Steven Spielberg's Forgotten Fantasy Masterpiece Officially Says Goodbye to Netflix
Overview & Key Takeaways
As you may be aware, they didn't invent irony until 1996, so 'Always' has none of it
One of the great paradoxes of old movies is that the more influential they are, the more predictable they become. You've already seen generations of movies that were working off of the original's basic blueprint. It can be frustrating, particularly if you're showing someone a classic for the first time. It's particularly notable with movies from the 1980s or earlier, which were made before all of American pop culture acquired its protective coating of reflexive irony.
Steven Spielberg's Always, for example, is an unapologetic melodrama that also pays homage to love stories from the golden age of Hollywood. It's also one of Spielberg's smaller films, often overshadowed by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’s release that same year. If you've never seen Always, it's on Netflix now, but it's leaving on Oct. 1.
Death can be the time of your life
Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss in Always(1989)
Source: Amblin Entertainment
Always is a remake of 1943's A Guy Named Joe, which was a World War II movie starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, and it's careful to keep much of that movie's style and tone. I'd assumed Always was a period piece for the first 20 minutes, until one character happens to mention that it's 1989; the only conclusively modern element of the film is Holly Hunter's haircut, which makes her look like one of the Bangles.
Pete (Dreyfuss) flies a firefighting plane and is infamous in his field for taking unnecessary risks. Finally, his girlfriend Dorinda (Holly Hunter) puts her foot down: either Pete finds a safer line of work, or she's leaving. Pete agrees to take a job as a flight instructor, but his luck finally runs out on his next mission.
After his death, Pete is met by Hap (Audrey Hepburn, in her final film role), who explains his new mission. As a spirit, Pete's new job is to guide the living by providing them with guidance and inspiration.
Audrey Hepburn and Richard Dreyfuss in Always(1989)
Source: Amblin Entertainment
Over the course of the next year, Pete watches from the sidelines as his friends try to move on without him, which includes a grieving Dorinda. He has to balance the business he left unfinished in his life, such as all the things he never quite managed to say to Dorinda, while also clearing the way for all of them to move on from his death.
I'd ordinarily be a bit more wary about potential spoilers here. However, Always' own official plot summaries are all very clear on the fact that Pete dies. More to the point, the first 30 minutes of Always hits Pete with a fat stack of obvious death flags. If you went into this movie totally blind, but you'd seen any other movies at all in the last 40 years, you'd see Pete's tragic death coming. It might not have been quite so obvious in 1989, but by now it doesn't even count as a twist.
Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter in Always(1989)
Source: Amblin Entertainment
Don't misunderstand: That isn't a criticism. Always is one of those movies that plays out like jazz. You see it all coming, but you're here for the journey and not necessarily the destination. The cast is comprised of a who's-who of great character actors (John Goodman, Keith David, Marg Helgenberger), the script earns both its laughs and its moments of high drama, and Spielberg's already at the top of his game and the crux of his interests.
This is a movie about honest emotions, cool planes, and the occasional moment of inspired slapstick. It's a melodrama, and it isn't ashamed of ut, particularly in the opening minutes when Dreyfuss and Hunter are together. If you want something genuine and heartfelt to watch tonight, especially if you're as fond of '40s films as Spielberg, you can't do much better than Always.
