Howard Hawks (1896–1977)

Author of His Girl Friday [1940 film]

109+ Works 3,285 Members 53 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Howard Hawks, an American producer, writer, and director, grew up in California, studied engineering, and served in the Army Air Corps during World War I. For 45 years he made movies in all of the standard Hollywood genres: popular "screwball comedies" like His Girl Friday (1940) and Bringing Up show more Baby (1938), westerns like Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959), musicals like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), gangster films like Scarface (1932), adventure films like To Have and Have Not (1944), and private-eye melodramas like The Big Sleep (1946). These were not run-of-the-mill movies, however, for Hawks infused them with his own style and themes. He tended to use a symmetrical structure and sparse dialogue, depending on concrete visual images to reveal character in action. Although he worked with some of the best writers in Hollywood (Ben Hecht, Jules Furthman, and William Faulkner, for example), he allowed his actors to add or alter lines, believing that improvisation improved the verisimilitude of a film. Hawks received only one Academy Award nomination in his career, for Sergeant York (1941), but he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy in 1975. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Howard Hawks, Hanks Howard, Howard Hawkes, Howard Hawkes, Howard Hawks - Director

Image credit: Howard Hawks

Works by Howard Hawks

Popular Recent

His Girl Friday [1940 film] (1940) — Producer/Director — 308 copies, 6 reviews

The Big Sleep [1946 film] (1946) — Director — 281 copies, 4 reviews

Rio Bravo [1959 film] (1959) — Director — 236 copies, 4 reviews

Bringing Up Baby [1938 film] (1938) — Director — 234 copies, 1 review

To Have and Have Not [1944 film] (1944) — Director — 203 copies, 7 reviews

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [1953 film] (1953) — Director — 186 copies, 1 review

El Dorado [1966 film] (1966) — Director — 166 copies, 1 review

Red River [1948 film] (1948) — Producer/Director — 154 copies, 2 reviews

Hatari! [1962 film] (1962) — Director — 124 copies, 3 reviews

Hawks on Hawks (1972) 108 copies, 2 reviews

Rio Lobo [1970 film] (1970) — Director — 97 copies

The Thing from Another World [1951 film] (1951) — Director — 86 copies, 2 reviews

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romantic Comedies (2009) — Director — 79 copies

Sergeant York [1941 film] (1941) — Director — 76 copies

Monkey Business [1952 film] (1952) — Director — 73 copies, 2 reviews

Only Angels Have Wings [1939 film] (1939) — Director & Producer — 66 copies, 1 review

I Was a Male War Bride [1949 film] (1949) — Director — 63 copies, 1 review

Scarface [1932 film] (1932) — Director — 61 copies, 3 reviews

The Outlaw [1943 film] (1943) — Director — 60 copies, 1 review

Ball of Fire [1941 film] (1941) — Director — 52 copies, 1 review

TCM Greatest Classic Legends Film Collection: Bogie and Bacall (2017) — Director — 50 copies

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Murder Mysteries (2009) — Director — 40 copies, 1 review

Twentieth Century [1934 film] (1934) — Director — 33 copies, 1 review

Man's Favorite Sport? [1964 film] (1964) — Director — 31 copies

The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth) (2006) — Director — 29 copies

O. Henry's Full House [1952 film] (1952) — Director — 25 copies

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: John Wayne Westerns (2009) — Director — 22 copies

Air Force [1943 film] (1943) — Director — 18 copies, 1 review

AMC Movies: Cary Grant Hollywood Classics — Director — 15 copies

The Big Sky [1952 film] — Director — 14 copies, 1 review

His Girl Friday [and] Cary Grant on Film: A Biography — Director — 14 copies, 1 review

John Wayne Adventure 3-Pack: Donovan's Reef / Hatari! / In Harm's Way (2013) — Director — 14 copies

Forever Marilyn Collection (4 films) (2013) — Director — 13 copies, 1 review

The Dawn Patrol [1938 film] (2007) — Writer — 13 copies, 1 review

His Girl Friday [and] Penny Serenade (Double Feature Video) — Director — 11 copies

Howard Hawks: Interviews (2006) 10 copies

Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection, Volume 1 (2001) — Director; Director — 10 copies

A Song is Born [1948 film] (1948) — Director — 9 copies, 1 review

Land of the Pharaohs [1955 film] (1955) — Director — 9 copies, 1 review

Come and Get It [1936 film] (1991) — Director — 8 copies, 1 review

50 Movies: The Fabulous Forties (2012) — Director — 8 copies

The Humphrey Bogart Collection: The Big Sleep / The Maltese Falcon / Casablanca / Key Largo (2000) — Director — 8 copies

Grant & Hope: Comedy Collection (2008) — Director — 8 copies

Classic Comedies Collection (2005) — Director — 7 copies

Cary Grant Collector's Edition (2009) — Director — 6 copies

Barbary Coast [1935 film] (1935) 6 copies

Cary Grant: The Collection [Bringing Up Baby / Indiscreet / My Favorite Wife / Operation Petticoat] (2003) — Director — 6 copies

4 Film Favorites: John Wayne (The Searchers, The Shootist, El Dorado, The Sons of Katie Elder) (2013) 6 copies

The Awful Truth / Born Yesterday / His Girl Friday (Triple Feature Video) — Director — 6 copies

My Man Godfrey [and] His Girl Friday (Double Feature Video) — Director — 5 copies

El Dorado [and] Hatari! (Double Feature Video) (1962) — Director — 5 copies

Marilyn Monroe Special Anniversary Collection — Director — 5 copies

Danny Kaye: The Goldwyn Years: 4 Films (2013) — Director — 4 copies, 1 review

2 Film Box Set: Father Goose [and] Bringing Up Baby — Director — 4 copies

The Searchers [and] Rio Bravo (Double Feature Video) (2012) — Director — 4 copies

The Criminal Code [1931 film] — Director — 4 copies

John Wayne: The Epic Collection (2014) — Director — 4 copies

The Crowd Roars [1932 film] (2012) 3 copies

The Cary Grant Film Collection (6 Films) (2013) — Director — 3 copies

His Girl Friday [and] The Amazing Adventure (Double Feature Video) — Director — 3 copies

Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection, Volume 2 — Director — 3 copies

The Best of John Wayne (1992) — Director — 3 copies

The John Wayne Collection: Volume 1: True Grit / Rio Lobo / El Dorado — Director — 3 copies

The Dawn Patrol [1930 film] (2013) — Director — 3 copies

His Private Secretary / His Girl Friday / Amazing Adventure (Triple Feature Video) — Director — 3 copies

The Incomparable Marilyn Monroe Movie Collection (3 films) (1959) — Director — 3 copies

Rio Bravo [and] Cahill: United States Marshal (Double Feature Video) — Director — 3 copies

5 Film Collection: John Wayne — Director — 2 copies

50 Movie Pack: Hollywood Legends — Director — 2 copies

Corvette K-225 [1943 film] — Director — 2 copies

John Wayne Westerns Film Collection [5 films] (2015) — Director — 2 copies

Diva 20 Movie Pack — Director — 2 copies

Cary Grant: The Gentleman's Collection (7 DVD Set) [An Affair to Remember, The Bishop's Wife, Born to be Bad, I was a… — Director — 2 copies

John Wayne: The Signature Collection: The Cowboys / Chisum / Cahill United States Marshall / The Searchers / Rio Bravo (2008) — Director — 2 copies

The John Wayne Collection: 5 Films (2002) — Director — 2 copies

3 Full-Length Features: Til the Clouds Roll By / Pot o’ Gold / His Girl Friday (2007) — Director — 2 copies

Red Line 7000 [1965 film] 2 copies

Cary Grant 7-Movie Collection — Director — 2 copies

The Road to Glory [1936 film] (1936) 2 copies

His Girl Friday [and] Never Wave at a Wac (Double Feature Video) — Director — 2 copies

Scarface (The Criterion Collection) [4K UHD] 2 copies

The Prizefighter and the Lady [1933 film] (2011) — Director — 2 copies

The Best of Marilyn — Director — 2 copies

Rio Bravo [videorecording] / Warner Bros. Pictures presents ; an Armada production ; screenplay by Jules Furthman and… — Film director — 1 copy

Only Angels Have Wings {movie} 1 copy

Man's Favourite Sport / Come September / Written on the Wind — Director — 1 copy

Girl in Every Port 1 copy

His Girl Friday [and] My Favorite Brunette (Double Feature Video) — Director — 1 copy

Marilyn Monroe Best Of Collection (4 Dvd) [Italian Edition] (2009) 1 copy

TCM 16 Greatest Classic Films Collection: Volume Two — Director — 1 copy

Cary Grant Collection: 3 Signature Movies (The Amazing Adventure / His Girl Friday / Charade] — Director — 1 copy

Topper / Bringing Up Baby / Seven Brides for Seven Brothers — Director — 1 copy

Red river 1 copy

Hollywood Legends: Cary Grant 4 Movie Collection: Once Upon a Time / Penny Serenade / His Girl Friday / The Amazing… (2015) — Director — 1 copy

John Wayne Triple Feature: Sons of Katie Elder / The Shootist / El Dorado (2015) — Director — 1 copy

Haben und Nichthaben (To Have and To Have Not) 1 copy

Rio Bravo [and] The Searchers (Double Feature Video) — Director — 1 copy

The Front Page | His Girl Friday — Director — 1 copy

Classic Comedy Super Value DVD - My Favorite Brunette / His Girl Friday / My Man Godfrey / Topper Returns — Director — 1 copy

Vivamos hoy = Today we live 1 copy

The Road to glory 1 copy

Sein Mädchen für besondere Fälle (His Girl Friday) 1 copy

Scarface (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] 1 copy

His Girl Friday Cary Grant Rosalind Russell 1 copy

His Girl Friday [and] My Dear Secretary (Double Feature Video) — Director — 1 copy

Cary Grant Collection: Charade / His Girl Friday — Director — 1 copy

Pop Flix Comedy: Cary Grant [His Girl Friday / Charade / Amazing Adventure] — Director — 1 copy

Classic Comedy Ten Movie Pack — Director — 1 copy

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (4 Marilyn Monroe Favorites) (DVD) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection (2011) — Director — 8 copies

On the Twentieth Century: Original 2015 Broadway Cast Recording (2015) — Orginal film — 7 copies

20th Century Fox Studio Classics Collection: Volume 14 (Desk Set, Hollywood Cavalcade, How to Steal a Million, I Was a… (2010) — Director — 5 copies

TCM Greatest Classic Legends Film Collection: Gary Cooper (2014) — Director — 5 copies

Karloff: Criminal Kind — Director — 3 copies

1925 Studio Tour [1925 short] (1925) 2 copies

WWI Centennial Commemoration Collection (DVD) (2014) — Director — 2 copies

Twentieth Century : Booklet (Indicator Series, 208) (2021) — Contributor — 1 copy

The John Wayne Century Collection (Big Jake / Donovan's Reef / El Dorado / Hatari! / Hondo / In Harm's Way /… — Director — 1 copy

Tagged

1930s (16) 1940s (33) 1950s (19) action (27) adventure (30) American cinema (19) black and white (22) Blu-ray (26) Cary Grant (53) cinema (24) classic (24) comedy (149) crime (18) drama (83) DVD (449) fiction (18) film (109) film noir (32) Howard Hawks (44) Humphrey Bogart (26) John Wayne (46) Lauren Bacall (27) Marilyn Monroe (23) movie (115) movies (76) musical (27) mystery (21) noir (20) romance (70) romantic comedy (17) science fiction (23) screwball (17) screwball comedy (30) thomson1000 (16) USA (18) VHS (33) Walter Brennan (19) western (117) Westerns (16) WWII (18)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Hawks, Howard
Legal name: Hawks, Howard Winchester
Birthdate: 1896-05-30
Date of death: 1977-12-26
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Goshen, Indiana, USA
Education: Cornell University
Occupations: film director
screenwriter
producer
Awards and honors: Hollywood Walk of Fame

Members

Reviews

The Big Sleep by Howard Hawks

2024 movie #204. 1946. Philip Marlow (Bogart) takes a case involving blackmail, murder, kidnapping and Lauren Bacall. The plot hardly matters, it's all about the dialog and the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. I've seen it before but it stands up to repeated viewing.

Flagged

capewood | 3 other reviews | Nov 30, 2024 |

The Big Sky by Howard Hawks

Watched about an hour, didn't much care for it.

Flagged

capewood | Oct 26, 2024 |

His Girl Friday

It's a highly rated film from the 1940s, in black-and-white. Rosalind Russell is good as the hard-working, confident Hildy, but Cary Grant's character Walter is so smarmy, narcissistic and manipulative that we didn't like him at all.

Lots of very fast-paced action and talking which we couldn't hear as characters were talking at the same time as each other. But the plot itself was easy enough to grasp. All increasingly surreal, implying widespread and severe corruption in US newsrooms and society in general in the 1940s, and we didn't like the ending.

Not one we're likely to see again.

Longer review here: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2024/05/his-girl-friday-rosalind-russell.htm...… (more)

Flagged

SueinCyprus | May 9, 2024 |

Ball of Fire by Howard Hawks

B (Good).

A wanted nightclub singer hides out with old men writing an encyclopedia. It's a little too long, but pretty consistently delightful. The scenes between Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper are great.

(Jan. 2024)

Flagged

comfypants | Jan 13, 2024 |

See More Reviews