Highlights:
Lowlights:
- Has atmosphere, and transports us to this rugged area and group of brave/reckless pilots.
- In these figures, I think the film reveals the toughness and stoicism that this era aspired to.
- All those dramatic moments in the air, and shots of planes in the mountains.
- Jean Arthur playing the piano in a lively way with the band.
- Rita Hayworth at 21, who is striking in her small role.
- The very touching scene with Thomas Mitchell, who is wonderful here.
- The vibrant Spanish music with dancing at the beginning, and doleful song towards the end (both from Manuel Alvarez Maciste)
- The doctor paraphrasing Shakespeare in Spanish, which is then translated: "A man can die but once. We owe God a death. If we pay it today, we don't owe it tomorrow."
- This line from Jean Arthur: "I'm hard to get, Geoff. All you have to do is ask me."
Lowlights:
- The attitude towards women, which is poor. Arthur's character is partially blamed for a pilot's crash, patronized, and insulted. Hayworth's character is shaken around and told she shouldn't be asking so many questions about her new husband's past, and that she should just trust him. Unfortunately, they fall in line.
- Cary Grant's character is unlikeable in several ways, and yet the film makes him a hero.
- The love story does not feel authentic.
- The plot meanders and is a little scattered.
- Dropping nitroglycerine on condors. (ok, it's rationalized later, but jeez).