Hawks, Howard
American director
born May 30, 1896, Goshen, Ind., U.S.
died Dec. 26, 1977, Palm Springs, Calif.
U.S. motion-picture director who maintained a consistent personal style within the framework of the traditional film genres. His pictures, which starred Hollywood's most noted actors, were marked by the effective establishment and sustenance of mood and by an intimacy created by filming from the eye level of a spectator.
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Hawks was a professional race-car driver before going to Hollywood in 1922 as a director.
A Girl in Every Port (1928), his first important picture, was followed by internationally popular features that included the adventure films
The Dawn Patrol (1930),
Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and
Hatari! (1962); the crime films
Scarface (1932),
To Have and Have Not (1944), and
The Big Sleep (1946); and the westerns
Red River (1948),
Rio Bravo (1959), and
El Dorado (1967).
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Hawks's heroes in his adventure, crime, and western films are essentially professionals, men who quietly accept the often dangerous responsibilities of their careers. In comedies such as
Twentieth Century (1934),
Bringing Up Baby (1938), and
His Girl Friday (1940) the treatment of the hero is reversed; his self-respect is diminished, often by a woman.