at the expense of emotional behavior, but without denying how powerful a pragmatist’s emotions can be.
