Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (Hardcover)

by Todd McCarthy (Author) "The big news in Goshen, Indiana, on Decoration Day, may 30, 1896, was the melee at August Fausch's saloon..." (more)
Key Phrases: first sneak preview, racing footage, diary version, New York, Howard Hawks, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
As producer and director, Howard Hawks mastered such diverse genres as screwball comedy, Western, science fiction, musical, and hard-boiled gangster film. He possessed a natural gift for storytelling and a keen eye for talent. He constantly bucked the studios and censorship boards, yet he made no "personal" films and considered any film a failure if it did not reach an audience. Despite the success of his films, Hawks was always scrambling for work thanks to gambling habits, free spending, and IRS claims for back taxes. On the centenary of the complex man's birth, the chief film critic at Variety has produced the first comprehensive biography of Hawks, detailing his privileged early life and his numerous relationships with "dames." McCarthy also discusses Hawks's aloof behavior both on the set and at home, as well as his working methods with such varied figures as Howard Hughes, John Wayne, Cary Grant, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner. This exhaustively researched warts-and-all biography is a major contribution to film literature and should lead to a renewed appreciation of Hawks. Highly recommended.
-?Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Howard Hawks (1896^-1977) was one of the leading directors of Hollywood's golden age, worked with its biggest stars (Bogart, Hepburn, Grant), and--pilot, notorious womanizer, Hemingway's drinking buddy--lived a colorful life straight out of one of his action movies yet has never been the subject of a full-scale biography. McCarthy obliges him, tracing Hawks' career from the silent era through his 1970 valedictory, Rio Lobo. Chief film critic for the show-biz trade paper Variety, McCarthy is an ideal chronicler of the life of this most commercial of great filmmakers. He uncovers the truth behind the oft-told anecdotes of the notoriously self-aggrandizing Hawks and reveals the secret of Hawks' success: the films he wanted to make--straightforward entertainments featuring big stars--were the same ones that the studios wanted to make and that, in most cases, the public wanted to see. So Hawks boasted an unmatched, unbroken string of 11 hits between 1938 and 1951, and while his contemporaries faltered after World War II, continued his career successfully into the 1970s. Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 756 pages
• Publisher: Grove Pr; 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802115985
• ISBN-13: 978-0802115980
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,451,344 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Good Enough", September 10, 2002

By	Michael Samerdyke (Big Stone Gap, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (Paperback)

This is a very good book. Hawks apparently left no papers, and some aspects of his life are undocumented. (For example, McCarthy keeps mentioning Hawks' great friendship with Gary Cooper, but because of both men being dead and no documentation, Cooper remains a very shadowy presence in this book. Hawks' friendship with William Faulkner gets far more space, since Faulkner left papers.)

So there is not a lot about "the inner Hawks." However, there is a lot about Hawks' films. Once the talkies begin, there is a chapter on practically every film Hawks made. I was fascinated by the stories behind the films, how long it took some films to get made (Hatari began as an idea for a movie with Cooper), the films Hawks never made (apparently a very traditional vampire film), and his frequent tangles with Howard Hughes.

McCarthy did a lot of research, and he does not uncritically accept the stories Hawks told (frequently told) about his work. So if you like the films of Howard Hawks and are familiar with books such as Hawks on Hawks and Howard Hawks Storyteller, this is a book that you will still get a lot out of.

To use a term from Hawks' films: "This book is good enough."

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hawks Biography Depicts a Sphinxlike Director of Good Movies, May 4, 2005

By	C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (Paperback)

As a native Hoosier I was prepared to like Howard Hawks. Hawks was born into relative luxury in Goshen, Indiana. He was raised
in Pasedena, graduated with an engineering degree from Cornell,
served briefly in World War I and rose to directorial fame in
silent film.
Hawks wed three times. Wife one was Athole the daughter of
the lovely and nice Norma Shearer. His second wife "Slim"was a
social climbing fashion plate whose nickname was used by Lauren
Bacall in To Have and Have Not with Bogey. His third wife Dee
was an aspiring actress who wed the older Hawks to achieve a life of comfort. Hawks was a womanizer throughout his life who was unfaithful and often cruel in his dealings with women.
Repugnant!
Hawks was also a gambler losing fortunes and also known as a drinker of note matching bourbons with such buddies as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper. His closest friend was famed director Victor Fleming the director of Gone With the Wind and other classics.
Why then spend almost 700 pages on this taciturn, egocentric,
cruel man? Simply put -the great movies he directed. Hawks is
known for such classics as Dawn Patrol; Sergeant York; To Have and Have Not; the Big Sleep. Classic westerns directed by Hawks include Red River with John Wayne and Rio Bravo with the Duke.
Sophisticated comedy delivered at torrid rates of dialogue verbniage include His Girl Friday with Cary Grant and Rosalind
Russell. Grant also stared in Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings
and "I Was a Male War Bride" with Ann Sheridan. My personal
favorite of the great director are "To Have and Have Not" and
"The Big Sleep" with Bogey and Bacall.
On and on I could go listing the classics making this man's
oeuvre impressive; his influence on younger directors and his
storytelling skills reasons to celebrate the genius of HWH!
Movie books like this one could be boring to someone who tires of reading countless pages on the making of each movie, the financing of the films and the often legal troubles Hawks engaged in against such powerful moguls as Mayer. Warner and
Zanuck. To those of us who enjoy learning about the golden age of Hollywood they are glorious glimpses in the story of Tinseltown.
Hawks was a man of action enjoying sports, auto racing and
even croquet! He loved horses, bourbon, babes and making films!
Hawks was no intellectual and admired he-men like Wayne. If we
look at America we see the vision of HOward Hawks making an impression for generations of filmgoers. His films never won an
Oscar but his ability to excell in many genres from Westerns to
light romance to war/adventure tales is admirable.
McCarthy gets a good grade for showing us Hawks in all his
glory and all his greedy desire to seize life by the neck!

6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "There's no `there' there ...", October 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (Paperback)

McCarthy's reach far exceeds his critical grasp in this one-dimensional biography of a Hollywood icon. Like the famous description of 1930s Los Angeles - "there's no `there' there" - McCarthy's superficial account of Hawks' life, times and work is a sprawling, unfocussed mess. Clumsily written and sprinkled with the tongue-twisting Varietyese McCarthy employs at his day job (he's the uber critic at the Hollywood trade paper, usually a very perceptive one), this book is a difficult read as well as a shallow one. The definitive biography of Hawks, whose life was every bit as complex and multi-layered as his films, remains to be written. Whatever his other talents, Mr. McCarthy is no Boswell.