Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

[spacegrrrl]

This week we talk about "Always:. I'm watching it now. I will edit this later with my "review". I hope you'll all watch this great flick in the next week and we can discuss it here!

My initial thoughts! I love A-26s!!!! Also, I wonder if someone passed on something to me (and if at some point I will pass something about my love of aviation to another)

Oh, and a lot of you won't get it but the line "girl clothes" made me smile!

So as I watch and I drink the "Budweiser, the 89" and I realize how great this movie is I hope you too will all take this fine flick in and share what it made you think. If you can't re watch it but you've seen it don't hesitate to share what you think about this movie.

More soon!

Spacegrrrl

[hattend]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

For a while I was teasing my wife about falling asleep on the phone when she was calling me overseas.

I started calling her Dorinda because she would be talking along and then start mumbling incoherently. I told her she was shopping in her sleep...toilet paper...kitty litter.

One of my favorite movies, makes me tear up at the end.

Thought Holly Hunter was hot

Don Hatten
Go Bear

[spacegrrrl]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

OK, so when I picked this movie I was staring at a pile of about 30 aviation related films. But somehow this one spoke to me. And now I almost think I know why.

So basically about the movie. If I put on my movie reviewer hat, this is a pretty good movie, good acting, great cast, some great flying scenes. I also own "About Joe", the movie it was loosely based on, and I can see the connection, but this movie is much better. I'm not going to spend any time on the classic "movie review" because this is not a "film fan forum", we are about the aviation. So on to what this movie made me thinki.

I love the A-26 and the Catalina, they are the stars! But once we get past the flying machines we have the people and the story. I don't see how it could have been cast any better! I want a best buddy friend like fire bomber pilot John Goodman! Holly Hunter was awesome! I have no idea who the actor was that played Ted Baker but he was perfect! This is simply one of the best movies ever!

But once I got through it and remembered why I loved it I felt better, happier, and it gave me some closure. I didn't expect that. Again, I have a ton of aviation movies to pick but this one kept coming to the top of the list.

So what is this movie really about. Well aviation for sure, and aviators. Aviation with a purpose as well. And a love of something special, like flying. How love of something like flying is an essential part of what it means to be human. How these loves live beyond a single person and are something special to passed on. When I picked this movie I'd forgotten this theme, I was mostly thinking some great A-26 flying and some fun dialog from John Goodman and Richard Dreyfus. But now I see this it the best movie for me now. (and I hope all the rest of us)

So I could go on and talk about the fun scenes and the great flying, but I think now I am going to suggest that this might be happening right now. Somewhere in the valley of speed Jimmy is walking up to a woman with a barber chair....

Hap - Have a seat Jimmy, can I give you a trim
Jimmy - That was really something, I wish I could have just pulled up a bit more!
Hap - It's OK, they know you tried, but now you need to give back, that love of flying was a gift and now it is time to return it.

Scene shifts to Jimmy's first solo

Jimmy - I remember that, I was so afraid but once I was airborne it felt so right!
Hap - That's right Jimmy, someone before you gave you their spiritous!

Scene shifts to a 17 year old climbing into a Cessna 152

Hap - You need to pass on your love of flying to someone new......

So, this movie review is not going to be as much about the movie as how this particular movie is maybe about some closure for some of us. That what Jimmy had will carry on in someone else, maybe many new pilots.

I promise next movie I'll talk more about the movie and less about the "meta".

I have to say I found it interesting that given a huge library of aviation films that this one had to be the first. I hope everyone else finds this an excellent film to put recent events in perspective and see how we all share a "spark" that transcends us as individuals.

Sorry if I am over thinking it, looking forward to other folks sharing what this movie meant to them.

Spacegrrrl

[xmh53wrench]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

Wow, hadn't thought about this movie in forever.....but, I remember liking it a lot. And Richard Dryfus is one of my favs.....Hmmm sounds like a date with Netflix, thanks for jogging my memory.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

I actually like the idea of putting on my Siskel and Ebert movie reviewer hat in all this...

Can we go down that road too?

[51fixer]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

OF course you know Steve Hinton and his crew were instrumental in the making of this movie. I even built a camera mount for the bottom of the A-26 used in the filming when I worked for SH.
One time while flying one A-26 had a gear problem and they called us at Chino looking for parts to repair it even before it landed. They got it sorted out and it was fine.
Steve is seen in one scene standing next to the nose in the distance as they walked to get in while the engines were running. Steve was there to prevent the actors from walking into the props IIRC.
I didn't get to go up where they filmed but heard some good stories.

[Box A35]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

I know a lot of the flying scenes were filmed up in Libby, MT and that was also the airport they used as their "base" in the movie.

The A-26's came from Lynch Flying Service out of Billings, MT as well. I *think* that was shortly after the BLM mandated the use of aircraft that had 3 or more engines, which rendered the A-26's retired from actual firefighting.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

For me, the essence of this movie boils down to one scene...one of my favorite on-screen exchanges:
------------------------
Al (John Goodman): You know what this place reminds me of?

Pete (Richard Dreyfuss): I bet you a beer you're going to tell me...

(pause for interaction with the bartender and a couple other characters, and Al staring at Pete as he refuses to pay for the beer)

Al: You lose.

(More interaction as they get their beer)

Al: (Slapping a $5 on the table) To hell with it. What this place reminds me of is the war in Europe.....

Pete: Oh, this is deep.

Al: ......which I was personally never at, but think about it: The beer's warm, the dance hall's a Quonset, there's B-26s outside, hotshot pilots inside, an airstrip in the woods... IT'S ENGLAND, MAN! Everything but Glenn Miller! Except we go to burning places and bomb 'em till they stop burning. You see, Pete, there ain't no war here.

Pete: What's taking her so long?

Al: This is why they don't make movies called 'Night Raid to Boise, Idaho' or 'Firemen Strike at Dawn'. And this is why you ain't exactly a hero for taking these chances you take. You're more of what I would call......a dickhead.

[shorebird]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

Holly Hunter in a tight little white dress made me cry too.

Dennis

[Coyote Chris]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

Spielberg never got the credit he deserved for this movie. Of course, the movie just might speak to us more than the general public. IIRC, the school scene where the "instructor" Goodman gets hit with retartdant was filled near Moses Lake, WA. Spielberg did indeed originally wanted Sean Connery for the Role of HAP but he was busy so they got Heburn.

Thankfully, they used real airplanes mostly and not CGI. In my part of the world, fire fighter pilots are real heros....I have watched PBYs and other planes fly over my house many times here in rural Spokane County.
The last was something like an ag cat with floats hitting a fire a mile away this summer. Now that I think of it, 20 years ago on Oct 16th was firestrom 1991...got some good pics of the PBY buzzing my house...

Bless them all

[hattend]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

The PBY shot at the beginning heading towards the fishermen is the coolest entry to a movie EVER.

We had the Mars Mariner flying out of Shasta Lake a few years back. We trailed that thing in our boat for miles until it finally found a spot to take off. Very cool. Wish I could have seen it dropping a load of water (and fish...and swimmers and whatever else it might pick up skimming on the lake)

Don Hatten
Go Bear!

[KAHNZILLA]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

A great feel good movie and also a favorite of mine. Thanks, KC

[Sky Critter]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

"Cross wind over the trash can..."

What a great movie!

[Big_Jim]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

YOU MAGNIFICENT PAGAN GOD!

[Dialtapper]

Re: Movie of the week - "Always" - Discuss!

Holly Hunter in a tight little white dress made me cry too.

Dennis

Me too!

Tears of joy.