A Guy Named Joe
Tags: sentimental

Plot synopsis:
Pete Sandidge (Spencer Tracy) is the reckless pilot of a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber flying out of England during World War II.  He is in love with Women Airforce Service Pilot Dorinda Durston (Irene Dunne), a civilian pilot ferrying aircraft across the Atlantic.  "Nails" Kilpatrick (James Gleason), Pete's commanding officer, first transfers Pete and his crew to a base in Scotland and then offers him a transfer back to America to be a flying instructor. Dorinda has a feeling that Pete's "number is up" and begs him to accept. Pete agrees, but goes out on one last mission with his best friend Al Yackey (Ward Bond) to check out a German aircraft carrier. Wounded after an attack by an enemy fighter, Pete has his crew bail out before bombing the ship and crashing into the sea.
Pete then finds himself walking in clouds, where he first recognizes an old friend, Dick Rumney (Barry Nelson). Suddenly becoming uneasy after remembering that Dick went down with his aircraft in a fiery crash, Pete says, "Either I'm dead or I'm crazy." Dick answers, "You're not crazy." Dick ushers Pete to a meeting with "The General" (Lionel Barrymore), who gives him an assignment. He is to be sent back to Earth, where a year has elapsed, to pass on his experience and knowledge to dilettante Ted Randall (Van Johnson) at flight school, then in the South Pacific, where Ted is a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter pilot. Ted's commanding officer turns out to be Al Yackey.
The situation becomes complicated when Ted meets the still-grieving Dorinda. Al encourages Dorinda to give the young pilot a chance. The pair gradually fall in love; Ted proposes to her and she accepts, much to Pete's jealous dismay.
When Dorinda finds out from Al that Ted has been given an extremely dangerous assignment to destroy the largest Japanese ammunition dump in the Pacific, she steals his aircraft. Pete guides her in completing the mission and returning to the base to Ted's embrace. Pete accepts what must be and walks away, his job done.

Review: Spencer Tracy is good, so was Van Johnson in that part!
Ward Bond is always so good at anything he dose, he is such a great SUPPORTING actor he supports and complements, he always seems to be the character he is playing.Yet, again I must say Irene Dunne is a Jewel, she does every character in such a believable manner you feel they could be your next door neighbor.
A Girl Named Irene, A Guy Named Spence, and Another Guy Named Van. This is a wonderful romantic picture set in World War II and I have to say Spencer Tracy has almost as much chemistry with Irene Dunne as he does with Katharine Hepburn.
During his career Spencer Tracy was basically two types of character, the cryptic tough guy adventurer and later on a wise father figure.
But he has to get killed before he morphs into his second character.Spencer Tracy is an ace pilot who's over in the European Theatre and his girlfriend, Irene Dunne is also a pilot, a la Amelia Earhart.
It seems as though Heaven has an Air Corps advisory program for ghosts to advise living pilots and Spence's first assignment is Van Johnson.
But it's at this point that Tracy grows into the father figure character we know him better from in his later work.Van Johnson's career got a big boost from this film.
Here she sings a great rendition of I'll Get By which was enjoying a revival of popularity in the World War II years.Rounding out the supporting cast are Lionel Barrymore, Ward Bond, James Gleason, Barry Nelson, and Don DeFore all performing to their usual standards of excellence.A really great romantic film like they don't make any more..
As many viewers I saw "Always", actually several times, before I even learned about "A Guy Named Joe." It is factual that the later film was a remake of the earlier one, but being in more modern times a significant story difference was depicted.
Set in WW II England, "A Guy Named Joe" gets its title from a comment made by one of the British children waiting to talk to Pete after one of his bombing runs over Germany.
In both films Pete dies during a heroic mission and in heaven is sent to help a novice pilot, who ends up romancing his old girlfriend, Drinda.
You just have to go with the fantasy-type theologies, in this story dead people coming back as angels-you-can see.Irene Dunne never looked better, although the soft-focus lens helped her looks.
Spencer Tracy gives his normal strong performance but I liked supporting actor Ward Bond in here better.
Tracy gives an excellent short speech at the end of this film.The special-effects in the aviator-war scenes were not good but, hey, this film was made about 65 years ago.
You could tell the planes were model airplanes on several shots.Note: this film was re-made by Steven Spielberg 40 years later under the title "Always." That was a nice film, too, but I think I'd still take this version..
The whole fact that Spencer Tracy's character loves Irene Dunne's so much that he will watch her marry another man is the most amazing testimony of love.
I don't know how you can watch one of the final scenes; in which Tracy and Dunne are in the plane and he says that their love is too good to make her unhappy; and still call "A Guy Named Joe," a silly movie.
Again, the war was simply a setting, because war in itself isn't very interesting, it is the human experience in war which creates a story.The Fact that Spielberg enjoyed and admired it so much that he remade it also says a little for the film..
"A Guy Named Joe" is a beautiful, sentimental, tear-jerker of a film starring Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, Ward Bond, James Gleason, and Dom Defore.
Tracy is Pete, a fighter pilot in World War II involved with Dorinda (Dunne), a female flier.
Before he knows it, no one can see him or hear him, he's escorted around heaven and earth by Barry Nelson, and assigned to be an angel for a young pilot (Johnson).For all the warmth of this film, it was fraught with problems behind the scenes.
The second problem was that Spencer Tracy kept coming on to Irene Dunne, which made her furious, and she complained to the front office.
She never worked with him again, which is a pity, because they made a charismatic screen couple.Spencer Tracy is fantastic as a cocky pilot who comes down to earth only when he dies.
One of the nicest thing about "A Guy Named Joe" is some of the lighting effects - the silhouette of Dunne as she says goodbye to Pete; the look of his plane in the distance when she first arrives - these really add to the sense of foreboding.Strangely, when viewed today, "A Guy Named Joe" is a feminist movie in more ways than even it knew.
The film is about a hot shot air force pilot (Spencer Tracy) who is in a squadron commanded by James Gleason.
Gleason also sympathizes with Tracy's girlfriend (Irene Dunne) who wants Tracy to take a quieter job (like training fliers in the states).
After the crew bails out, Tracy (instead of ditching) flies the plane kamikaze style into a German aircraft carrier and sinks it (but he dies).In the afterlife, Tracy is taken under the wing of the "General" (Lionel Barrymore), and is assigned to act like a conscience or guide to budding air force pilots.
Johnson is assigned to a war theater where Gleason's command is, and where Dunne is.
Dunne is mourning Tracy, but their closest mutual friend (Ward Bond) gets her to go out to enjoy herself.
The film follows as Tracy and Dunne finally accept the truth about the ending of their physical contact.
In the end she and Johnson find a new happiness together, while Tracy goes to his next "angel" assignment.
Guy Named Joe, A (1943) *** (out of 4) Well-acted drama has a hot shot pilot (Spencer Tracy) getting killed during a WW2 battle leaving his fiancé (Irene Dunne) all alone.
This film here is certainly sappy and predictable but the wonderful cast makes it very entertaining to watch even though the running time is a tad bit long.
Tracy leads the way with a very touching performance that lets the actor show off various emotions ranging from anger to sweetness to even some nice comic tones.
Johnson steals the film as the new pilot who mirrors Tracy's character too much.
The are a few battle scenes, which look extremely well including the main battle at the middle of the film when Tracy gets killed.
During WW2, fighter pilot Spencer Tracy (Pete) has a maverick streak which causes him problems and gets him sent to Scotland for reconnaissance flights and eventually back to the USA to train junior pilots.
The message of the film is one of acceptance of your situation and Tracy is perfect to lead us through the proceedings as he does indeed help those junior pilots.
He also helps his partner and fellow pilot Irene Dunne (Dorinda) to come to terms with her situation as she has to let go of confinement and share out the love.It's a sentimental film that is sentimental in a good way with ghosts helping out.
However, the film gets going once Tracy is given his final mission and we see the introduction of novice pilot Van Johnson (Ted).
The film is also a story for Tracy to accept his fate as his true love Irene Dunne goes off with another.Van Johnson tells an amusing story of someone who grew another foot and whilst I can see the attraction that he may have had for Dunne, I think that Esther Williams (Ellen), in a non-swimming role, was far more suited to him romantically.
Ward Bond (Al) is good as Tracy's pilot pal who remains with the living but I'm afraid I cannot say the same for Commander/General James Gleason (Nails) who annoyingly barks his way through the film.
Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne lead the way with Van Johnson, James Gleason, Ward Bond and many more right behind.
What a love story...I also saw the sequels, don't even remember their names but I will NEVER forget this one....They don't make 'em like this any more....Too bad for the younger generation....
Lets hope our film industry gets back to making "worthwhile" movies...
This film is an example of the World War II work of Dalton Trumbo, who wrote the screen play.
It was updated and remade in 1989 by Steven Spielburg as the movie "Always", and "Always" is just as good as this film, if not better, which proves that Trumbo wrote a great story to begin with.
The re-write replaces World War II Carpet Bombing with Rocky Mountain aerial fire fighting, and adds some very sound romance and bonding that really makes the film..
The movie started out really well for an old war propaganda film starring Spencer Tracy.
A Guy Named Joe was a fine World War II drama/fantasy.
Spencer Tracy plays a hot shot pilot named Pete who gets in a little trouble with superior James Gleason.
Ward Bond is his best buddy in the air and Irene Dunne is his fellow pilot girlfriend.
Spencer goes on a mission that...well, I don't feel like spoiling so I'll just stop there and just say I really enjoyed this vintage World War II-made-during movie with all the action, romance, and humor that entails.
Besides the above players, I also liked fellow supporting turns from Lionel Barrymore who, like Bond, was in my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life, Barry Nelson, Don DeFore, a young Esther Williams as a girl who dances with the enlisted men, Charles Smith as a homesick boy who Ms. Williams tries to cheer up, and Van Johnson who dances with Williams and is guided by Spencer.
Just to make matters worse, there is no one named Joe. Spencer Tracy plays Pete, a WWII fighter pilot with a best friend and a girlfriend (the always irritating Irene Dunne).
And the unusual dramatic triangle where Tracy has to guide Van Johnson through his difficult mission so he can get back to his girl and make her happy is a wonderful dramatic contrivance.
Yeah, I know it was 1943 but take a look at the effects in the next Tracy/Johnson bomber pilot epic, `Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo', made just the next year to see how they could do it right in the old days.
Just Your Average Joe. Spencer Tracy plays a World War II pilot who isn't just killed, but demolished, in the exciting opening of "A Guy Named Joe".
In the process, he has to deal with Mr. Johnson hooking up with his ex (Irene Dunne).The Victor Fleming-directed movie doesn't do anything to differentiate the ghostly Mr. Tracy from the Earthbound players.
***** A Guy Named Joe (1943) Victor Fleming ~ Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson.
But watching A GUY NAMED JOE, namely that scene where Spencer Tracy learns he is either crazy or dead up in the clouds (you're not crazy, buddy), one can't help but wonder if this is how people thought the afterlife was in those days.
A Guy Named Joe is a popcorn movie entertainment in the most classic sense.
We are suckered by the maven charm of the inherently self-assured never-miss talent of Irene Dunne, the cocksure wiseguy swagger of Spencer Tracy, the brazen spectacle of the airborne war effort, a creative high-concept plot device and just the romanticism of the whole thing.
Legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, though his script feels rushed to conclude, sketches characterizations that the actors bring to formidable life, and not just the two fiery leads but peripheral characters whose functions in the narrative formula are self-evident, like Ward Bond and Van Johnson.
He learns to accept the hand he's dealt and the heroine is a whole other character of her own with a quest of her own.A Guy Named Joe is still a pathos-filled tale that appeals to the heightened emotions of the audience, but done with a great deal of industry talent, and an implacable, abstract sense of wonder and novelty as a classic American studio picture.
i get some weird things happening to me once in a while.Spielberg's "Always," the remake of "A Guy Named Joe," was just on an Encore channel two nights ago (2/11/2009).Now here comes TCM replaying "A Guy..." right now.weird.anyway, this original is a decent film.
Van Johnson didn't seem to be into his role very much.Irene Dunne was OK.Maybe he was having an off-season for acting.but the real beauty of this film are the flying sequences.
Spencer Tracey does the best he can in a movie that can't decide if it wants to be a drama or a comedy and settles for being neither very well.All actors do rather well with the difficult task of acting like they can't hear the person talking to them, yet somehow get what is being said.
(Example: Irene Dunn mourning Spencer Tracey while he stands behind her telling her all the things he should have said while he could - perhaps the film's best moment.).
Wonderful lead performances by Dunne & Tracy.
Two very good reasons to see this charming movie are a terrific performance by Irene Dunne and the excellent interplay in the romantic relationship between Irene Dunne & Spencer Tracy.
While the World War II background is not the most realistic ever filmed, it still adds to the overall story by evoking the important ways that even small individuals were affected by and contributed to the war effort.Warning spoilers ahead!The movie also showcases an uncommonly mature (for Hollywood) perspective on love as it develops between these complex, grown-up characters.
Tracy genuinely evolves in a believable fashion when he comes back as an angel to advise his loved ones and the rival pilot.
Tracy is touching in their scenes together when he can't be seen by her.Still, it's Dunne who carries this affectionate movie on her very capable shoulders with a simply wonderful, strong, funny performance as an independent woman pilot who holds her own both during the war as well as in the demanding relationship banter.
See this movie to enjoy Dunne and Tracy and an excellent supporting cast led by Ward Bond..
I admire Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne and found them an agreeably spiky couple for the first half hour of the film evoking memories of Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in "Only Angels Have Wings" but from that gritty introduction to the main characters, the film then "goes Capra" and into a strange fantasy with Tracy winding up in heaven after a bombing mission goes wrong and then getting the job, Clarence-style of chaperoning young buck Van Johnston to fly in his slipstream, not only as a daring pilot but also, eventually overcoming his inbuilt jealous reluctance, to supersede his own place in Dunne's grieving heart.Now I love fantasy films of this ilk, "A Matter Of Life And Death" and "It's A Wonderful Life" prominent amongst them, but here the narrative is just too fantastical and sentimental especially the coincidence of Dunne falling for Johnston, (she looks old enough to be his mother), Tracy getting the job of being Johnston's guardian angel and the ridiculous ending where Dunne carries out Johnson's so-called suicide mission, under Tracy's spectral, but watchful gaze and tutelage and of course defies death in the process.These scenes and more turn the credible into the incredible and even solid acting from the leads and exciting air-sequences couldn't convince me that this belongs in the pantheon of Golden Age Hollywood classics.Sorry Mr Spielberg....
It's an efficiently staged story of Spencer Tracy and his girl friend Irene Dunne in the US Air Force in World War II.
When Tracy dies a heroic death, he's sent to the Command Post in heaven and given the assignment below of shepherding young pilot Van Johnson through his training and subsequent combat in New Guinea.
Irene Dunne shows up and Johnson begins courting her, much to Tracy's disgust.
He ultimately gives up the power he seems to have over her and she and Van Johnson are married.The film is worth a couple of observations.
Well, this is a story about a loved one who was killed in the war, and how much we need to put our sorrow behind us and move on with our lives.
Irene Dunne will never forget Tracy but, after a bit of rough handling by Tracy's friend, Ward Bond, she marries Johnson anyway.
Here's the amazingly silly plot in a nutshell: Spencer Tracy is a hotshot pilot who loves Irene Dunne.
The angels apparently are good patriotic Hitler-haters, so they let Tracy come back as a ghost to help the war effort by letting him look over and secretly guide the actions of younger, more alive, pilots.
BUT, in the process, Johnson now gets Dunne.
It only gets a 5 because I really like p-38s and other cool planes.And finally, I just thought of a really cool movie idea.
Spenser Tracy plays top flying Pete Sandige, who with his buddy Al(Ward Bond), go out on a bombing mission before taking on the assignment of training young pilots.
Hollywood fantasy takes over as Pete's angel guards over young pilot Ted Randall(Van Johnson)in his training; even as he romances Dorinda, who still remains devoted to his memory.
I disagree vehemently (okay, I need a life to get that upset about a goofy movie) with the folks who rave about Irene Dunne's performance.
Here we have a top-budget picture with such leads like Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Ward Bond and James Gleason that Lionel Barrymore has to be content with sixth billing and Esther Williams with eighth!