Howard Hawks Movies

Howard Hawks (1896-1977) is one of my favorite directors.
Howard Hawks (1896-1977) is one of my favorite directors.

Want to know the best Howard Hawks movies?  How about the worst Howard Hawks movies?  Curious about Howard Hawks’ box office grosses or which Howard Hawks movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Howard Hawks movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

I first discovered Howard Hawks when I was in high school. During a sick day, I was flipping through the channels when I stopped on 1938’s Bringing Up Baby. Bringing Up Baby starred Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn and was directed by Howard Hawks. I was so impressed with Bringing Up Baby, that I started to seek out more Cary Grant and Howard Hawks movies. I then discovered that Howard Hawks was responsible for many classic movies.

His IMDb page shows 52 directing credits from 1926-1970. This page will rank Howard Hawks movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Some of his silent movies were not included in the rankings.
Gary Cooper in the Howard Hawks directed movie Sergeant York (1941)....easily Hawks' biggest box office hit.
Gary Cooper in the Howard Hawks directed movie Sergeant York (1941)….easily Hawks’ biggest box office hit.

Howard Hawks Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Howard Hawks Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Howard Hawks movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Howard Hawks movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Howard Hawks movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Howard Hawks movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Howard Hawks movie received.
  • Sort Howard Hawks movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Howard Hawks Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses

 
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in 1946's The Big Sleep.
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in 1946’s The Big Sleep.

Seven Possibly Interesting Facts About Howard Hawks

1. Howard Hawks only received one Oscar® nomination for Best Director (1941’s Sergeant York) but he was given an Honorary Oscar® in 1974. His good friend, John Wayne, presented Hawks the Oscar®. 2. Howard Hawks directed some very famous actors/actresses numerous times: John Wayne (5 times), Cary Grant (5 times), Gary Cooper (3 times), Marilyn Monroe (3 times), Walter Huston (3 times), Humphrey Bogart (2 times), Lauren Bacall (2 times) and Edward G. Robinson (2 times). 3. In 1996 Entertainment Weekly voted Howard Hawks as the 4th greatest director of all-time. 4. Howard Hawks was the co-director of The Outlaw.…the other director was Howard Hughes. In 1935 Hawks replaced another legendary director, William Wyler, during the making of Barbary Coast. The next year, Hawks was fired before completing Come and Get It.…the man who replaced him?…the same William Wyler. 5. Howard Hawks was married three times in his life. His first marriage to Athole Shearer produced his only son and only daughter. Athole Shearer was the sister to Oscar® winning actress Norma Shearer. 6.  And now we get to the mystery of the movie The Thing From Another World.  Howard Hawks is not listed as the director of the movie, but rumors have swirled for years that he directed the movie and gave credit to his longtime editor, Christian Nyby.  Since I believe in the rumor, I have included the movie in this movie page.
7. Check out Howard Hawks‘ career compared to current and classic actors and directors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Steve Lensman’s Howard Hawks You Tube Video

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55 thoughts on “Howard Hawks Movies”

  1. I saw the film on Turner Classic movies once. I think they got the rights to air for just the one time?

    I know what you mean about small screen time for Monroe. That’s how people feel when they watch a movie with star-studed cameos like, for example, Till The Clouds Roll By.

    Thanks for letting me know which segment Hawkes directed. That child Levant snatched was the kid from Hell.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora….I will be keeping an eye out for it….it sounds like New York Stories…which did the same thing…with Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola doing the directing and loaded with stars doing the acting. The Hawks segment sounds funny…and he knew how to do comedy. Thanks for the information.

      Reply

      1. Yes, it is definitely a comedy segment. The would-be kidnappers are the ones who are tied up etc.

        Reply

  2. Hey Bruce, noticed Land of the Pharaohs just made it into the top 20. It was an unusual film for Hawks, he tried his hand at the big Biblical epic which was popular in the 50’s but the film flopped, the reviews were scathing, the film was bad.

    Jack Hawkins was the Pharaoh and Joan Collins was the scheming princess after his throne, what the film needed was two big stars in the lead and a better story. But the production design was excellent and the ending a shocker.

    This disaster put Hawks off making films for a while, when he returned it was in a genre he was good at, the western.

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve…the failure of Land of the Pharaohs sent Hawks to France for four years….and he came back to make Rio Bravo(I got that information for the commentary on Rio Bravo)… It actually sounds interesting….it was one of the few Hawks movies I was not aware when I started this hub. Thanks for the information.

      Reply

  3. I think Steve and I are used to finishing 2nd and last in the tally count…so it was surprising when you got 3rd place, especially with the hub subject making so many movies pre-1970.

    Looking at your list of movies you have seen…what are your thoughts on O Henry’s Fun House? It is loaded with stars….but before I did my Marilyn Monroe page I was not familiar with it all.

    I actually checked out Rio Bravo on Blu-Ray this afternoon…so far the picture quality of the movie is lacking for a Blu-Ray….but it has an excellent commentary that I am currently listening to…thanks for the return visit.

    Reply

  4. Nice to see that you are still producing quality movie pages. My father loved Mr. Hawks. But I think my father would tell you that 20th Century is ranked too low. My favorite is The Big Sleep, as Bogart was the definition of the word cool in that movie. Thanks to the link to Jool as I liked that page too.

    Reply

  5. I like to have separate aspects to the films in separate comments and I am in the middle of phoning people for volunteering at the local festival. Hence, I am going back and forth between duties and the computer.

    Here are the films that I watch multiple times during the year, in the movie score order (do not ask me to choose between the bogey/Bacall films)-

    To Have and Have Not

    The Big Sleep

    Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

    I Was a Male War Bride

    His Girl Friday

    Bringing Up Baby

    The Thing From Around the World

    I am more likely to watch O Henry’s Full House at Christmas time because of The Gift of the Magi being one of the stories.

    What can be said of these films?

    Mystery/suspense

    cary Grant comedies (though not all of them)

    musical

    And my favourite sci-film from the studio system era

    Reply

    1. I’m not asking to let it slide at 47%, just showing that you take a pretty good guess at what films I haven’t seen that I am not interested in seeing. I probably will see the Bob Mitchum movie eventually. I love High Noon, so no Rio Bravo.

      Here are the 14 films I have seen in movie score order:

      To Have and Have Not

      The Big Sleep

      The Outlaw

      Gentlemen prefer Blondes

      I Was a Male War Bride

      His Girl Friday

      The Thing..World

      Dawn Patrol

      Only angels Have Wings

      Twentieth Century

      A song is born

      Bringing Up Baby

      The Big Sky

      O henry’s Fun House

      Reply

      1. Tops of My to-see list in movie score order, including your suggestion:

        Ball of Fire

        Scarface (have this taped, actually)

        El Dorado

        Criminal Code

        Barbary Coast

        The Crowd Roars

        Reply

        1. Hey Flora….sorry I went out of order on your comments..this is for the 3rd most recent comment. I like your list of movies you watch every year. I actually I not a huge fan of I Was a Male War Bride..but Grant and Hawks made a great team.

          As for the six you want to see…I have only seen 2 of the 6 ….as Scarface is one I want to watch….all the photos of 1932….seem to make Paul Muni look like Mr. Hyde. I just watched Ball of Fire..it is a nice retelling of the Snow White story. And I continue to highly recommend El Dorado. Thanks as always for you support and comments.

          Reply

          1. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Internet in my area was down for half a day.

            O Henry’s Full House is a series of short movies based on the short stories of O’Henry. Each story is introduced by none other than John Steinbeck. The mini-films lat about 20 minutes as I recall. Each can be watched separately.

            I taped it for “The Clarion Call” starring Richard Widmark. I hadn’t read that particular story. He is a blackmailer (big surprise) in a crime story.

            I have read quite a bit of O’Henry, though. My favourite is “The Gift of the Magi” which in this film stars Farley Granger and Jeanne Crain. This is the final segment in the movie.

            There is also a segment (the title escapes me right now) starring Charles Laughton and David White about a vagrant during the Great Depression who likes to get arrested for vagrancy because you can get three months in jail -food, shelter for free. But then he finds God…It is in this particular story that you find Marilyn Monroe

            Then there is a segment called The Last Leaf with Anne Baxter who is convinced that when the last leaf off a tree falls off the tree, she will die.

            Finally, there is a segment starring Oscar Levant as one of two would be kidnappers who want to collect ransom on a child who drives them so crazy that they beg the father to take the child back

            These are all top-notch acting. It is odd only because it is a bunch of short films in one movie

          2. Error: That should read David Wayne, not David White opposite laughton. They are two different actors.

          3. Hey Flora…thanks for the mini-review on O Henry’s Full House. It sounds like an interesting movie…I have never seen it in a store or on cable before. Hawks directed the segment called “The Ransom of Red Chief” which starred Oscar Levant which is the last one you recalled. I have some places that try and make it look like this is a Marilyn Monroe movie….I think people that watch O Henry’s Full House looking for Monroe will be disappointed in her limitied on screen time.

            David Wayne had an interesting career…..kind of a poor man’s Burgess Meredith. Sorry you were having internet issues yesterday.

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