SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Quite often, death scenes in movies seem -- for lack of a better word-- hokey. This practice is not limited to the early days of motion pictures (it continues into the present, especially in horror films). 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. Doesn't it seem contrived, uneducated and moronic, to an extent? Juvenile is the word that comes to mind.Where is the subject of death treated more accurately, or at least more believably, on celluloid? How about THE LAST ANGRY MAN (check out Paul Muni's spectacular deathbed scene); THE MCCONNELL STORY (where June Allyson's character witnesses the flying formation at the end that does not include Alan Ladd's deceased character); or GOOD-BYE MY LADY (which though it is unabashedly sentimental, seems to honestly convey the loss of a beloved pet).

jzappa 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. Victor Fleming---hot off the helm of the two most celebrated and remembered films in American history, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, which he directed both in the same year---was proved a highly capable director to say the least, particularly within the vein of such idealistic Americana as A Guy Named Joe. He was like Mervyn LeRoy, who made greatly satisfying escapist pictures like Random Harvest, but Fleming was notorious for his uber-masculine edge, which comes to life here much more than in either of his 1939 epics. It is this treatment of his surrounding talents that is designed to excite the 1943 viewer.This drippy film uses premonitions, the afterlife and spiritual counseling to drive the story, and we tend to have some premonitions of our own in terms of cogitating the next step ahead after awhile. 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. It is a lavishly verbose script as well, with positive and negative results. It is, nevertheless, a melodrama, but likewise, it is not entirely such a clearly constructed world of connotations: There is no unambiguous villain posing a threat, save the unseen dogfight opponents, but a humbling test for a wealthy heroic ego. The hero does not escape, nor does he rescue the heroine. 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. It makes me think of a strip of celluloid whirring from one reel to another between my fingertips.

blitzebill 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. Tracy of course shines in his performance. 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. Same for "Always."here it's the P-38. And what flying!I need to buy these 2 films.there is some nice sentimentality in this film, nostalgia.it was a good idea for a film.

wes-connors Spencer Tracy plays a World War II pilot who isn't just killed, but demolished, in the exciting opening of "A Guy Named Joe". He goes to a Heavenly place (with Lionel Barrymore in charge). There, he is given his Real Wings - he is to return to earth and be Van Johnson's "Guardian Angel". 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. The story is propagandistic and illogical. But, the production looks nice, and some performances are worthy. ***** A Guy Named Joe (1943) Victor Fleming ~ Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson