Howard Hawks
Influence and legacy

In the 1950s, Eugene Archer, a film fan, was planning on writing a book on important American film directors such as John Ford. However, after reading Cahiers du Cinéma, Archer learned that the French film scene was more interested in Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks. Books were not written on Hawks until the 1960s, and a full biography on Hawks wasn't published until 1997, twenty years after his death. Film critic Andrew Sarris cited Howard Hawks as "the least known and least appreciated Hollywood director of any stature". According to professor of film studies Ian Brookes, Hawks is not as well known as other directors, because of his lack of association with a particular genre such as Ford with Western and Hitchcock with thriller. Hawks worked across many genres including gangster, film noir, musical comedy, romantic comedy, screwball comedy, Western, aviation, and combat. Moreover, Hawks preferred not to associate with major studios during his film production. He worked for all major studios at least once on short term contract, but many of his films were produced under his own name. The simplicity of his narratives and stories may also have contributed to his under-recognition. Commercially, his films were successful, but he received little critical acclaim except for one Academy Award nomination for Best Director for Sergeant York (he lost to John Ford for How Green Was My Valley) and an Honorary Academy Award presented to him two years before his death.

Some critics limit Hawks by his action films, describing Hawks as a director who produced films with a "masculine bias", however action scenes in Hawks's films were often left to second-unit directors, and Hawks actually preferred to work indoors. Howard Hawks's style is difficult to interpret because there is no recognizable relationship between his visual and narrative style as in the films of his contemporary directors. Because his camera style was derived more from his working method rather than anecdotal or visual realization, his camera work is unobtrusive, making his films appear to have little to no cinematographic style. Hawks's style can, rather, be characterized as improvisational and collaborative. Hawks's directorial style and the use of natural, conversational dialogue in his films are cited as major influences on many noted filmmakers, including Robert Altman John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino. His work is also admired by Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, François Truffaut, Michael Mann, and Jacques Rivette. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included Hawks in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Brian De Palma dedicated his version of Scarface to Hawks and Ben Hecht. Altman was influenced by the fast-paced dialogue of His Girl Friday in MASH and subsequent productions. Hawks was nicknamed "The Gray Fox" by members of the Hollywood community, thanks to his prematurely gray hair.

Hawks has been considered by some film critics to be an auteur both because of his recognizable style and frequent use of specific thematic elements, and because of his attention to all aspects of his films, not merely directing. Hawks was venerated by French critics associated with Cahiers du cinéma, who intellectualized his work in a way that Hawks himself found moderately amusing (his work was promoted in France by The Studio des Ursulines cinema). Although he was not at first taken seriously by British critics of the Sight & Sound circle, other independent British writers, such as Robin Wood, admired his films. Wood named Hawks's Rio Bravo as his top film of all time.

His work has influenced various popular and respected directors such as Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, John Carpenter, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Quentin Tarantino, and Michael Mann. Entertainment Weekly placed Hawks fourth on their list of greatest directors, writing: "His hallmarks are more thematic than visual: men who adhere to an understated code of manliness; women who like to yank the rug out from under those men's feet; a mistrust of pomposity; a love of sly, leg-pulling wit. Yet there's the ease of the complete filmmaker in his Westerns, dramas, musicals, detective films, and supremely confident comedies. No wonder the French adored the guy: His casual profundity was the studio's best advertisement for itself." Jean-Luc Godard called him "the greatest of all American artists".
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