Hawks, Howard (1896-1977)

Considered one of the great film auteurs of the Hollywood Studio era, Howard Hawks directed forty-six films and has the distinction of being one of the few directors to work in every major genre, including the gangster film (Scarface, 1932); the war film (The Road to Glory, 1936, and Air Force, 1943); the screwball comedy, (Bringing Up Baby, 1938); the biopic (Sergeant York, 1941); the Western (Red River, 1948, and Rio Bravo, 1959); science fiction (The Thing, 1951); film noir (The Big Sleep, 1946); and the musical (Gentleman Prefer Blondes, 1953). His films are among the most popular still shown on U.S. television.

Hawks started in film as a prop man for the Mary Pickford Company in 1919. Within six years, he had risen to editor, scriptwriter, and assistant director. He directed his first feature film in 1926. His first all-talking film was produced four years later, a First National release entitled The Dawn Patrol. Arguably, his most important film as a director during his early years was Scarface, starring Paul Muni and Ann Dvorak. Though finished in 1930, the film was not released until 1932 because the producer, Howard Hughes, fought over censorship issues with the Hays Office, the administrative body which oversaw the industry's Production Code, which found the film too violent and amoral. Upon release, it was a critical and popular success, and was instrumental in establishing the gangster genre.

Other films for which Hawks is praised include Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), and To Have and Have Not (1944). As with most auteurs, artists of the cinema who have managed to transcend the studio system and "imprint" on their oeuvre thematic motifs and a formal style unique to their use of film as personal expression, Hawks is noted for his visual style and recurring character types and themes. The "Hawksian vision," as described by film scholar Peter Wollen, consists of a high value placed on the camaraderie of exclusive all-male groups with women as threat to the all-male community, professionalism of the protagonists; and in comedy, regression to childhood and the reversal of gender roles.

In 1975, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Hawks with an Honorary Award, for a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema.

—Frances Gateward

Further Reading:

Hillier, Jim, and Peter Wollen, eds. Howard Hawks, American Artist. London, BFI Publishing, 1996.

McCarthy, Todd. Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood. New York, Grove Press, 1997.

Wollen, Peter. Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1972.

Wood, Robin. Howard Hawks. London, BFI Publishing, 1981.