The Oppression Of Women In Howard Hawks's Tragedies
Hawks could make his distinctive mark on any genre and can be easily recognized throughout his long film career, “westerns, musicals, screwball comedies, war pictures, historical epics, romantic adventures, films noir, gangster sagas, and even science fiction“(imdb, Howard Hawks). Here is just sample of classic films he has directed, Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), Air Force (1943), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), and Rio Bravo (1959). He nearly won the Oscar in 1941 for Best Director of Sergeant York; Hawks was “nominated for Best Director only that one time, despite making some of the best films in the Hollywood canon“ (imdb, Howard Hawks). By the 1960s and 1970s the
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French critics were quite impressed and more thoughtful of Hawks lifetime film work, and they rallied to his defense, ultimately in 1974 Hawks was given an honorary Academy Award, “it was to the Academy's credit that it recognized the great Hawks in his lifetime. (imdb, Howard Hawks). Hawks initially had a difficult time trying to unravel the complex storyline of The Big Sleep. John Grant mentions how intricate the tricky plot of The Big Sleep is in his book A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir: The Essential Reference Guide, “a plot that’s not only too complex to follow but actually, on analysis, nonsensical” (Grant 67). Howard Hawks had quite a time trying to formulate a clear version of the script with so many plot twists, multiple characters, their motives, and ultimate final ending of the film as Grant notes, “the ambiguity was to placate the Hays Office” (Grant 67). Hawks discovered a few loose ends within the plot that didn’t make sense, as Grant points out, “while working through the screenplay, Hawks and screenwriter William Faulkner realized they didn‘t know who had killed the Sternwood’s chauffeur, or why. Checking with the novel left them no wiser. So they asked Chandler. After awhile, he admitted he didn’t know either” (Grant 67). Warner Bros. had prescreen the original The Big Sleep to test audiences in 1945, “unsatisfied with the original ending of the film and in conflict with the Hays Office with scenes too harsh or unseemly, another screenwriter was brought in to help; Jules Furthman, called in to do final polishing of the screenplay to effect the change” (Grant 67). Howard Hawks was a writer too and he surrounded himself with a team of writers he knew were talented and could produce monumental scripts. “Hawks was lucky to have worked with some of the best writers in the business, including his friend and fellow aviator William Faulkner. Screenwriters he collaborated with on his films included Leigh Brackett, Ben Hecht, John Huston and Billy Wilder” (imdb, Howard Hawks) Although all the writers mentioned are excellent and famous in their own right, I take special interest in writer Leigh Brackett, while in High School I read a great deal of science fiction novels, and enjoyed many of her books like The Best of Leigh Brackett, The Sword of Rhiannon, and Eric John Stark: Outlaw of Mars. Brackett was known since 1940s to the1970s as The Queen of Space Opera, having wrote for many years with pulp science fiction magazines like Planet Stories, Startling Stories, and Astounding Stories. Brackett was good on characterization and her long career as a top screenwriter also helped defined the genre she wrote for with such classics as The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), Hatari! (1962), El Dorado (1966), and The Long Goodbye (1973). Director Howard Hawks often teamed up with Brackett on several films and she was sought after by George Locus to help write the first sequel to Star Wars. “A noted science-fiction/fantasy author who was prolific in SF and other pulps in the 1940s; a mentor and sometime collaborator of Ray Bradbury. Died of cancer after writing the first version of the script of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)” (imdb, Leigh Brackett). Above all what mattered to Hawks the most was the interaction between characters and the look of the film that audiences would remember and enjoy memorable performances. As mentioned by imdb, “Hawks came to believe that a good film consisted of at least three good scenes and no bad ones--at least not a scene that could irritate and alienate the audience. He said, "As long as you make good scenes you have a good picture--it doesn't matter if it isn't much of a story." (imdb, Howard Hawks). Sid Hickox was the cinematography for The Big Sleep. “Hickox was best known as an action photographer, who excelled shooting the gritty, moody crime films and melodramas, in which Warners tended to corner the market. He collaborated particularly well with another action specialist, the director Raoul Walsh. Hickox had the uncanny ability to make productions, shot on a modest budget, look a lot classier. His best films cover the period from 1942 to 1954. They include the boxing drama Gentleman Jim (1942); the films noir To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and White Heat (1949); and, finally, the sci-fi cult classic Them! (1954)” (imdb-I.S.Mowis). The central character in The Big Sleep is Philip Marlowe, P.I. (Humphrey Bogart) in LA to meet his new client, General Sternwood (Charles Waldron), and meets Carmen Sternwood (Martha Vickers), the rambunctious younger sister of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), Vivian later falls for the cynical P.I. as he tries to piece together the truth in a maze filled with deceit, gangsters, and killers. Bogart had risen to leading man status after his excellent performance in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). Lauren Bacall rose to instant stardom starring with Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944) based on the Ernest Hemingway novel. Though she was barely 20, Bacall graced the screen with astonishing sensuality and her performance became symbol of aggressive and assertive women of that period. It became very clear to Warner Bros. studio to exploit the romantic connection both Bogart and Bacall had onscreen, and to team up with Howard Hawks again. Marlowe the cynical PI and Vivian the confident divorcee make a great combination, these two tough characters become lovers and unlikely partners while surrounded by innuendo, blackmailers, and killers.
Before this film women were viewed as a threat and deadly to unsuspecting men entangled by their hidden motives and evil natures as mentioned by Hirsch, “The anti-woman bias that runs through American films reaches an apotheosis in noir, where beautiful spider women proliferate. There are other kinds of women in the films -- me meek wives infected with a fuddy-duddy morality, strong women like Lauren Bacall who achieve something of a parity with the men they fall for” (Hirsch 20). Marlowe and Mrs. Rutledge are one equal ground and both need each other in some capacity in order to survive the mayhem encircling them. In closing, The Big Sleep is an excellent movie with suspense, screams, intrigue, gunshots, murder mystery, lies, cover-up, gang of killers, and even romance, with atmospheric rain and thunder as our intrepid detective tries to unravel the puzzling clues he discovers mostly at night as he encounters numerous suspects along the way, making this a top rated film noir genre that
keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch Marlowe try to piece it all together and at the same time avoids getting killed himself in the process. There had always been rumors about an original version of The Big Sleep that was thought to be lost over time, but “in 1997 there was discovered in the UCLA Film and Television Archives a pre-release cut that had been issued for the entertainment of the armed forces; it differs in several scenes from the final version. This inspired the National Film Preservation Board to add the movie to the National Registry” (Grant 67). This is a great film on many levels with great performances by the entire cast, a must see for classic film noir fans, and to watch Bogart and Bacall in their prime is worth another view.
French critics were quite impressed and more thoughtful of Hawks lifetime film work, and they rallied to his defense, ultimately in 1974 Hawks was given an honorary Academy Award, “it was to the Academy's credit that it recognized the great Hawks in his lifetime. (imdb, Howard Hawks). Hawks initially had a difficult time trying to unravel the complex storyline of The Big Sleep. John Grant mentions how intricate the tricky plot of The Big Sleep is in his book A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir: The Essential Reference Guide, “a plot that’s not only too complex to follow but actually, on analysis, nonsensical” (Grant 67). Howard Hawks had quite a time trying to formulate a clear version of the script with so many plot twists, multiple characters, their motives, and ultimate final ending of the film as Grant notes, “the ambiguity was to placate the Hays Office” (Grant 67). Hawks discovered a few loose ends within the plot that didn’t make sense, as Grant points out, “while working through the screenplay, Hawks and screenwriter William Faulkner realized they didn‘t know who had killed the Sternwood’s chauffeur, or why. Checking with the novel left them no wiser. So they asked Chandler. After awhile, he admitted he didn’t know either” (Grant 67). Warner Bros. had prescreen the original The Big Sleep to test audiences in 1945, “unsatisfied with the original ending of the film and in conflict with the Hays Office with scenes too harsh or unseemly, another screenwriter was brought in to help; Jules Furthman, called in to do final polishing of the screenplay to effect the change” (Grant 67). Howard Hawks was a writer too and he surrounded himself with a team of writers he knew were talented and could produce monumental scripts. “Hawks was lucky to have worked with some of the best writers in the business, including his friend and fellow aviator William Faulkner. Screenwriters he collaborated with on his films included Leigh Brackett, Ben Hecht, John Huston and Billy Wilder” (imdb, Howard Hawks) Although all the writers mentioned are excellent and famous in their own right, I take special interest in writer Leigh Brackett, while in High School I read a great deal of science fiction novels, and enjoyed many of her books like The Best of Leigh Brackett, The Sword of Rhiannon, and Eric John Stark: Outlaw of Mars. Brackett was known since 1940s to the1970s as The Queen of Space Opera, having wrote for many years with pulp science fiction magazines like Planet Stories, Startling Stories, and Astounding Stories. Brackett was good on characterization and her long career as a top screenwriter also helped defined the genre she wrote for with such classics as The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), Hatari! (1962), El Dorado (1966), and The Long Goodbye (1973). Director Howard Hawks often teamed up with Brackett on several films and she was sought after by George Locus to help write the first sequel to Star Wars. “A noted science-fiction/fantasy author who was prolific in SF and other pulps in the 1940s; a mentor and sometime collaborator of Ray Bradbury. Died of cancer after writing the first version of the script of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)” (imdb, Leigh Brackett). Above all what mattered to Hawks the most was the interaction between characters and the look of the film that audiences would remember and enjoy memorable performances. As mentioned by imdb, “Hawks came to believe that a good film consisted of at least three good scenes and no bad ones--at least not a scene that could irritate and alienate the audience. He said, "As long as you make good scenes you have a good picture--it doesn't matter if it isn't much of a story." (imdb, Howard Hawks). Sid Hickox was the cinematography for The Big Sleep. “Hickox was best known as an action photographer, who excelled shooting the gritty, moody crime films and melodramas, in which Warners tended to corner the market. He collaborated particularly well with another action specialist, the director Raoul Walsh. Hickox had the uncanny ability to make productions, shot on a modest budget, look a lot classier. His best films cover the period from 1942 to 1954. They include the boxing drama Gentleman Jim (1942); the films noir To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and White Heat (1949); and, finally, the sci-fi cult classic Them! (1954)” (imdb-I.S.Mowis). The central character in The Big Sleep is Philip Marlowe, P.I. (Humphrey Bogart) in LA to meet his new client, General Sternwood (Charles Waldron), and meets Carmen Sternwood (Martha Vickers), the rambunctious younger sister of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), Vivian later falls for the cynical P.I. as he tries to piece together the truth in a maze filled with deceit, gangsters, and killers. Bogart had risen to leading man status after his excellent performance in The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). Lauren Bacall rose to instant stardom starring with Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944) based on the Ernest Hemingway novel. Though she was barely 20, Bacall graced the screen with astonishing sensuality and her performance became symbol of aggressive and assertive women of that period. It became very clear to Warner Bros. studio to exploit the romantic connection both Bogart and Bacall had onscreen, and to team up with Howard Hawks again. Marlowe the cynical PI and Vivian the confident divorcee make a great combination, these two tough characters become lovers and unlikely partners while surrounded by innuendo, blackmailers, and killers.
Before this film women were viewed as a threat and deadly to unsuspecting men entangled by their hidden motives and evil natures as mentioned by Hirsch, “The anti-woman bias that runs through American films reaches an apotheosis in noir, where beautiful spider women proliferate. There are other kinds of women in the films -- me meek wives infected with a fuddy-duddy morality, strong women like Lauren Bacall who achieve something of a parity with the men they fall for” (Hirsch 20). Marlowe and Mrs. Rutledge are one equal ground and both need each other in some capacity in order to survive the mayhem encircling them. In closing, The Big Sleep is an excellent movie with suspense, screams, intrigue, gunshots, murder mystery, lies, cover-up, gang of killers, and even romance, with atmospheric rain and thunder as our intrepid detective tries to unravel the puzzling clues he discovers mostly at night as he encounters numerous suspects along the way, making this a top rated film noir genre that
keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch Marlowe try to piece it all together and at the same time avoids getting killed himself in the process. There had always been rumors about an original version of The Big Sleep that was thought to be lost over time, but “in 1997 there was discovered in the UCLA Film and Television Archives a pre-release cut that had been issued for the entertainment of the armed forces; it differs in several scenes from the final version. This inspired the National Film Preservation Board to add the movie to the National Registry” (Grant 67). This is a great film on many levels with great performances by the entire cast, a must see for classic film noir fans, and to watch Bogart and Bacall in their prime is worth another view.