Always (1989)

The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Jerry Belson (screenplay), Dalton Trumbo (screenplay "A Guy Named Joe")

Stars:

Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Brad Johnson

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Pete Sandich
Holly Hunter	...	Dorinda Durston
Brad Johnson	...	Ted Baker
John Goodman	...	Al Yackey
Audrey Hepburn	...	Hap
Roberts Blossom	...	Dave
Keith David	...	Powerhouse
Ed Van Nuys	...	Nails
Marg Helgenberger	...	Rachel
Dale Dye	...	Don
Brian Haley	...	Alex
James Lashly	...	Charlie
Michael Steve Jones	...	Grey
Kim Robillard	...	Air Traffic Controller
Jim Sparkman	...	Dispatcher

Storyline

Pete Sandich and buddy Al Yackey are daredevil aerial forest-fire fighters. Pete finds True Love with Dorinda but won't give up the job. When he takes one risk too many, Dorinda faces deep grief and cannot easily put her life back together.

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Plot Keywords:

attitude | pilot | forest fire | falling in love | ghost | 

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Taglines:

They couldn't hear him. They couldn't see him. But he was there when they needed him... Even after he was gone.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Siempre

Filming Locations:

Libby, Montana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$43,858,790

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$74,134,790, 31 December 1990

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, United Artists, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During production, Steven Spielberg confided that while making Jaws (1975), he and Richard Dreyfuss had traded quips from A Guy Named Joe (1943), which they both wanted to remake. As an "inside joke," a clip from the film is included in a scene in Poltergeist (1982), which Spielberg had produced. Dreyfuss had seen the 1943 melodrama "at least 35 times." For Spielberg, who recalled seeing it as a child late at night, "it was one of the films that inspired him to become a movie director," creating an emotional connection to the times that his father, a wartime air force veteran had lived through. The two friends quoted individual shots from the film to each other and when the opportunity arose, years later, were resolved to recreate the wartime fantasy.

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Goofs

When Dorinda rides her bike onto the airstrip to tell Pete that she loves him before he takes off, she jumps off her bicycle in front of the port engine and it isn't running. She climbs up on the plane to the cockpit scene but when she climbs down to her bicycle the engine is running and Pete is still on his feet in the cockpit so he couldn't have started the engine that fast. It was the reason she couldn't hear him saying "I love you".

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Quotes

Ted Baker: Well, I'll tell ya there, missy. You sure do look purty when you're angry. Wah-huh.
Dorinda Durston: Oh, so you do impressions?
Ted Baker: Well, just that one.
Dorinda Durston: Uh-huh. Who was it?
Ted Baker, Pete Sandich: [astounded] Who was it?
Dorinda Durston: Was it James Stewart?
Pete Sandich: What are you, kidding me? Who did you think it was, Henry Fonda?
Ted Baker: Well, I'll tell ya there, little missy, you sure do look purty when you're angry! Wah-huh!
Dorinda Durston: Henry Fonda.
Ted Baker: John Wayne! Don't you know John Wayne?
[...]

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Crazy Credits

On the Blu Ray release, at the very end of the end credits, there is a warning. It reads, in quotation marks: "Caution: Inhaling of helium from balloons is dangerous, and can cause serious injury or death."

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Connections

Referenced in Dawson's Creek: Pilot (1998)

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Soundtracks

MATZOH BALLS
Written and Performed by Slim Gaillard
Courtesy of Hep Records

User Reviews

Positive review of movie, comparing and contrasting to Ghost

This is a quality film, and it is one of the reasons why I think John Goodman is a really a good actor who often goes unnoticed. This movie would have been decent with any cast, but I think the combination of John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Richard Dreyfuss really brought the story to life. Additionally Spielberg does a good job of incorporating the supernatural presence of Pete Sandich's ghost without relying on dramatic special effects. This movie is somewhat similar in theme to Ghost (which came out one year after Always), but Ghost focuses more on the supernatural aspects and goes to great lengths to show the ghost walking through doors and other objects. To a certain extent these special effects take center stage in ghost, whereas in Always you never see Richard Dreyfuss walk through anything. All of the cool supernatural stuff happens offscreen leaving the plot and the characters as the main focal point. That being said I think that the action scenes with the planes flying over the forest fires are really thrilling. It's beautiful, and intense. (I think it makes the dogfights in Top Gun look like a Carousel ride) Go rent this movie.