Howard Hawks (1896–1977)

Howard Hawks fashioned Jules Furthman’s good screenplay into a true screen classic of male camaraderie and the women who love them, and must choose to accept it. Hawks had Martinique as the setting for “To Have and Have Not” but showed his preference for exotic locales much earlier by setting “Only Angels Have Wings” in the South American port of Barranca. It makes a colorful backdrop to an even more colorful story of what it is to be a man — according to Hawks.

The banana boats are coming in and Geoff (Cary Grant) is sending the mail out by plane in dangerous conditions in order to keep afloat his rag-tag outfit of pilots, who live dangerously and like it. They all wear guns but it’s the weather that’s more likely to take them down.

This is made clear early on when Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) hits the port for a short layover and attracts the good-natured attention of a couple of Geoff’s pilots, one of whom will go down in flames just a few hours later. It is only then that Bonnie, already attracted to Geoff, will get a glimpse of real men and what their world is like.

Hawks puts a spotlight on the suspicion men who've been with a woman or two often harbor towards every female in a telling scene when Bonnie takes a memento from the fallen pilot’s belongings and Geoff scoffs at her greed. Only moments later when she gives it to the young Mexican girl who adored him does he give Bonnie a few points, and then only in surprise.

Arthur is terrific here trying not to let her emotions show so she can live in Geoff’s world. When a new pilot with a checkered past shows up (silent film star Richard Barthelmess), with Geoff’s old flame in tow (young Rita Hayworth), Bonnie realizes just how serious Geoff is about never asking anything of a woman. There is a ton of male adventure filling the screen in the meantime.

There are dangerous flights with nitro, and daring flights for doctors; Hawks even allows a female into the act with some accidental gunplay. Arthur eventually breaks under the stress, of course, because Hawks is filming a world long ago and far away, where men were men, and women weren’t. I’ve never met a guy who doesn't love this film and perhaps that’s why. Hawks adds his own spin on the romantic touch with the flip of a coin.

Grant is great here and Arthur sparkles. The rest of the cast is excellent, with Thomas Mitchell especially memorable as Geoff’s best friend. Any male who wants to hang out in a bar with their pals and not talk about what every man already knows by virtue of their kind, will love this one. You'll wish there were a few girls like Arthur still out there too. Just a fantastic look at good men, jaded about women, but still needing them. Another film masterpiece from director Howard Hawks.… (més)

Howard Hawks produced this exciting picture in that genre of sci-fi which developed in the late forties and continued through the 1950s. Directed by Christian Nyby with an atmospheric score from Dimitri Tiomkin, this is about as much fun as you can have at the movies. Charles Lederer was credited with the script, but pals of Hawks, Ben Hecht and William Faulkner have been rumored over the years to have worked on it in collaboration with Hawks himself. The constant UFO sightings which enveloped not only America, but the entire globe after the atomic bomb was unleashed is deftly played upon in fine style, with a reminder to always be vigilant in watching the skies!

When something crashes into the Arctic ice, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and his crew are sent by the US Air Force to help the scientific research team already stationed there. Before he can have too much 1950s innocent fun with Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) he’s convinced what has landed may be more than just a plane. Their flight reveals a large circular object like nothing on earth, and Hendry’s reporter pal, Scotty (Douglas Spencer), knows he has the biggest story of all time. Getting clearance to send it might be another thing, however, as the saucer explodes, revealing a survivor.

The thrill of such a discovery makes for exciting viewing, and once they bring the visitor back to the research station in a block of ice, things only get better. A misplaced electric blanket, a severed arm that it is more vegetable than human, and that one pompous scientific nitwit who thinks studying their discovery is more important than their own survival ratchets up the fun. Hendry gets orders from above more in line with science than common sense and knows they’ve got to destroy it to stay alive.

Along the way there’s a little romance, some suspense during calls too close for comfort, and finally a real plan which might work. Strangely enough, being bait for an 8-foot tall vegetable man who would look like Matt Dillon if they could get close enough, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The windy cold and snowy Arctic weather are used to good effect and it all adds up to great fun for the viewer. The final scene is especially enjoyable. Curling up on the couch with your wife or sweetheart and a big bowl of popcorn is highly recommended. A real classic, miles better than the blood and gore modern re-make.… (més)

“Gentlemen, keep the war going please. We are going out to roam in a few gutters.” — Flynn

During the first decade of sound films, it offered an opportunity to remake great silent films and some early talkies which were made before there was a firm grasp on the new medium. It usually proved to be a disappointment, however, as the magic captured so beautifully in one art form, or the beginning stages of another, rarely could be recaptured. Such is not the case with The Dawn Patrol. The great Howard Hawks had helmed the original 1930 version of John Monk Saunders' story starring Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The 1938 version directed by Edmund Goulding for WB is quite fabulous on its own merits, thanks in large part to the performances of Errol Flynn and David Niven, and the faithfulness shown to the original source material.

Seton I. Miller and Dan Totheroh stayed true to Saunders' story the first time around, and WB stayed true by reusing it. While this version of a beleaguered squadron during WWI and the camaraderie of its weary pilots doesn’t have the majestic ariel footage of Wellman’s silent masterpiece, Wings, it isn't that far behind. Flynn and Niven are terrific as the veterans who keep watching younger and younger replacements to their squadron go down to Von Richter’s more experienced pilots across enemy lines in 1915 France. Courtney (Flynn) knows it's suicide sending them up in ariel combat with only a few hours training under their belt, but he must follow orders. Their resentment for Brand (Basil Rathbone), who gives those orders, is palpable. But neither know the heavy burden on Brand, who behind the scenes is constantly fighting with headquarters to give the young men more training time. But he too, must also follow orders.

Flynn is quite solid as the quiet hero but Niven truly sparkles as the happy-go-lucky Scott. When Courtney and Scott make a daring but foolhardy raid on a squadron, destroying them while they are still on the ground, it sets in motion a promotion which changes Courtney’s perspective, who is now suddenly in Brand’s shoes. When Scott’s young brother shows up as one of the green replacements, Courtney can not show favoritism and in the fallout the two friends stop speaking. Goulding shows the camaraderie of the pilots, which runs so deep it even extends to the enemy. During better times, there are hilarious references to a wild night as Courtney and Scott paint the town red, related to Brand by the furious top brass.

A dire one-pilot mission deep across enemy lines punctuates this film with a spectacular ariel battle. This is a fine film which kept the atmosphere of its predecessor and makes for a very entertaining and quietly moving film about WWI and the toll it took on men who flew in planes shot up and patched together with whatever was available. It says a great deal about courage and male bonding, and war itself. A marvelous and worthy remake.… (més)

Still a powerhouse gangster saga full of raw violence and barely-clothed lust after all these years, this may have been the defining moment in the genre. Maurice Coons had a heart attack before the film’s release and didn't get to witness his story reaching immortality as Howard Hawks’s treatment blazed across screens like a wildfire that couldn’t be contained. Both Paul Muni and Ann Dvorak gave their second unforgettable performance of the year as gangster Tony Camonte and the sister he has a yen for, Cesca. Dvorak’s Cesca is nowhere to be seen during the middle portion of this film, but such an impression does she make at the beginning and end, that her character seems to frame the entire story.

Muni is equally memorable as the inarticulate and brash gangster with animal magnetism to spare. All he wants is more. Following his moving performance in I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, and Dvorak’s as the doomed and restless Vivian who finds redemption at the shattering climax of Three On a Match, both cemented their place in screen history with this film.

Though not as often mentioned when this film is talked about, Karen Morley’s turn as the gangster’s moll who gets off on the animalistic behavior of Tony, but wont let him get a taste until he’s the man in charge’ is splendid. Of all the fine performances here, however, it is George Raft’s as the cool, coin-flipping gunman, Guino Rinaldo, which has that extra something special called star power. Raft would not want to foster this image and intentionally chose to portray the good guy after this, but his underplayed “Little Boy” was admired by the real gangsters he had grown up and continued associating with during his career. He had a charisma and honesty on-screen that those critical of his talents only wished they had.

If one of the gangsters looks a bit like Boris Karloff to you, that’s because it is Boris Karloff. He is quite good as Gaffney, who introduces the machine gun to the streets when Tony makes a grab for the North Side. Partially shot at Harold Lloyd Studios, Howard Hughes would tire of Hays Office interference and told Hawks to make it as real as he could, resulting in a bona-fide screen classic.

Ben Hecht and a host of others worked on adapting Armitage Trail's (Maurice Coon) story for Hawks, which became a thinly veiled bio of Al Capone’s rise to crime boss. The power of the infamous massacre on St. Valentine's Day still shocks, despite decades of more explicit cinema since. Morley is terrific in conveying Poppy’s desire for the brutality Tony brings to the table, but denies him until he’s taken complete control. Helping him do that more than a little is Tony’s right arm, the cool Guino (George Raft). Tony's sister Cesca wants to live life to the fullest, and that means Guino. Dvorak is magnificent and when she disappears for a time as this gangster saga gets hot, viewers are left chomping at the bit for her return, despite the mesmerizing story unfolding before them.

The cops know Tony is just like any other guy without Guino and his boys, however, and Hawks uses this aspect of the story to condemn the mob, using one of the cops to highlight the difference between outlaws of the West and this new type of street gangster. There is a marvelous scene where Poppy shows where her real allegiance lies by simply lighting of a cigarette. Perhaps the finest scene in the film comes after Guino gives in to temptation with Tony’s sister and makes it permanent while he's away on business. What happens in a doorway and Cesca’s reaction is still powerful. Violent and raw, Hawks gave up trying to please the Hays office with an ending they’d approve of, and Hughes finally released it in selected cities to packed houses, with Hawks’s original in tact.

Dvorak was something else and this is a good glimpse of what that something was. She moved to Britain for a time with her husband during the war and offered her services to drive an ambulance. Morley would become a casualty of the Blacklist but later serve the state of New York as Lt. Governor. Four powerhouse performances and the fine direction of Howard Hawks add up to a screen classic, and perhaps the finest gangster saga ever put on film.… (més)