Howard Hawks

Howard Hawks film career spanned from the silent era to talkies and past the collapse of the studio system in the 1970's. He was a director, producer and screenwriter who could make films in a variety of genres.

The Silent Era

Hawks started working in silent film in the 1910's. He started out in the prop department and rose through the ranks. He worked as a casting director, editor, producer, script supervisor and an assistant director. Eventually he was hired by Paramount in 1922 as a screenwriter and worked on scripts for roughly 60 films (mostly uncredited).

Fox was the first studio to give him a shot at directing. He wrote and directed The Road To Glory in 1926. He went on to make eight silent films.

The Hits of The 30's

The 1930's was the dawn of the talkies.

Hawks made wonderful pictures that today are regarded as masterpieces. It was the film Scarface that put him on top in 1932. This film out of all the other ones he did remained his favorite. Also during this decade he made Tiger Shark (1932), Today We Live (1933), Barbary Coast (1935) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938). Bringing up Baby starred Cary Grant who was a favorite of Hawks and he used him in many films in the late 1940's.

The 1940's

The 1940's was another decade of stellar films for Hawks. Sergeant York in 1941 earned him an Academy Award nomination for best director. This decade also saw the release of some wonderful Bogart and Bacall films directed by Hawks, To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). These films are considered cinema classics and are a must see.

Hawks and the Studio System

Through his career, Hawks remained independent of the studio system. Although he worked for all eight of the major studios he kept himself a free agent. Refusing to be bogged down or controlled by the corporations that controlled cinema. He was one of the first auteur directors that arose from the ashes of the studio system of the 1960's.

He became a major influence on other auteur directors such as Robert Altman and Peter Bogdonavich who adapted his unique dialog style. A style in which the actors spoke over one another and used improvisation. Hawks felt the actors had something to say about their characters and allowed creative input from them.

The Duke

Howard Hawks also played a significant role in the career of John Wayne. The roles that John Wayne played in Hawks' pictures were diverse and help make John Wayne a household name.

Films such as Red River (1948), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) are some of the most beloved John Wayne pictures of all time.

Howard Hawks' Legacy

Howard Hawks has left an incredible collection of motion pictures for us to be entertained by. Also his body of work can educate us, inspire us and show us that the medium of film is limitless. Without Howard Hawks' contribution to cinema the motion picture industry would not be where it is today.

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