Only Angels Have Wings

Considered the "quintessential" Howard Hawks male melodrama by many, Only Angels Have Wings stars Cary Grant as Geoff Carter, the tough-talking head of a cut-rate air freight company in the Andes. Carter has a dangerous business to run and spurns romantic entanglements, fearing women blanch at the inherent danger. Displaced showgirl Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) arrives and tries to prove him wrong.

Along with sparkling dialogue from Grant, Arthur and renowned character actor Thomas Mitchell, Only Angels Have Wings captivates with dazzling air sequences featuring landings on canyon rims, vertiginous ups and downs and perilous flights through foggy mountain passes.

Only Angels Have Wings was the third-highest-grossing film of 1939. It was added to the National Film Registry in 2017.


 * California Doubling: The Rocky Mountains, standing in for the Andes Mountains.
 * Shown Their Work: All three aircraft used in the movie were actually flying above the Andes in the late-1920s.
 * Star-Making Role: Judy MacPherson, for Rita Hayworth.
 * What Could Have Been: If the first-planned Cannes Film Festival hadn't been cancelled, Only Angels Have Wings would have been shown there.