The best Howard Hawks films
The top 3 according to 1,364 votes from people: Rio Bravo (1959) · The Big Sleep (1946) · Bringing Up Baby (1938). (Updated May 28, 2023.)
Westerns, screwball, noir, gangsters and pilots: the best of Howard Hawks, ordered from Gold Derby, Flickchart and Ranker, with Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep and His Girl Friday on top.
Top 15
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1
Rio Bravo (1959)
John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson hold a jail against a gang.
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2
The Big Sleep (1946)
Bogart as Philip Marlowe, with Lauren Bacall.
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3
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and a leopard.
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4
Scarface (1932)
Paul Muni as a Chicago gangster.
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5
His Girl Friday (1940)
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell at rapid-fire speed.
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6
Red River (1948)
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift on a cattle drive.
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7
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Cary Grant runs a mail-flying outfit in the Andes.
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8
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Bogart and Bacall meet on screen, from Hemingway.
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9
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell sail to Paris.
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10
Ball of Fire (1941)
Barbara Stanwyck among seven professors writing an encyclopedia.
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11
Twentieth Century (1934)
John Barrymore and Carole Lombard aboard a train.
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12
Sergeant York (1941)
Gary Cooper won the Oscar as the World War I hero.
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13
Hatari! (1962)
John Wayne catching animals in Tanganyika.
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14
Monkey Business (1952)
Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and a youth formula.
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15
El Dorado (1966)
John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in a loose Rio Bravo variation.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (4)
Surprised Scarface isn't higher, it still holds up really well.
Rio Bravo at the top, good. That jail sing-along scene is pure hangout cinema.
His Girl Friday should be first, fight me. Nothing beats that dialogue speed.
Only Angels Have Wings is the one I'd recommend to people who think old movies are boring.