Line #13 Creator/HowardHawks


1	[[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0843.JPG]]
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3	Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977) was one of the most versatile directors of MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood.
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5	Starting out in silent films as an assistant director and other production jobs, Hawks soon moved up to director, and was one of Hollywood's top directors for the next several decades. Among the genres he handled successfully were gangster films, romantic comedies, screwball comedies, westerns, detective movies, and even musicals. Unlike other directors at the time, he wasn't tied to one particular studio. Also, though he worked with a number of well-regarded writers on his films (among them Ben Hecht and Creator/WilliamFaulkner), he was also known for changing the script as he was shooting it, with a number of examples of ThrowItIn in each of his films. He also was legendary for the number of tall tales he told about himself.
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7	Though Hawks directed a number of hits throughout his career, he fell out of favor with critics in the '50s, but was VindicatedByHistory, thanks to [[MediaNotes/TheAuteurTheory "auteur"]] critics like Creator/FrancoisTruffaut who helped restore his reputation. A later generation of directors would cite him as a major influence, second only to Creator/JohnFord, due to his versatility in moving between genres, with the likes of Creator/JohnCarpenter, Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/RobertAltman, Creator/QuentinTarantino, Creator/WesAnderson, Creator/GreggAraki, and Creator/JimJarmusch testifying to his influence on their work.
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10	!!Partial filmography:
11	[[index]]
12	* ''Film/TheDawnPatrol'' (1930) - film about UsefulNotes/WorldWarI flying aces.
13	* ''Film/TheCrowdRoars'' (1932) - James Cagney plays a race car driver
14	* ''Film/{{Scarface\|1932}}'' (1932) - The original version. The TropeCodifier of the gangster film genre and still just as bold and daring as the remake.
15	* ''Film/TwentiethCentury'' (1934) - One of the earliest examples of ScrewballComedy.
16	* ''Film/BringingUpBaby'' (1938) - Perhaps the screwiest of ScrewballComedy, it was a box-office failure but it is VindicatedByHistory.
17	* ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'' (1939) - A drama about thrill-seeking aviators starring Creator/CaryGrant, Creator/JeanArthur and Creator/RitaHayworth.
18	* ''Film/HisGirlFriday'' (1939) - Yet another iconic screwball comedy. Cary Grant and Creator/RosalindRussell (whose performance here inspired the character of ComicBook/LoisLane) try to free an innocent man from a MiscarriageOfJustice, but really it's WillTheyOrWontThey.
19	* ''Film/SergeantYork'' (1941) - A biopic of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI hero Alvin York.
20	* ''Film/BallOfFire'' (1941) - A screwball comedy starring Creator/GaryCooper and Creator/BarbaraStanwyck, loosely based on ''Literature/SnowWhite''.
21	* ''Film/AirForce'' (1943) - A war film about aviators who, while ferrying an unarmed bomber across the Pacific, get caught in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Based on an actual incident.
22	* ''Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot'' (1944) - The first teaming up Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/LaurenBacall.
23	* ''Film/TheBigSleep'' (1946) - The second teaming of Bogart and Bacall, and considered one of the best detective movies ever made.
24	* ''Film/RedRiver'' (1948) - An important Western and the first serious role for Creator/JohnWayne [[note]]Creator/JohnFord, Wayne's mentor, saw the film and told Hawks, "I didn't know that [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct son-of-a-bitch can act!]]" He would give Wayne more complex parts from then on, including ''Film/TheSearchers''.[[/note]]
25	* ''Film/IWasAMaleWarBride'' (1949)
26	* ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' (1951) - A classic sci-fi monster movie that relies on [[NothingIsScarier suspense]] rather than special effects. His normal assistant director Christian Nyby is the credited director, even though it plays like one of Hawks' films, causing controversy to this day over how much was Hawks and how much was Nyby, mimicking his tutor.
27	* ''Film/TheBigSky'' (1952)
28	* ''Film/{{Monkey Business\|1952}}'' (1952) - Screwball comedy involving a youth potion.
29	* ''Film/OHenrysFullHouse'' (1952) - Segment "The Ransom of Red Chief"
30	* ''Film/GentlemenPreferBlondes'' (1953) - Features Creator/MarilynMonroe's iconic number, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend!" Again, Hawks did not direct, but rather his choreographer, Jack Cole leaving some controversy over the extent to which he is responsible.
31	* ''Land of the Pharoahs'' (1955) - His foray into the EpicMovie, a box-office failure but interesting for its exploration of AncientEgypt.
32	* ''Film/RioBravo'' (1959) - A major box-office hit in its day, and a Western with more focus on camaraderie and TrueCompanions than on the plot. Also (depending on when you ask him) Creator/QuentinTarantino's favourite film.
33	* ''Film/{{Hatari}}'' (1962) - A movie with no plot, Creator/JohnWayne and actual animals in Africa. A huge box-office hit.
34	* ''Film/ElDorado'' (1966) - A remake of ''Film/RioBravo'', but faster-paced, with more plot complications and more angst about growing old.
35	* ''Film/RioLobo'': A second ''Film/RioBravo'' remake focusing more on the build-up to TheSiege (the events setting the plot into motion, the capture of the prisoner) than the siege itself.
36	[[/index]]
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39	!!Some tropes associated with Hawks's work are:
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41	* AllWorkVsAllPlay: His movies are unique for blurring these lines, in his films, work is play, and characters who work together have a lot of fun, and the kind of fun that you can only have with people who watch your back.
42	* AngstWhatAngst: [[invoked]] Hawks' movies tend to flaunt this. ''Only Angels Have Wings'' opens with the death of a pilot named Joe, and immediately the pilots go around asking "Who's Joe?" and celebrate anyway though they mourn privately. For Hawks, death and tragedy are not the central features of life, but merely interruptions of real living.
43	* CentralTheme: Act like a man.
44	* CompetencePorn: He was credited with making movies about professionals who approach their work with confidence, spirit, fun, and resourcefulness. Movies like ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'', ''Film/HisGirlFriday'', ''Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot'' and ''Film/RioBravo'' all had hypercompetent professionals and team-mates banter with each other as the plot focused on how they approached a job.
45	* ConsummateProfessional: His films celebrate characters who are this in their chosen field. ''Film/RioBravo'' is about Creator/JohnWayne worrying that Creator/DeanMartin is undergoing BadassDecay while Ricky Nelson is the young plucky rookie who convinces the professionals that he's so good, "he doesn't need to prove it!" ''Film/HisGirlFriday'' is about DaEditor Walter Burns (Creator/CaryGrant) manipulating [[WorkingWithTheEx his ex]] Creator/RosalindRussell back into his life, not only because he loves her but because he values her work as a journalist.
46	* FiveManBand: His movies tended to be about groups and they tended to fall into roles like this, with Creator/HumphreyBogart, Creator/CaryGrant and Creator/JohnWayne playing TheHero of their own crew in films like ''Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot'', ''Only Angels Have Wings'', and ''Film/RioBravo''.
47	* {{Flashback}}: Averted; he hated flashbacks and never used one in over 40 years of directing films.
48	* GenreProlificCreator: Howard did war movies (''Film/TheDawnPatrol'' and ''Film/SergeantYork''), screwball comedies (''Film/TwentiethCentury'', ''Film/BringingUpBaby'' and ''Film/HisGirlFriday''), westerns (''Film/RedRiver'' and ''Film/RioBravo''), a historical epic (''Land of the Pharoahs''), noir (''{{Film/The Big Sleep}}''), a musical movie (''Film/GentlemenPreferBlondes'') and science fiction (''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'')...[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_from_Another_World#Director maybe]]. He also [[Main/TropeCodifier codified gangster movies]] (''{{Film/Scarface 1932}}'').
49	* HasAType: While the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksian_woman "Hawksian Woman"]] is mainly characterized by her attitude and level of competence, she does have a visual side. She is usually not a statuesque beauty, but physically looks tough enough to succeed in an "un-ladylike" environment and dresses accordingly. Also some critics noted that Hawks' female leads tended to be brunettes and not too busty.
50	* MagnumOpusDissonance: [[invoked]] The films Hawks tended to be associated in his later years were ''Film/RioBravo'', ''Film/HisGirlFriday'' or ''Film/ToHaveAndHaveNot'' and he was seen as a director of TheWestern and the ScrewballComedy. His own favorite was the first ''Scarface'', a classic gangster film for sure, but an atypical work compared to his later films. He stated that it was a movie he had complete freedom to achieve what he wanted.
51	* RatedMForManly: A central theme for much of his work--particularly his Westerns and war films--involves looking into the meaning and implications of "being a man". Though funnily enough, auteurist critics actually celebrated his films for having prominent women characters and even being quasi-Feminist, citing Creator/RosalindRussell, Lauren Bacall and Angie Dickinson's performances in these films.
52	* TrueCompanions: His films were celebrations of this.
53	* VitriolicBestBuds: His favorite kind of friendship in his films.

Context Creator / HowardHawks