Always (1989)

An aerial firefighter (Richard Dreyfuss) takes risks which irritates his girlfriend (Holly Hunter) no end. He promises her he will take a job as an instructor but he has one last flight but he doesn't make it. In the afterlife, an angel (Audrey Hepburn in her last film) tells him he must return to Earth and guide someone else to the right path. Steven Spielberg directs this remake of the 1943 A GUY NAMED JOE, a film I'm not fond of. On the other hand, I like this film. More proof that remakes can often best the originals. Spielberg switches the WWII setting to aerial firefighters. Dreyfuss and Hunter have an ideal chemistry which is essential in a film that deals with a love so strong that even death can't stop it. If you don't/can't believe in that love, the film fails. ALWAYS touches on many things: grief, moving on, our own selfish motives, the things unspoken that we regret. Lest it sound like a heavy film, there's a lot of humor (some of it doesn't work), more than the 1943 film. As usual, that musical wizard John Williams hits all the right notes. With Brad Johnson, Marg Helgenberger and Keith David.