Always (1989)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.
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What critics compared Always to
Capturing that magic is something that has eluded even Spielberg himself on certain occasions (“1941,” “Always,” Indy 4), it’s not a fun lesson to learn but it’s one all filmmakers experience.
As Sam and Molly circle each other, accompanied by the rapturous strains of the Righteous Brothers singing ''Unchained Melody,'' Ghost becomes the movie Steven Spielberg's Always wanted to be ?
And now, in the past few months, we've had ghost stories: Spielberg's "Always," Bo and John Derek's hideous "Ghosts Can't Do It," the aforementioned "Ghost Dad" and this one, with the no-nonsense title "Ghost."
Jerry Zucker's 1990 fantasy combines elements of Spielbergian wistfulness a la Always (a dead man yearns to tell his beloved how much he loves her) and what appear to be very dim memories of Cocteau's Orpheus (a hunk walks through walls).
For those thinking I'm just a hardened cynic, I've enjoyed and been touched by many other films -- such as Steven Spielberg's "Always," the movie "Ghost" and the great "Heaven Can Wait" that all dealt with the afterlife in their own special ways.
Of all the movies Spielberg has directed, there’s been a few major bombs (1941, The Terminal, Hook), a couple of films that were OK (Amistad, Always) and a boatload of classics.
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If Spielberg has never made a convincing romance — his one previous venture into the form was the widely (if, to my mind, excessively) derided 1989 flop Always — neither is he comfortable with realism.
Released the same year as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to frosty reviews and tepid box office, comedy fantasy Always stars Holly Hunter, Richard Dreyfuss and Audrey Hepburn (in her final film) is a strange romantic fantasy tale of aviation and the afterlife.
Algo poco usual en un filme de Spielberg es el uso de canciones populares como parte del soundtrack (quizá Always sea su única cinta donde una canción es parte de la trama), y aunque John Williams realiza un score que en mucho refleja el estilo de jazz experimental que se daba por aquellas épocas (con un sonido a la Henry Mancini, para cuya orquesta tocó Williams en sus años mozos), Spielberg opta por incluir temas que ayudan enormemente a crear el estado mental que se necesita para ubicarse en la época: The Girl From Ipanema (de Stan Getz y Joao Gilberto), Embraceable You (Judy Garland), The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole) o The Look of Love (Dusty Springfield).