Always (1989) Universal/Drama-Fantasy RT: 122 minutes Rated PG (language, sensuality, intense situations) Director: Steve Spielberg Screenplay: Jerry Belson and Diane Thomas Music: John Williams Cinematography: Mikael Salomon Release date: December 22, 1989 (US) Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Brad Johnson, Audrey Hepburn, Keith David, Marg Helgenberger, Roberts Blossom, Ed Van Nuys, Dale Dye. Box Office: $43.8M (US)/$74.1M (World)
Rating: ** ½
One of Steven Spielberg’s lesser films, the romantic fantasy-drama Always is technically proficient but not very emotionally involving. What’s especially disappointing about this is that it was a passion project for both the director and lead actor Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws). It’s a remake of one of their favorite movies of all time, the 1943 wartime drama A Guy Named Joe. It’s one of the movies that inspired Spielberg to become a filmmaker. You’d think that he’d go to great lengths to be sure and get it right, but maybe his affection for the original film clouded his objectivity. He gets one key element wrong, but I’ll come back to that momentarily.
Instead of a straight-up remake, Spielberg updates the story and centers it on aerial firefighters rather than ace pilots fighting enemy planes. It allows him the opportunity to incorporate action and special effects into the movie with the pilots flying straight into forest fires in vintage WWII-era bombers modified to dump chemicals on the blazing trees. These scenes are fine, nothing too spectacular. But with Always, Spielberg aims to tug the heartstrings rather than wow the senses. That’s where he stumbles. Always is about love, loss, grief and recovery; strong emotions, all of them. While it has its individual moments, it doesn’t have the emotional impact one expects from a movie in which somebody struggles to get on with their life (or afterlife) after a devastating loss.
Dreyfuss plays Pete, a firefighter pilot in the Pacific Northwest who’s something of a daredevil. That he takes so many risks in the air troubles his girlfriend, air traffic controller Dorinda (Hunter, Broadcast News). His best friend on the job, Al (Goodman, Raising Arizona), tries to talk him into taking a position as an instructor at a pilot school in Colorado. He initially refuses, but changes his mind after Dorinda tells him how much she fears for his safety. He can’t pass up taking one last mission before he hangs it up for good. It turns out to be, literally, his last mission. He saves Al’s life, but forfeits his own in the process. The next thing he knows, he’s in a forest clearing with an angel named Hap (Hepburn, Roman Holiday) who explains to him it’s now his job to inspire somebody just as somebody inspired him. As she puts it, “They hear you inside their own minds as if it were their thoughts.” He’s assigned to a young pilot named Ted (newcomer Johnson) training to be a firefighter under Al. Much to Pete’s dismay, he also falls in love with Dorinda. What’s a guardian angel, still not ready to let go of his old life, to do?
When Ted and Lucinda start getting close, it’s been about a year since Pete’s death. I’m willing to accept that Dorinda feels ready to get involved with another man after a year, everybody grieves differently. The problem is that we never see Dorinda during her grieving period. How are we supposed to feel for her? In Ghost, released seven months later, we see Demi Moore struggling to get by without Patrick Swayze. We see her alone in their apartment, depressed and withdrawn. By jumping ahead in time, Always loses something crucial. I’m not saying it should wallow in despair like a Bergman drama, but it should have allowed audiences a chance to see Dorinda experiencing grief thus providing a sort of emotional compass upon which to gauge her state of mind when Ted enters her life. It’s kind of a weird emotional disconnect.
The rest of Always is fine for the most part. I say fine because I don’t mind watching it every once in a while. It has its good points not the least of which is the final screen appearance of Ms. Hepburn who came out of semi-retirement for this one last gig (she died in ’93). She only has a few minutes of screen time, but it’s still nice to bask in her glory regardless how brief. Hunter gives a solid performance as the tough but tender Dorinda. She can fly as well as any guy at the station, but I’ll bet none of them look as good in a white dress as she does. I’ve always admired the no-nonsense approach Hunter takes to her roles. She’s a little firecracker. Dreyfuss and Goodman, on the other hand, don’t exactly play it straight. Their performances border on comic with Dreyfuss reciting dialogue (e.g. “That’s my girl, pal!”) that sounds lifted from a 40s pulp magazine and Goodman just being Goodman. Either one of them is preferable to Johnson who’s so wooden in his first role, it’s a wonder he didn’t catch fire as well.
Always has a few effective moments like an early scene in a bar where all the pilots take turns dancing with Hunter while JD Souther sings a beautiful rendition of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”. It has the potential to be a great romantic fantasy-drama, but the drama is undermined by the comic bits and a curious lack of urgency when it comes to the fire fighting scenes. The pilots risk certain death every time they fly towards blazing dangers, but the movie treats it like they’re doing a stunt show. Pete’s flip attitude towards the risks he takes in his plane lessens the inherent tension present in such scenarios. Always really isn’t that bad a movie; I give Spielberg credit for trying something on a smaller scale. It’s watchable but, in the end, not wholly effective.
