Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. A versatile film director, Hawks explored many genres such as comedies, dramas, gangster films, science fiction, film noir, and westerns. His most popular films include Scarface (1932), with Paul Muni; Bringing Up Baby (1938), with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant; Only Angels Have Wings (1939), with Grant and Jean Arthur; His Girl Friday (1940), with Grant and Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, and Gene Lockhart; To Have and Have Not (1944), with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall; The Big Sleep (1946), also with Bogart and Bacall; Red River (1948), with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift; A Song is Born (1949), with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo; The Thing from Another World (1951), with Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, and James Arness; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe; and Rio Bravo (1959), with Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.
His frequent portrayals of strong, tough-talking female characters came to define the “Hawksian woman.” Hawks was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Sergeant York (1942), with Gary Cooper and Joan Leslie. In 1974, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award as “a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema.” Critic Leonard Maltin called him “the greatest American director who is not a household name.” His work has influenced various popular and respected directors such as Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jean-Luc Godard, John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino.
Each new review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- The Road to Glory (1926) – silent; lost
- Fig Leaves (1926) – silent
- The Cradle Snatchers (1927) – silent
- Paid to Love (1927) – silent
- A Girl in Every Port (1928) – silent
- Frazil (1928) – silent
- The Air Circus (1928) – co-director, lost
- Trent’s Last Case (1929) – silent and sound version; partial print exists
- The Dawn Patrol (1930)
- The Criminal Code (1931)
- Scarface (1932)
- The Crowd Roars (1932)
- Tiger Shark (1932)
- Today We Live (1933) – co-director
- Twentieth Century (1934)
- Barbary Coast (1935)
- Ceiling Zero (1936)
- The Road to Glory (1936)
- Come and Get It (1936) – co-directed with William Wyler
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- Sergeant York (1941)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- Air Force (1943)
- To Have and Not Have (1944)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- Red River (1948)
- A Song is Born (1948)
- I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
- The Big Sky (1952)
- O. Henry’s Full House (1952) – directed with Henry Hathaway, Henry King, Henry Koster, & Jean Negulesco – anthology
- Monkey Business (1952)
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
- Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
- Rio Bravo (1959)
- Hatari! (1962)
- Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964)
- Red Line 7000 (1965)
- El Dorado (1966)
- Rio Lobo (1970)
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