Movies and Methods: The Films of Howard Hawks

In the 1950s, Truffaut proposed that the best cinema expressed the sensibility of the director. He, and critics who followed, even found "auteurs" (authors) in films from the "factory" of the Hollywood studios; including Howard Hawks. Critic Robin Wood and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino each cited Rio Bravo as the best film ever made, and Mulvey exempted him from the "male gaze." He marked westerns, comedies, gangster films, musicals, and scifi, specializing in groups under pressure, people defined by their jobs: the recurring issue is whether they're "good enough" to be part of the group, or the couple, or the world.