“Calling Barranca!”

Howard Hawks created this Oscar nominee of 1940 (well-deserved in special effects), a manly romantic fantasy about a troop of aviator/mail carriers that are tasked with the nasty job of bringing mail back and forth over the Andes. You don’t often come across romance-adventures set in the Chilean peaks, but there should be more as the sets of craggy tors and drifting fog lend romance that the story is otherwise lacking.

Miss Bonnie Lee, a showgirl waylaid by the weather, arrives in the fogged-in fictional crossroads of Barranca only to meet a bunch of American flyboys delivering the mail, led by gaucho-wearing Cary Grant as Geoff Carter, called Papa by the garrulous group. We get a good look at the tiny foggy town, the locals, and the American attitudes towards stranded showgirls.

There’s a main lead switcheroo at the beginning; we start the flick with Miss Lee, played adroitly by Jean Arthur, but as soon as she starts to have feelings for Carter, the movie shifts to sit squarely on his broad shoulders and even broader brimmed hats. The other sneaky star is Rita Hayworth in her first stand-out role as Bat MacPherson’s new wife and Carter’s old flame. She’s breathy, gushing, and absolutely sparkles on-screen.

“Lock the doors, Judith’s lost her equilibrium!” —Judith, celebrating.

There are those reviewers who think this is the underrated film of the century, and those who don’t. I fall squarely in the middle, as I love the idea of this movie a lot more than the execution. The inciting event—a poor young pilot’s death in a dramatic air-and-radio back-and-forth—doesn’t really incite anything and there’s a lot of moping around in-between the extraordinary aviation shots and explosions.

Viewers may be misled into thinking that Only Angels Have Wings is another Cary Grant vehicle like His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby, showcasing his goofball comedy chops and making audiences fall in love with him along with the leading ladies. They will not be expecting a hard-nosed (read, honorable?) misogynistic douchebag like Geoff Carter, who must be icy as hell to get the mail where it needs to go. A grifter to the very end, he leaves Lee thinking he’s left their love affair up to the flip of a coin. And, really, he has.

Excellent aviation acrobatics and less-than-stellar chemistry makes this a lukewarm watch with lots of turbulence and a bumpy landing.

-MH