The two movies that showed John Carpenter “what the director is”
While many directors make an instant impact with their works, there are few whose cinematic projects only grow in stature over the years. American auteur John Carpenter undoubtedly belongs to the latter category, known for his cult classics such as The Thing, which were denounced by many critics upon release. Thankfully, Carpenter’s brilliance has come to be acknowledged by almost all film fans in the years that have followed.
Widely regarded as one of the most important American filmmakers in the 20th century, Carpenter had a huge impact on genre filmmaking due to iconic gems like Halloween. Utilising engaging genre frameworks to broach complex philosophical subjects, works like They Live have become an integral part of contemporary popular culture. Many young horror directors consider Carpenter to be a primary source of inspiration, but the ageing master has his own set of influences.
During a conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, Carpenter opened up about the cinematic masterpieces that shaped his own journey as a director. The list included well-known classics such as Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, but Carpenter singled out one particular director that exposed him to the intricacies of the job. According to him, it was the cinema of Howard Hawks that broadened his understanding of the medium.
Carpenter explained: “Now, my favourite films as a more mature person, when I was learning about what the director is and does, probably a lot of them were Howard Hawks movies like Only Angels Have Wings and Rio Bravo. In Hawks’ world, Only Angels Have Wings, and Rio Bravo are his visions of adventure stories with male groups, and men and women’s relationships, and life and death and danger. He’s developed that idea throughout his career. Those are just his beliefs.”
Throughout his career, the Halloween director has spoken about Hawks’ genius on multiple occasions and claimed that he was a “visionary”. In a separate interview, Carpenter recalled that John Ford was the bigger name during his film school days but he always felt that Hawks was simultaneously more modern and more American. Hawks’ explorations of relationships and his progressive sensibilities inspired Carpenter to see the world in a different way, changing his artistic vision forever.
“Hawks was a visionary filmmaker who lasted from the silents to 1970,” he said. “When I was in film school, the big director everyone talked about was John Ford. But I always thought Ford, who was Irish, was more of an immigrant director. Many of his themes were very European, as were his views of women, the family, and motherhood. But Hawks was a modern director. His women were strong and modern and put up with no bullshit. I really responded to that because it felt real and American.”
Watch the trailer for Rio Bravo below.
