Howard Hawks was the Oscar-nominated director who has become a favorite among cinephiles, praised as a master of genre entertainments. But how many of his titles have remained classics? Let’s take a look back at 20 of Hawks’ greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1896, Hawks had a background in engineering and aviation before turning to filmmaking during the silent era. He proved himself to be a versatile talent, adapting his direct, fast-paced style to a variety of genres, including comedies (“Bringing Up Baby,” “His Girl Friday”), westerns (“Red River,” Rio Bravo”), film noir (“The Big Sleep,” “To Have and Have Not”), adventures (“Only Angels Have Wings”), gangster epics (“Scarface”) and war dramas (“Sergeant York,” “Air Force”).
Although Hawks often explored the codes of masculinity in films starring Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and Cary Grant, he was noted for his strong-willed, fast talking female characters, coined the “Hawksian woman.” The battle of the sexes was never more evenhanded than it was in one of his films, thanks to the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Lauren Bacall and others.
Surprisingly, his only Oscar nomination as Best Director came for “Sergeant York” (he lost to rival and friend John Ford for “How Green Was My Valley”). He received an Honorary Oscar for his career in 1975. Additionally, Hawks competed at the DGA for “Red River,” “The Big Sky” and “Rio Bravo.”
Tour our photo gallery of Hawks’ 20 greatest films, including some of the titles listed above, as well as “Twentieth Century,” “The Thing from Another World,” “Ball of Fire” and more.
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20. COME AND GET IT (1936)
Image Credit: Glasshouse Images/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler. Screenplay by Jane Murfin and Jules Furthman, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. Starring Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea, Frances Farmer, Walter Brennan.
Hawks was fired before editing was completed on “Come and Get It” by producer Samuel Goldwyn, who brought in frequent collaborator William Wyler to reshoot its last third. Though both men share directorial credit, Wyler never counted it among his own filmography, attributing it almost completely to Hawks. The result is a fine adaptation of Edna Ferber’s multigenerational novel about an ambitious lumber baron (Edward Arnold) who marries for wealth and lives to regret it. Frances Farmer give the performance of a lifetime in a dual role as the showgirl Arnold abandons and the woman’s daughter, who he falls in love with. Walter Brennan won the first of three Best Supporting Actor Oscars playing a sweet-natured Swede.
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19. RIO LOBO (1970)
Image Credit: Malabar/Cinema Center/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Burton Wohl, story by Wohl. Starring John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O’Neill, Jack Elam, Victory French, Susana Deosmantes, Christopher Mitchum, Mike Henry.
“Rio Lobo” was the last film Hawks directed, and it reunited him with frequent leading man John Wayne, who appeared in his westerns “Red River” and “Rio Bravo.” Though this one fails to live up to their previous collaborations, it’s still a fitting farewell from one of Hollywood’s pioneering filmmakers. Wayne stars as an ex-Union officer who teams up with some former Confederates (Jorge Rivero and Christopher Mitchum) to track down a traitor who sold information to the South during the Civil War, causing the death of his close friend. Their quest leads them to Rio Lobo, a town run like a dictatorship by the very outlaw (Mike Henry) they’re searching for.
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18. GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Lederer, based on the stage musical by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields. Starring Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, Taylor Holmes.
There’s perhaps no more tantalizing duo than Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, paired together in this delightful adaptation of Anita Loos’s Broadway classic. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” centers on two showgirls who set sail for Paris, where Monroe is scheduled to marry a young millionaire (Tommy Noonan). On the way, they encounter a private detective (Elliott Reid) hired to investigate whether or not she’s just another gold digger. Russell, meanwhile, finds herself flirting with a wealthy diamond merchant (Charles Coburn). Perhaps best known for Monroe’s signature number, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” in which she breathily explains why it’s important to find a man of means.
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17. MONKEY BUSINESS (1952)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, and I.A.L. Diamond, story by Harry Siegel. Starring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Hugh Marlowe, Henri Letondal, Robert Cornthwaite, Larry Keating, Douglas Spencer, Esther Dale, George Winslow.
“Monkey Business” was Hawks’s attempt to recapture the madcap madness of his classic “Bringing Up Baby,” with Cary Grant once again playing a befuddled professor dealing with professional and romantic mishaps. While it can’t hold a candle to that screwball masterpiece, it’s still uproariously funny and wonderfully entertaining in its own right. Grant plays Dr. Barnaby Fulton, a chemist whose lab chimp discovers a youth potion, causing complications for himself, his wife (Ginger Rogers), his secretary (Marilyn Monroe), and his boss (Charles Coburn). Listen up for Hawks’s voice off-camera during the opening credits.
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16. EL DORADO (1967)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Leigh Brackett, based on the novel ‘The Stars in Their Courses’ by Harry Brown. Starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey.
Hawks reunited with John Wayne for this spiritual sequel to their western classic “Rio Bravo.” “El Dorado” casts the Duke as Cole Thornton, a gun-for-hire who teams up with his old pal, drunken sheriff J.P. Hara (Robert Mitchum), to help a rancher family fight off a rival trying to steal their water. James Caan pops up as the gambler Mississippi. With a crackling script by Leigh Brackett (who also penned “Rio Bravo”), Hawks creates yet another expert blending of excitement and laughs, featuring two of Hollywood’s golden age veterans turning in outstanding late-career work. A third semi-sequel also starring Wayne, “Rio Lobo,” followed in 1970.
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15. I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE (1949)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Lederer, Leonard Spigelgass, and Hagar Wilde, based on the story by Henry Rochard. Starring Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall, Randy Stewart, William Neff.
Before there was “Some Like It Hot,” there was this crossdressing classic from Hawks and Cary Grant. “I Was a Male War Bride” casts the English-born Grant as a French Army captain who marries an American lieutenant (Ann Sheridan) in post-World War II Germany. When they attempt to re-enter the United States, they find that he must accompany her under the terms of the War Bride Act, causing him to don a wig and falsetto voice. Grant might not be terribly convincing as a Frenchman or a woman, but he is hilariously funny in his efforts to walk in heels, while Hawks proves yet again why he was one of the premiere practitioners of screwball comedy.
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14. AIR FORCE (1943)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Written by Dudley Nichols. Starring John Garfield, John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy, Harry Carey, George Tobias.
Hawks’s history as an aviation enthusiast led to many high-flying adventure films, including this WWII epic. “Air Force” focuses on the crew of a B-17 bomber who arrive in Hawaii just as the attacks on Pearl Harbor are underway. Certain aspects of the movie haven’t aged well, particularly it’s less-than-flattering view of the Japanese. But its stunning aerial footage, harrowing battle sequences, and strong performances by an A-list ensemble (including John Garfield, John Ridgely, Gig Young, George Tobias, Harry Carey, and Arthur Kennedy) make it one for the ages. An Oscar winner for its film editing and nominee for screenwriting, cinematography, and special effects.
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13. HATARI! (1962)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Leigh Brackett, story by Harry Kurnitz. Starring John Wayne, Else Martinelli, Hardy Kruger, Red Buttons, Bruce Cabot, Valentin de Vargas, Michele Girardon.
“Hatari!” has a little bit of everything: comedy, adventure, romance, and some exotic animals. John Wayne stars as the devil-may-care leader of a group of wild game trappers (including Hardy Kruger and Red Buttons) who round up beasts for export to zoos. Their all-boys club is shaken up by the arrival of a female photographer (Else Martinelli) who spars with Wayne before falling in love with him. Hawks once again proves a master of blending tone and pacing (at two-and-a-half hours, the film breezes right by). An Oscar nominee for its vibrant Technicolor cinematography by Russell Harlan.
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12. BALL OF FIRE (1941)
Image Credit: Rko/Samuel Goldwyn/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, based on a story by Wilder and Thomas Monroe. Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers.
Gary Cooper wasn’t exactly known for his comedies, but in Hawks’s capable hands, he proves he could make us laugh with the best of them playing a straight man in the middle of chaos. “Ball of Fire” casts him as a young professor working with a group of academics to create a dictionary of slang. He comes across a motormouthed nightclub singer (Barbara Stanwyck) on the run from her gangster boyfriend, and as he uses her for research, he finds himself falling for the street-wise dame. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Stanwyck and Best Original Story for Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe. That same year, Cooper won the Best Actor prize for Hawks’s war drama “Sergeant York.”
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11. TWENTIETH CENTURY (1934)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, based on the play by Charles Bruce Millholland. Starring John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns.
“Twentieth Century” helped set the template for the fast, furious genre of screwball comedy (along with the Oscar-winning “It Happened One Night,” released the same year). It also proved Hawks would be a master of producing belly laughs, as further witnessed in subsequent titles such as “Bringing Up Baby” and “His Girl Friday.” John Barrymore hams it up as Oscar “O.J.” Jaffe, a flamboyant theater impresario who turns an unknown lingerie model (Carol Lombard) into a star. When she leaves him both professionally and romantically, he does everything he can to win her back while both are traveling on a train, all in an effort to revive his own failing career. One of the classic gems of Hollywood’s early sound era, with perfect pacing and side-splittingly funny performances.
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10. THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
Image Credit: Rko/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks (uncredited). Screenplay by Charles Lederer, based on the novella ‘Who Goes There?’ by John W. Campbell Jr. Starring Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Douglas Spencer, Robert O. Cornthwaite, James Arness.
There’s a great deal of speculation over how much (if any) of “The Thing from Another World” was directed by Hawks. The sci-fi chiller is credited to his longtime editor, Christian Nyby (who would have a long and fruitful career in television), with Hawks serving as producer. Some say Hawks made the entire movie, while others say he was just really hands-on at best. Either way, the film bears his unmistakable fingerprint with its fast pace and simple, direct visuals. Set at a remote Arctic research facility, it centers on a group of scientists who discover a spacecraft deep beneath the ice. They bring the frozen pilot back to their station, and are horrified to find out it’s actually a murderous alien (played by James Arness). Avowed Hawks fan John Carpenter helmed a remake in 1982.
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9. SERGEANT YORK (1941)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, and John Huston, based on the book by Tom Skeyhill and Alvin York. Starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias.
Hawks earned the only Oscar nomination of his entire career for directing this engrossing and exhilarating biographical drama. Gary Cooper won his first of two Best Actor prizes for playing Alvin York, a deeply religious Tennessee farmer who objects to violence of all kinds. When he’s drafted into the Army during WWI, he soon finds a morally justifiable reason to fight, becoming a skilled marksman and saving the lives of many. Hawks never leans into cliches, allowing York’s transformation from pacifist to decorated war hero to unfold naturally while presenting a nice contrast between scenes of battle and scenes of rural peace. Cooper is particularly good in a role that would serve him well over the course of his career: a good man capable of rising to the occasion when duty calls. Hawks lost his prize to his friend and rival John Ford for “How Green Was My Valley,” which also beat “York” in Best Picture.
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8. TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
Image Credit: SNAP/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael.
“To Have and Have Not” was both a landmark in Humphrey Bogart’s career and in his life, since it was how he met his future wife, Lauren Bacall. (Legend has it Hawks had his eye on her as well, but Bogie won her heart.) It also represents a high point for Hawks, who turned one of Ernest’s Hemingway’s lesser novels into his own version of “Casablanca.” The film concerns a romance between an ex-patriate (Bogart) and an American drifter (Bacall) during the burgeoning resistance in Vichy France. It’s no surprise the two got hitched shortly thereafter, since their on-camera chemistry is electrifying, particularly in the moment where Bacall asks, “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” Novelist William Faulkner adapted the screenplay.
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7. SCARFACE (1932)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by W.R. Burnett, John Lee Mahin, and Seton I. Miller, adaptation by Ben Hecht, based on the novel by Armitage Trail. Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Osgood Perkins, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff.
Although Warner Bros. churned out dozens of gangster movies throughout the 1930s, it was rival studio Universal that produced the best entry in the genre that decade. That’s thanks in large part to Hawks’s stylish direction and Paul Muni’s energetic performance as a Capone-inspired mob figure with a disfigured face and an incestuous love for his sister (Ann Dvorak). Audiences were shocked by its graphic violence (the film was produced before the Production Code was instituted to clamp down on sex and carnage, and was quickly censored thereafter), but what’s even more stunning is the symbolism Hawks sprinkles in throughout, including the use of crosses as a visual metaphor. Boris Karloff makes one of his rare non-Frankenstein appearances as the leader of a rival gang. A Brian DePalma-helmed remake starring Al Pacino followed in 1983.
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6. ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Written by Jules Furthman. Starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, Richard Barthelmess, Sig Ruman, Noah Beery, Jr.
Hawks had a love for aviation that often found its way into some of his movies, so it’s little wonder that “Only Angels Have Wings” is so personal to him. It all takes place at a South American port town, where daredevil pilots risk their lives to deliver mail to remote mountain areas. Cary Grant is his usual charming self as the lead flier, whose love and devotion to his fellow airmen often leads to heartbreak. Jean Arthur costars as a traveling pianist who questions Grant’s hunger for danger, and Rita Hayworth gives a star-making performance as his ex-wife. More than any other Hawks film, this one really drives home a central theme that often animated his work: the way men and women react to the conventions of masculinity. An Oscar-nominee for its special effects and cinematography.
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5. HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Lederer, based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart.
In adapting Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s classic play “The Front Page” for the big screen, Hawks pulled a gender swap for one of the main characters, creating a battle of the sexes for the ages. “His Girl Friday” is a fast and furious screwball classic, casting Rosalind Russell as ace reporter Hildy Johnson, who’s about to give up her career to marry a boring insurance salesman (Ralph Bellamy) with mommy issues. Her ex-husband and editor, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), is desperate to keep her, so he gives her the scoop of a lifetime: the impending execution of a man who might be innocent. One things leads to another, and Hildy just might miss her train to Albany. Russell and Grant have a crackling chemistry, and Hawks directs with his usual high-speed flair.
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4. RIO BRAVO (1959)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on the short story by B. H. McCampbell. Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell.
“Rio Bravo” is one of the great entertainments, a seamless blending of action and comedy, music and romance. Directed with expert skill, it’s the quintessential western, a rousing story about a small-town sheriff (John Wayne) who’s gotta fend off some tough outlaws trying to get a murderer out of his jail. He rounds up a ragtag group to help him, including the town drunk (Dean Martin), an aging deputy (Walter Brennan), a young crooner (Ricky Nelson), and a beautiful gambler (Angie Dickinson). There isn’t a wasted moment in the film’s 141 minute runtime, which allows room for some character development within the action. Dismissed in its time, the film has now been recognized as a classic, with filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino counting it amongst their favorites. The film did bring Hawks a DGA bid, but he was ignored at the Oscars.
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3. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
Image Credit: Rko/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde, based on the short story by Wilde. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett, May Robson, Fritz Feld, Barry Fitzgerald, Virginia Walker.
Though it’s now considered the gold standard for screwball comedies, “Bringing Up Baby” was a massive flop when it was first released. Yet time, as always, is the ultimate judge of quality. The film finds the usually suave, debonaire Cary Grant going nerdy to play a befuddled paleontologist desperate to secure a $1 million grant to his museum. Though he’s engaged to a humorless fiancee (Virginia Walker), he finds himself pursued by a flighty, free-spirited heiress (Katharine Hepburn) and her pet leopard, Baby. There are far too many absurd moments and characters to list (including hilarious appearances by Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson, Charles Ruggles, and Walter Catlett, among others), but needless to say, there’s not a gag that falls flat here. Though it’s extremely wacky, there’s an effortlessness to the way Hawks directs and the way Hepburn and Grant play their cartoonish characters that keeps it all from falling apart.
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2. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman, based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Peggy Knudsen, Regis Toomey, John Ridgely, Charles Waldron, Charles D. Brown, Elisha Cook, Jr.
Following the success of “To Have and Have Not,” Hawks reunited with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall to create one of the definitive film noirs, an endlessly quotable, endlessly entertaining exercise in style.To describe the plot of “The Big Sleep” — in which private detective Phillip Marlowe (Bogart) becomes entangled in a web of deceit, blackmail, and murder when he’s hired by the wealthy General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) — would be an exercise in futility, since no one involved could describe it either. (Apparently Hawks phoned novelist Raymond Chandler one day to ask about a key plot point and the author was equally clueless.) No matter, because this is a film that’s all about attitude, not to mention the sizzling romance between Marlowe and the General’s sexy daughter (Bacall). Don’t worry about the outcome with this one: just sit back and enjoy the investigation.
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1. RED RIVER (1948)
Image Credit: SNAP/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee, based on ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ story ‘The Chisholm Trail’ by Chase. Starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Noah Berry, Jr., Paul Fix, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, Jr., Harry Carey, Sr., Chief Yowlatchie, Hank Worden.
“Red River” was Hawks’s first western, and he would excel at the genre throughout the rest of his career. John Wayne dons heavy makeup and gives one of his best performances as Tom Dunson, an aging, headstrong rancher who spars with his adoptive son, Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift in his movie debut) during a cattle drive. Tom’s tyrannical behavior leads to a mutiny and a bitter rivalry between the two. The film is notable for its buried gay subtext between Matt and the rambunctious cowboy Cherry Valance (John Ireland). (“You know, there are only two things more beautiful than a good gun,” says Cherry to Matt, “a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. You ever had a Swiss watch?”) More emotionally and psychologically complex than your average shoot-‘em-up, this is one for the ages. Hawks earned a DGA bid, but was ignored by the Academy, though the film did compete for its story and editing.
