Movies - TV
How Howard Hawks Inspired Quentin Tarantino As A Director
By SHAE SENNETT
Director Howard Hawks is best known for making successful and fondly-remembered movies in nearly every old Hollywood genre, including the musical comedy “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” the noir “The Big Sleep,” and the Western “Rio Bravo.” Quentin Tarantino shared that Hawks became one of his biggest inspirations after watching three of Hawks’ films as a teenager.
During a 2007 Q&A, Tarantino said, “When I [was] around 17, I watched 'Rio Bravo' and I was knocked out of the wind.” Around the same time, Tarantino also saw “His Girl Friday”; later, he told the Hollywood Reporter, “Then all of a sudden I'm at home, and I notice that [...] 'Barbary Coast' is being played [...] so I watched that. Well, those three movies in a row really got me into that director.”
Tarantino hopes his movies impact new audiences the same way Hawks’ films impacted him. He explained, “I fantasize about another 12-year-old girl or boy, 20 years after I'm dead, seeing one of my movies, liking it. [Thinking] 'Who the hell did that?' Seeing another movie, and then whatever they choose from the pile [...] I have to keep them wanting to go back for more.”