"I just tried to make films that didn't annoy the audience."
- Director Howard Hawks on his four-decade career

A flying ace in WWI, Hawks brought his adventurous devil-may-care attitude to Hollywood in the 1920s. By the early '30s, he became one of the first independent producer-directors and maintained his artistic freedom in an era when studio production dominated filmmaking. When Peter Bogdanovich asked Hawks about his own favorite directors, he replied, "I liked almost anybody that made you realize who in the devil was making the picture" (from Who the Devil Made It, Knopf Publishers, 1997).

Hawks stamped each one of his films with his individual touch and many of them dealt with the strong sense of camaraderie that develops among a group of people thrown together to complete a dangerous or challenging mission. There's nothing sentimental about a Hawks film; despite the conventions of the time, even women were pushed to prove themselves as active members of the team. In addition to his distinctive personal style, the career of Howard Hawks continues to fascinate film critics and movie lovers because he worked in nearly every Hollywood genre. Although some might associate the director with Westerns because he made so many classic ones, such as Red River (1948), Hawks also made definitive films in the genre of Screwball Comedy (His Girl Friday, 1940), Film Noir (The Big Sleep, 1946), Science Fiction (The Thing, 1951), Musical (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953), Adventure (Only Angels Have Wings, 1939) and war films (Sergeant York, 1941).

Howard Hawks commanded complete respect from his cast and crew on every set but made sure there was time for fun. Sometimes even more than just fun. When Humphrey Bogart showed up to shoot To Have and Have Not (1944), he was introduced to a new actress: Lauren Bacall. By the time the film was completed, Bogie was divorced from his third wife and engaged to the smoky-voiced newcomer. Their matchmaker quickly ushered them into another film together, The Big Sleep. Co-written in intoxicated bouts by Nobel prize-winning author William Faulkner with Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep seemed to make no narrative sense. Even Hawks himself claimed he didn't know who committed the murder. But the film became a classic - Bogie and Bacall's magnetic chemistry made this film a masterpiece of smart-talking film noir.

The Big Sleep was about to be released when Bogie and Bacall were married, so the film was re-edited. To capitalize on their press worthy marriage, they were given more scenes together. Perhaps the film made less sense, but the screen sparkled with their sexual innuendoes. An earlier version of the film was sent to soldiers overseas. This 1945 version of The Big Sleep was recently rediscovered. TCM will be presenting this original, unreleased version of The Big Sleep for our Howard Hawks night.

In addition to The Big Sleep, TCM is airing Hawks' I Was a Male War Bride, Only Angels Have Wings, Rio Bravo, and the documentary, Howard Hawks: The Men Who Made the Movies.