What makes Howard Hawks’s films “some of the most purely pleasurable movies in the history of cinema”? In this introduction, critic Imogen Sara Smith explores the Hollywood legend’s approach to improvisation, blending genres, overlapping dialogue, and keen interest in human behavior and interaction.

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1948 • United States
Starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan

No matter what genre he worked in, Howard Hawks played by his own rules, and never was this more evident than in his first western, the rowdy and whip-smart RED RIVER. In it, John Wayne found on...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1941 • United States
Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper make sparks in this snappy screwball take on the Snow White tale. She’s a burlesque queen with a colorful vocabulary who needs to lay low for a while as the police close in on ...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1959 • United States
Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson

Both one of the essential westerns and one of the all-time great hangout movies, this classic tale of friendship and camaraderie is pure Howard Hawks in its wonderfully relaxed, loose-limbed look at a ...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1946 • United States
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely

Humphrey Bogart steps into the legendary gumshoes of Raymond Chandler’s famed detective Philip Marlowe in what is widely regarded as the finest screen adaptation of the writer’s work. The famous...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1939 • United States
Starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth

Electrified by crackling dialogue and visual craftsmanship of the great Howard Hawks, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS stars Jean Arthur as a traveling entertainer who gets more than she bargained for during a ...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1940 • United States
Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

One of the fastest, funniest, and most quotable films ever made, HIS GIRL FRIDAY stars Rosalind Russell as reporter Hildy Johnson, a standout among cinema’s powerful women. Hildy is matched in fo...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1932 • United States
Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Osgood Perkins

One of the most talked-about movies of its time, the original SCARFACE is a hard-hitting, ripped-from-the-headlines story of organized crime’s brutal control over Chicago during the Prohibition era. Pa...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1935 • United States
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea

Set amid the decadent, rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco during the Gold Rush, this boisterous western brings the era to life with evocative, fog-shrouded atmosphere. Ambitious gold dig...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1934 • United States
Starring John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly

Carole Lombard established her genius for screwball comedy with this madcap classic, which practically set the template for the genre. Scripted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (adapting th...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1931 • United States
Starring Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings

This hard-edged, morally complex pre-Code drama of crime and punishment stars Walter Huston as a crusading district attorney who winds up becoming warden of the prison where many of the me...

Directed by Howard Hawks • 1952 • United States
Starring Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt

Howard Hawks’s epic western adventure stars Kirk Douglas as pioneer Jim Deakins, the leader of the first expedition to navigate up the Missouri River. In a daring journey to expand the fur trad...