high thanks to director Steven Spielberg's rousing feel for adventure." Metacritic calculated an average score of 50 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times considered it "dated" and more of a "curiosity," calling it Spielberg's "weakest film since his comedy 1941". Variety gave it a more generous review: "Always is a relatively small scale, engagingly casual, somewhat silly, but always entertaining fantasy." Awards and nominations Always was nominated in 1991 for the Saturn Award as Best Fantasy Film, while Jerry Belson was nominated for the Best Writing category of the award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (USA). A number of critics have now considered the film as the progenitor of a new crop of "ghost" genre films, including Ghost (1990). Music The character Pete Sandich, played by Richard Dreyfuss, whistles "Garryowen" and the theme to Leave It to Beaver. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," performed live in the film by J. D. Souther and played later on tape by The Platters, is what romantic couple Sandich and Durston refers to as "our song". The album was released in 1990 and featured tracks of the orchestral score of the film, composed and conducted by John Williams. An expanded edition of Williams' score was released on June 22, 2021 through La-La-Land Records, which includes unreleased and unheard musical contents. Also featured was Jimmy Buffett's "Boomerang Love". See also List of firefighting films List of films about angels References Notes Citations Bibliography Crawley, Tony. The Steven Spielberg Story. New York: William Morrow, 1983. . Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. . Evans, Alun. Brassey's Guide to War Films. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. . Farmer, James H. "The Making of Always." Air Classics, Volume 26, No. 2, February 1990. Freer, Ian. The Complete Spielberg. New York: Virgin Books, 2001. . Sinyard, Neil. The Films of Steven Spielberg. London: Bison Books, 1986. . Walker, Alexander. Audrey: Her Real Story. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997. . Woodward, Ian. Audrey Hepburn: Fair Lady of the Screen. London: Virgin Books, 2010. . External links 1989 films 1989 fantasy films 1989 romantic drama films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s fantasy drama films 1980s ghost films 1980s