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

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.  Emmy® is a registered trademark.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
(Visited 16,220 times)

55 thoughts on “Howard Hawks Movies”

  1. Here I am at last…..missed the notification of this page. I have seen quite a few of his movies but did not pay attention to the director in them. GREAT MOVIE PAGE ONCE AGAIN COGERSON. THERE WERE SOME GREAT MOVIES IN THERE AND THE RED RIVER IS A VERY GOOD MOVIE……It was on TV recently and I watched a portion of it.

    Reply

    1. Hey BERN1960….thanks for stopping by….Red River is a classic…I think the fact that you are aware of so many of his movies only goes to prove the point that he was so underrated as a director…thanks for the compliment and the comments…they are always greatly appreciated

      Reply

  2. I love the chart you have included with most of his movies. Wonderful information that is presented in a format that I have never seen before. A round of applause for you.

    Reply

  3. Hey Bruce regarding the who directed The Thing controversy I found a lengthy interview with Christian Nyby online that might be interesting – this passage from the page –

    “Not long after Red River, Hawks delegated Nyby his first film as a director, The Thing (from Another World) (1951). Much controversy still surrounds The Thing. The film exudes themes and stylistics not only unmistakably that of Hawks but with the composure and sophistication of Hawks at his pinnacle. Many have suggested that it was Hawks, credited as producer of “The Thing,” who actually directed the film. Hawks explained it this way: “The direction was handled by (Nyby) but I was on the set for all the important scenes.” (1) To what extent this explains Hawks involvement is obviously not really clear, but it does indicate that Nyby was presiding over the actors and the shots.”

    And in the interview Nyby talks about his involvement with the film

    http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Post-Scri…

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve….thanks for the links and the information on The Thing director issue….I always looked at like a parent and a kid doing something….the parent(Hawks) made sure everything went the right way for the kid(Nyby) to direct the movie. It paved the way for Nyby to direct lots of tv shows over the next 30 years.

      Reply

  4. My movie knowledge becomes more and more complete. Your first list is full of memorable films. If someone had said, “What do you think of Howard Hawks?” they would have received a blank stare from me, yet he has directed many films that I saw and enjoyed and would recommend. This is excellent.

    Reply

    1. Hey Mckbirdbks….glad my movie page was able to put some light on Howard Hawks awesome career. I appreciate the comment and the compliment, and they are greatly appreciated.

      Reply

  5. Hi Bruce. Hawks was a great director. I’ve seen most of his films. My favorites are “the Big Sleep” and “The Thing from Another World”. “Red River” is great, too. The “Criminal Code” is a forgotten gem, featuring one of my favorites, Boris Karloff. (Ever think of doing a Karloff hub?)

    I’ve always been curious about ‘the Thing’ controversy. I know Nybe gets the official credit but the film definitely has that Howard Hawks style. (The fast-talking, overlapping dialogue.)

    Another fun and informative movie page. Voted up.

    Rob

    Reply

    1. Hey Rob…thanks for stopping by. We have the same favorite Hawks movies. I have not seen the Criminal Code but it looks very interesting. Steve Lensman has been requesting a Karloff hub as well….I think I have not done one yet is because he has so many movies made in the 1930s and they are very hard to find information on.

      As for The Thing…in my mind…Hawks directed the film….in Danny Peary’s excellent Cult Movies books he pretty much sold me on that fact….although the credits say his best friend directed the film.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.