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Only Angels Have Wings

1939 film by Howard Hawks

Only Angels Have Wings is a 1939 film about a pilot flying a dangerous mountain mail route, and the showgirl who comes to love him.

I'm hard to get, Geoff. All you have to do is ask me.
Directed by Howard Hawks. Written by Howard Hawks and Jules Furthman.
BIG As The Fog-Shrouded Andes! (taglines)

Dialogue

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Geoff: [after Joe crashes] In about a week, you'll either collect or lose your shirt.
Dutchy: Oh, I'm not thinking about that. I just can't go on killing nice kids like that, not if I lose a dozen shirts!
Geoff: You think you're the only one that feels that way?
Dutchy: Then why do you send them up for in that kind of weather?
Geoff: Because I'm running an airline and I'm not running it any different than anybody I ever flew for...Joe died flying, didn't he? That was his job. He just wasn't good enough. That's why he got it.
Dutchy: I ain't built like you are, Geoff. I shouldn't be in such a business. We can't go on like that...Oh, Geoff! You're a hard man, much too hard.
Geoff: Cut it out...Cut it out!..What's the use of feeling bad about something that couldn't be helped?...I told you, Joe just wasn't good enough. If he hadn't got it tonight, he was bound to get it sooner or later.
Dutchy: Then you had no business to let him fly.
Geoff: What, ground that kid? Say, he'd sooner be where he is than quit.
Bonnie: How can you do that?
Geoff: What?
Bonnie: Eat that steak.
Geoff: What's the matter with it?
Bonnie: It was his.
Geoff: Look, what do you want me to do? Have it stuffed?
Bonnie: Haven't you any feelings? Don't you realize he's dead?
Geoff: Who's dead?...Who's Joe?...
Bonnie: What's the matter with you? He was sitting here with us talking and laughing just a few minutes ago and...
Bonnie: All my life, I've hated funerals. The fuss and bother never brings anybody back. It just spoils remembering them as they really are. And when I see people actually facing it that way, I have to act like a sap. This flying business is new to me.
Sparks: You have to have some crazy way of looking at it to go on.
Bonnie: Does this sort of thing happen very often?
Sparks: Well, that depends on weather and luck.
Bonnie: What was she like, anyway?
Geoff: Who?
Bonnie: That girl that made you act the way you do.
Geoff: A whole lot like you. Just as nice, almost as smart.
Bonnie: Chorus girl?
Geoff: Only by temperament.
Bonnie: Well, at least you're true to the type...Still carrying the torch for her, aren't you?
Geoff: Got a match?
Bonnie: Say, don't you ever have any?
Geoff: No - don't believe in laying in a supply of anything. [she hands him a match] Thanks.
Bonnie: Matches, marbles, money or women, huh?
Geoff: That's right.
Bonnie: No looking ahead; no tomorrows; just today.
Geoff: That's right.
Geoff: Did you ever know a woman that didn't want to make plans? Map out everything? Get it all set? Well, I don't blame 'em, I guess. It's the only way they can operate, run a home and have kids.
Bonnie: I suppose you think that's a lot easier, less dangerous than flying...
Geoff: I told you, I wouldn't ask any woman.
Bonnie: What if she were willing?
Geoff: That's what they all say. Women think they can take it, but they can't. The minute you get up in the air, they start calling the airport. When you get down, you find them waiting for you so scared, they hate your insides.
Bonnie: What if she were the type that didn't scare so easily?
Geoff: There's no such animal.
Bonnie: Now how do you know?
Geoff: Well, the girl I was telling you about came as close to it as anybody I ever met...Told me if I didn't quit flying, it was all off.
Bonnie: You wouldn't, would you?
Geoff: I'm still flying.
Bonnie: Look, you don't have to bother about me. I'm cured. I suppose there's a first time for everything.
Geoff: What do you mean?
Bonnie: Well, I've never quite made such a chump out of myself. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I -- No I'm not either, I'm glad.
Geoff: You're not making sense.
Bonnie: You're telling me? If I'd taken that boat, I'd have gone out of here remembering a swell guy. Someone who lived up to a screwy ideal that I'll -- I don't know.
Geoff: Look, I didn't ask you to stay. I wouldn't ask any woman --
Bonnie: I know. You wouldn't ask any woman to do anything.
Geoff: That's right. What's more, there's something else I wouldn't do.
Bonnie: What?
Geoff: Get burned twice in the same place. There's another boat leaving next week.
Bonnie: I'll be on it.
Kid: After that sample, have you still got your chin stuck out for more?
Bonnie: Oh, I know I'm a fool, but I can't do anything about it.
Kid: He won't quit flying, Bonnie.
Bonnie: I wouldn't ask him to. You don't believe that, do you?
Kid: You'll have a hard time making him believe it. Think you can take that sort of thing day after day?
Bonnie: You love him, don't ya, Kid?
Kid: Yes, I guess I do.
Bonnie: Why can't I love him the way you do? Why couldn't I sneer when he tries to kill himself, feel proud when he doesn't? Why couldn't I be there to meet him when he gets back? Why couldn't I --- What do you do when he doesn't come back when you expect him to?
Kid: I go nuts.
Bonnie: Gee whiz, you're a great help.
Bonnie: I thought you never did that.
Geoff: Did what?
Bonnie: Got burned twice in the same place.
Geoff: Here, we'll flip the coin for it. Tails you go, heads you stay. [He flips the coin] Heads. What about it?
Bonnie: I won't stay that way.
Geoff: You won't?
Bonnie: I'm hard to get, Geoff. All you have to do is ask me.
Geoff: Here's a souvenir for you, Bonnie. I like that saying good-bye. [He kisses her and races off to his waiting plane] So long, Bonnie.
[Bonnie discovers that Geoff's coin is two-headed]
Bonnie: Hey! Hey, Geoff!

Taglines

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  • BIG As The Fog-Shrouded Andes!
  • Powerful as a tropical storm!
  • Thundering DRAMA!
  • 1939's Greatest Screen Adventure!
  • Thrilling As Love Born Amid A Thousand Fabulous Adventures!
  • Romance as glorious as the towering Andes!
  • Each Day a Rendezvous With Peril... Each Night a Meeting With Romance!

Cast

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