A Guy Named Joe (1943)

      I’ve known about the movie A Guy Named Joe since, at least, 1989 when Steven Spielberg’s updated remake “Always” was released. I’ve been wanting to see the original film since then but never really got around to it. I finally did and enjoyed myself. Starring Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, and Van Johnson, A Guy Named Joe tells the story of an Army Air Corp pilot in World War II who dies on a mission and then put to work in the afterlife as a sort of guardian angel/flight instructor to young pilots in training. Only the young man he is paired with begins a relationship with the dead pilot’s girl.

     As always Spencer Tracy is amazing. Probably the most natural actor of his generation. You never catch him acting and he doesn’t just play himself in every role. His pilot Pete Sandridge is a little gruff and rough around the edges. He and his girlfriend Dorinda (Irene Dunne) verbally spar like best pals as their love language. Though we see Pete’s softer side when he gifts Dorinda a beautiful dress, “girl clothes” she calls it, and when he takes a few minutes to talk to a group of English children who hang around the base. At one point in a conversation with Dorinda, he says “I hate kids”, but she and we know better. Dunne is quite good here too. She doesn’t have the chemistry she had with Carey Grant in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife, but there is enough to make the relationship believable. Van Johnson plays the young pilot who is helped by Pete and falls for Dorinda. While not his first film, this is the one that garnered him real attention and lead to his becoming one of the most popular actors of the late ‘40’s into the ‘50’s. (My Grandmother thought he was dreamy) His performance is hit or miss. I don’t think he ever had a firm grip on who his character, Ted Randall, was but comes off as a clean cut, likable guy. The cast is packed with other good actors of the time. Some who had been around for a while like- Ward Bond, James Gleason, and Lionel Barrymore and others at the beginning of their screen careers- Don DeFore, Barry Nelson, and Esther Williams. Each bring something different to the story.

     Director Victor Fleming was far from the beginning of his career, having started in the silent days and already having made four films with Spencer Tracy- Captains Courageous, Test Pilot, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Tortilla Flat, along with Treasure Island, The Wizard of Oz, and Gone with the Wind. The latter two, by order of the studio chief, he took over from other directors. He was actually closer to the end of his career with Joan of Arc being his final directing job in 1948. He passed away from a heart attack in January of 1949. A Guy Named Joe was one of his most popular pictures and his work in it is very good. His cinematography along with George Folsey and Karl Freund is beautiful. The miniature work in the film is, for the most part, really good, though a few shots look a bit too much like wobbly miniatures. Nothing that ruined the film. For 1943 most of it was impressive. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay from a story by Chandler Sprague and David Boehm. By the 1950’s Trumbo would find himself blacklisted. Caught up in the red scare and accused of being a communist. It wasn’t until 1960 when Spartacus star and producer Kirk Douglas insisted on putting Trumbo’s name in the credits that he was able to stop using pseudonyms and openly be credited for his work again.

     During production Van Johnson was involved in a serious car accident and hospitalized for three months. Both Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne insisted they shoot around Johnson until he recovered. This put a gap in production of nearly 5 months where Dunne was able to make The White Cliffs of Dover at MGM. There was a good bit of location shooting. None in Europe or the Pacific Islands but in Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. South Carolina and Florida were second units whose footage would be used for composite shots. The only Oscar love for A Guy Named Joe was a nomination for the story by Chandler Sprague and David Boehm. One more interesting tid-bit, and a little spoilery if you have not seen the film yourself yet, is that the Production Code Administration objected to the original ending of the film where Dorinda dies and joins Pete in the afterlife. They considered it to be suicide, so revisions were made and a new ending was shot.

     As I mentioned earlier, I saw Spielberg’s Always long before finally watching A Guy Named Joe. Always is also flawed but I like it. It shares a few of the things wrong with the original film but, in my opinion, improves on a few too. Always stars Richard Dreyfus in the Pete role, Holly Hunter as Dorinda, John Goodman, and Brad Johnson. Spielberg also convinced Audrey Hepburn to take a break from her retirement for a short role in the film. If you haven’t seen either of these movies, I’d say start with A Guy Named Joe and if you have seen one and not the other, both are worth your time. I watched A Guy Named Joe streamed on the commercial supported free streaming service Tubi. It is available on DVD as part of the Warner Archives collection for around $20.