10 Best Howard Hawks Movies, Ranked (original) (raw)
Characters from Scarface, Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep
Image by Federico Napoli
Published Jun 19, 2024, 5:30 PM EDT
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Standing as one of the greatest American directors to never win a competitive Oscar, Howard Hawks was the filmmaker behind numerous classics released during the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, and did ultimately receive an Honorary Academy Award in 1974. As an individual, he’s perhaps underrated, given he – along with various other filmmakers during this time in Hollywood history – hasn’t had his name as well-remembered as many of the films he directed.
Indeed, those films aren’t underrated – they’re properly rated, and some of the best of the best are regarded as all-time classics of American cinema. But to celebrate Hawks and his versatility specifically, here’s an assortment of his greatest efforts, selected to encompass the wide range of genres he was able to tackle and being ranked below, starting with the very good and ending with the great.
10 'El Dorado' (1966)
Starring: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan
James Caan as Mississippi and Michele Carey as Joey MacDonald in El Dorado
Image via Paramount Pictures
Though it’s a remake of sorts of one of Howard Hawks’ earlier films (more on it in a bit), El Dorado is still worthwhile in its own right, and one of the better Westerns of the non-spaghetti variety to come out in the 1960s. It revolves around a dispute between ranchers with one attempting to steal the water from the other, centering on a sheriff and a gunfighter who join forces to help one of the ranchers.
The cast might be the main draw of El Dorado, with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum being typically good, and a young pre-Godfather James Caan also shining in one of the lead roles here. It’s a Western that goes through the motions to some extent, basically being what you’d expect it to be, but that’s more than okay when you go in with understandably high expectations, what with the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera.
Runtime
126 Minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
9 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (1953)
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'
Image via 20th Century Studios
There are a good many Howard Hawks movies that belong to stereotypically “masculine” genres, such as Westerns and crime/gangster films, but Gentlemen Prefer Blondes showed he also had it in him to make a great musical, not to mention one with female leads. Marilyn Monroe’s featured in the lead role, playing a showgirl who’s engaged to a wealthy man, causing said man’s father to be suspicious that she only wants to marry him for the money.
This sets off a farcical plot involving a cruise, a private detective, and a close friend of Monroe’s character, played by Jane Russell. It’s all an excuse to have lightweight comedic situations and a few memorable musical numbers, but it works as an old-fashioned blend of musical and rom-com genres, and is a good bit of fun for anyone in the mood for silly, old-school Hollywood fun.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Release Date
July 14, 1953
Runtime
91 minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
8 'To Have and Have Not' (1944)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not
Image via Warner Bros.
One of five movies to star real-life couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not sees the pair play characters who both get wrapped up in a fairly lightweight and even romantic adventure that plays out during World War II. Further, the film was made and released while the war was still being fought, but used the actual conflict as a backdrop for escapism and entertainment (presumably, most other media surrounding the war was relentlessly grim, or at least more serious).
Bogart plays a man tasked with transporting a French resistance fighter and his wife through dangerous territory, all the while falling for a young woman, played by Bacall in her feature debut. To Have and Have Not is a fun blend of genres, also working as something of a lightish film noir and having some comedy for good measure, with it feeling surprisingly well-balanced overall.
Release Date
January 20, 1945
Runtime
100 Minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
7 'Red River' (1948)
Starring: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru
John Wayne as Thomas and Montgomery Clift as Matthew in Red River
Image via United Artists
John Wayne might’ve made more Westerns with John Ford, but he still made a decently large number with the also prolific Howard Hawks, one of the best being Red River. It’s principally about two men initially cooperating but then clashing while taking on a large cattle drive that seems them – plus many, many cows – traveling from Texas to Missouri.
It has a simple premise, but goes in interesting directions thanks to the characters, with Wayne playing someone a little less expected, compared to the roles he became well-known for earlier (indeed, he got pretty good at stretching himself when it came to range in the later years of his career). Red River won’t convert many people who don’t ordinarily like Westerns, especially old Hollywood ones, but anyone partial to such films from such a time ought to check it out.
Release Date
September 7, 1948
Runtime
133 Minutes
Director
Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson
6 'Only Angels Have Wings' (1939)
Starring: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell
Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings - 1939
Image via Columbia Pictures
There isn’t a ton of narrative to Only Angels Have Wings, but that’s okay when it works as well as it does as something of a hangout movie with a little adventure/romance thrown in for good measure. It largely takes place in a small and remote town in South America, with various individuals getting caught up in drama and conflicts surrounding love, all the while the manager of an air freight company gets increasingly more desperate to save his struggling company.
Only Angels Have Wings manages to work particularly well thanks to the lead performances, with Cary Grant (in one of his best non-comedic roles) and Jean Arthur both being excellent. It’s a well-constructed movie that’s held up well in the 80+ years since its release, and even if it doesn’t move fast narratively, there’s always enough going on to ensure Only Angels Have Wings is never boring throughout its two-hour runtime.
Only Angels Have Wings
Release Date
May 15, 1939
Runtime
121
Director
Howard Hawks
5 'Scarface' (1932)
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley
Paul Muni and a group of men in tuxedos in Scarface 1932
Image Via United Artists
While people nowadays will probably be more familiar with the 1983 movie of the same name, the original Scarface – released just over 50 years earlier – was similarly groundbreaking and gutsy for its time. It came out during something of a golden age for gangster movies, and tells a typical rise-and-fall story centering on an ambitious yet perhaps too trigger-happy criminal named Tony Camonte.
Scarface was one of the first movies to be impacted by the Hays Code’s restrictions, but it still manages to pack a punch and deliver a solid gangster-related story, even if it naturally became a little more blunt with added on-the-nose morality injected into things. It’s also noteworthy for having another Howard attached to its production, Howard Hughes, who produced the film alongside Hawks (and later had his life story told in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator).
Release Date
April 9, 1932
Runtime
93 Minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
4 'The Big Sleep' (1946)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall sitting and talking in The Big Sleep
Image via Warner Bros.
To Have and Have Not was very good, but two years later, Bogart, Bacall, and Howard Hawks re-teamed to make the even better The Big Sleep. It’s one of numerous times the character of Philip Marlowe has been featured in a film, with Bogart being responsible for arguably the most iconic (or at least most distinctive) on-screen portrayal of said character to date.
As for the plot of The Big Sleep, it’s kind of hard to summarize, seeing famed private investigator Marlowe get wrapped up in a complex series of events that just never stop spiraling out of control, into all sorts of different directions. It’s confounding, but by design, and does a great job at plunging viewers – alongside the main characters – into a complicated web filled with dishonesty, danger, and double-crosses.
Release Date
August 31, 1946
Runtime
114 Minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
Main Genre
Film Noir
3 'His Girl Friday' (1940)
Starring: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
Howard Hawks’ first movie of the 1940s, His Girl Friday, also happens to be one of the very best movies released during that entire decade. It’s one of the director’s best comedies, and saw him once again working with Cary Grant just one year on from Only Angels Have Wings. Both that film and His Girl Friday are romances, technically speaking, but the latter is much more focused on comedy than the former.
There’s an enjoyably screwball nature to the plot of His Girl Friday, with a newspaper editor trying desperately to hold onto a skilled reporter who also happens to be his ex-wife; one whom he realizes he wants to win back. It moves very fast, as most screwball comedies tend to do, packing in plenty of hilarious situations and memorable one-liners into a very tight runtime of just 92 minutes.
2 'Rio Bravo' (1959)
Starring: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson
John Wayne and Angie Dickinson stand in a hotel room of a saloon in 'Rio Bravo' (1959)
Image via Warner Bros.
Standing as arguably Howard Hawks’ final masterpiece alongside being one of the best films of its year, Rio Bravo is the previously hinted to Western that El Dorado has some strong similarities to. Once again starring John Wayne, he and Hawks also rounded out what became a thematic Western trilogy with Rio Lobo in 1970, which was the final film Hawks ever directed.
But as for Rio Bravo (yes, these names are all quite similar), it’s the lengthiest and most entertaining of the three, being about a ragtag crew of gunfighters who need to defend themselves against a powerful rancher’s hired guns. There’s a good deal of fun to be had, with interesting characters wrapped up in an easy-to-follow conflict, with Rio Bravo benefiting from always delivering action, comedy, and tense moments, sometimes all at once.
Release Date
March 18, 1959
Runtime
141 minutes
Director
Howard Hawks
1 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938)
Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles
A woman pointing at something while standing next to a man outside in Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Image via RKO Pictures
With a dynamite pairing of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn at its center, Bringing Up Baby shines and excels on multiple levels. It’s debatably one of the greatest screwball comedies ever made, it’s a highlight of the entire 1930s, and there’s an argument to be made that it could well be the greatest thing Howard Hawks ever directed (well, it’s probably a toss-up between this and Rio Bravo; both are excellent for different reasons).
Bringing Up Baby provides non-stop chaos and laughs, and would be quite a stressful movie to watch if it wasn’t also exceedingly funny. Everything that could go wrong for the lead characters does, the titular Baby is a leopard who frequently steals the show, and there’s so much energy to the entire thing that it’s shocking it was made so many decades ago. Bringing Up Baby feels both of its time and ahead of its time, satisfying as something old-fashioned while also having lost none of its comedic edge in the (many) years since its release in 1938.
Release Date
February 18, 1938
Director
Howard Hawks
Main Genre
Comedy