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Always
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Starring	Richard Dreyfuss Holly Hunter John Goodman Brad Johnson Audrey Hepburn
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Universal Pictures United Artists
Release date(s)	December 22, 1989 (United States)
Running time	122 min.
Language	English
Budget	$29,500,000 (estimated)
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Always is a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman. Audrey Hepburn made her final film appearance. The film was distributed by Universal Studios and United Artists.

The premise is based on the 1943 movie A Guy Named Joe and follows the same basic plot line. ^[1] with basic plot similarities in that one of the pilots dies and returns as an angel to mentor a new pilot, only to find the new pilot falling in love with his former girlfriend. Spielberg did not treat the film as a direct homage to the earlier World War II melodrama but it is significant that A Guy Named Joe is aired in a scene in Poltergeist.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Production 3 Reception 4 References 5 External links 6 See also

Pete Sandich (Dreyfuss) is one of a group of aerial firefighters, who fly war-surplus aircraft dropping fire retardant slurry to put out forest wildfires. He and Dorinda Durston (Hunter), a pilot who doubles as a dispatcher, have an unusual relationship. After another of Pete's unnecessarily risky flying stunts, the pilots, mechanics and firemen are hanging out at the saloon. Pete surprises Dorinda with a stunning white dress for her birthday, although it turns out to be the wrong day. She puts on the dress anyway and all the guys rush to wash their hands so they get a turn dancing with her, to the lovely melody of the couple's song, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Al Yackey (Goodman) is Pete's pal, a big trustworthy guy who really cares about Pete's well-being and is an enthusiastic booster of his relationship with Dorinda. He sits Pete down for a beer and likens their situation to wartime England (Quonset huts, warm beer, and hotshot pilots flying bombers) in order to emphasize the key difference:

Pete, there ain't no war here. And this is why you're not exactly a hero for taking these chances you take. You're more of what I would call a dickhead.

Al recommends Pete take a safer job which has just opened up, training firefighting pilots in Flat Rock, Colorado.

Dorinda reinforces the message, telling Pete:

I could at least understand how you fly if you were risking yourself for civilization. If you were putting your life on the line for another life, anybody's life. I love you, Pete, but I'm not enjoying it.

After deciding to take Al's advice, Pete risks his life one last time. While on a bombing run, one of the engines on Al's Catalina water bomber catches fire. In desperation, Pete makes a dangerously steep dive to extinguish it with slurry. He saves Al, but his own A-26 bomber flies so low it hits one of the burning trees, catches fire and explodes.

The next thing he knows, he's getting his hair cut in a beautiful forest setting, although six months have elapsed in the real world. His barber, Hap (Audrey Hepburn in her final screen role) — who is actually an angel — explains Pete's new role. Just as he was inspired when he needed it most, now he in turn is going to provide Spiritus ("the divine breath") to others. As she puts it, “They hear you inside their own minds as if it were their thoughts.”

Pete is promoted to guardian angel (“We don't send back the other kind”) and is assigned to guide a true-hearted, but awkward new pilot, Ted Baker (Brad Johnson), who falls in love with Dorinda. This becomes Pete's biggest challenge: to say goodbye to Dorinda, instead of selfishly hanging on to a love which can no longer be.

Ted volunteers for an extremely dangerous mission, one that is vital to save a crew of firefighters surrounded by flames. Unable to bear the thought of losing another loved one, Dorinda steals Ted's aircraft and completes the job, with Pete's inspiration. On the way back, she sees his image one last time, and he tells her all the things he wanted to say, but never got around to while he was alive. When they land, he releases her heart, so that Ted can take his place, saying “That's my girl… and that's my boy ” and Pete finally enters heaven.

The movie is set in Kootenai National Forest, Montana, with some scenes filmed in and around Libby, Montana. Some 500 people from nearby Libby, Montana were recruited for the movie as extras to act as wildland firefighters.

Two A-26 fire bombers (No. 57- N9425Z and No. 59 N4818Z) were prominently featured in the film, Always.^[2] The flying for the movie was performed by well-known movie pilot Steve Hinton^[3] and Dennis Lynch,^[4] the owner of the A-26s.

The movie opened at #5 grossing $3,713,480, competing with Christmas Vacation, Tango & Cash (opening the same weekend), The War Of The Roses and Back To The Future Part II. Although not a huge hit, the movie performed well, grossing $43,858,790 in the U.S. and $30,276,000 on foreign territories, for a $74,134,790 worldwide total.

• Farmer, James H. "The Making of Always." Air Classics, Volume 26, No. 2, February 1990.

• Always at the Internet Movie Database

• List of firefighting films

v • d • e Films directed by Steven Spielberg

Duel (1971) · The Sugarland Express (1974) · Jaws (1975) · Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · 1941 (1979) · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) · Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) · The Color Purple (1985) · Empire of the Sun (1987) · Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) · Always (1989) · Hook (1991) · Jurassic Park (1993) · Schindler's List (1993) · The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) · Amistad (1997) · Saving Private Ryan (1998) · Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001) · Minority Report (2002) · Catch Me if You Can (2002) · The Terminal (2004) · War of the Worlds (2005) · Munich (2005) · Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) · Untitled Abraham Lincoln biopic (TBA) · Interstellar (TBA) · Tintin (TBA) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (TBA)