The director Howard Hawks thought had “the greatest vision”
In the realm of movie directing, a handful of names simply epitomise the profession. Going back some time to the Classic and Golden Ages of Hollywood, Howard Hawks was certainly a filmmaker who defined what it was to make brilliant films time and time again.
Many figures in the film industry, including critics like Roger Ebert and a number of his fellow filmmakers, said that Hawks was one of the greatest directors of all time. Unlike some of the other most acclaimed auteurs, Hawks had detailed his talent in a wide range of cinematic genres. Throughout the fields of western, comedy, drama, crime, science fiction, war and film noir, Hawks proved time and time again that he could elevate a script into genuine artistic genius, and some of his most notable works include Scarface, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Red River and Rio Bravo.
Still, even the greatest of all time couldn’t help but be inspired by their contemporaries and when it came to Hawks’ biggest influences, he was in deep admiration of the work of John Ford. Speaking with the BFI, Hawks once noted, “He was a good director when I started, and I copied him every time I could. I don’t think I’ve done nearly as good a job as Ford on some things.”
The director added, “I think he’s got the greatest vision for a tableau, a long shot, of any man. One of my favourite pictures of all time is The Quiet Man, which I think was just a beautiful picture.”
Along with the 1952 romantic comedy-drama, the Maine-born director was known for several other widely-heralded cinematic ventures. He won the ‘Best Director’ Academy Award for his efforts on The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, leading to a record as the most successful filmmaker at the Oscars, and further works like Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Searchers helped to cement his position as a true master of the directing profession.
“Ford, oh, he has done some things that are just fabulous,” Hawks noted, further expressing his love for his contemporary director. “And he was the first man to do them. Every time I run into a scene that I think Ford does very well, I stop and think, ‘What would he have done there?’” At that point during his own movie productions, Hawks knew that he could go ahead with a shot, having thought about how the masterful Ford would have handled the situation.
One instance came when Hawks was making Red River with John Wayne, and when a burial scene was set to be filmed, Hawks’ cameraman told him, “We’d better hurry. There’s a cloud coming across that mountain right behind.” From there, Hawks told Wayne to just “keep talking” if he forgot his lines and that he would add in the sound later if he had to.
“I waited until the cloud got near, thought of Ford, and started the scene,” Hawks explained. “Then we started the burial service, and the cloud passed right over the whole scene.” With Ford in mind, Hawks set about using the environment to make his movies even better, and later, he told the director, “Hey, I’ve made one almost as good as you can do. You better go and see it”.
