Howard Hawks was one of the preeminent directors of Hollywood's Golden Age. His directing style is straightforward and enjoyable, with a focus on brisk storytelling and larger-than-life characters. He once quipped that a good movie was one that had "three great scenes and no bad scenes", which is an approach he seems to have applied to his own work. At their best, Hawk's films have an infectious sense of fun that the viewer can't resist.

Hawks was also remarkably versatile. He made 40 films between 1927 and 1970, spanning a range of genres: screwball comedy, Westerns, war biopics, gangster movies, and detective noir. Some of these projects were seminal, like The Big Sleep, Scarface, and His Girl Friday, each of them helping to spawn entire subgenres. Not all of Hawks' movies have aged well, of course, but most of them remain amazingly watchable. These are the best of his projects, as ranked by the users of IMDb.

10 'Only Angels Have Wings' (1939)

IMDb: 7.6/10

Cary Grant stars in this romantic adventure as Geoff Carter, the head of a struggling air freight service that operates in a remote part of South America. In order to secure a lucrative contract, Geoff and his pal Kid (Thomas Mitchell) must undertake a treacherous flight over the mountains through bad weather. Further complicating things is the arrival of showgirl Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), who soon becomes interested in the emotionally unavailable Geoff.

Only Angels Have Wings has come to be regarded as an important transitional work in Hawks's filmography, serving as a bridge between the more lighthearted comedies of his early career and the darker stories that would come later. The special effects of the aerial scenes have also been praised, and generally seen as ahead of their time. In particular, stunt pilot Paul Mantz pulls off some daring maneuvers in an actual Boeing Model 40 biplane.

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9 'Ball of Fire' (1941)

IMDb: 7.7/10

"I love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk!" This screwball comedy revolves around Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper), a grammar scholar working on an encyclopedia project with his eccentric colleagues. Their sheltered academic world is disrupted when Potts meets Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck), a vivacious nightclub singer. Sugarpuss seeks refuge from the police in the professors' home, and the pair of them soon become entangled in a world of gangsters and danger.

Ball of Fire isn't one of Hawks's most polished comedies, but Stanwyck is so charming and funny that she carries much of the project by herself. She's considered by many to be the best of the screwball comedy actresses, and watching this it's easy to see why. Specifically, much of the humor flows from the contrast between the erudite professors and the street-smart Sugarpuss. The whole thing is quite goofy, but that's also its appeal.

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8 'Sergeant York' (1941)

IMDb: 7.7/10

Gary Cooper delivers a very different kind of performance here as Alvin C. York, a poor farmer from Tennessee who became the most decorated American hero during World War I. Initially resistant to military service due to his religious beliefs, York eventually becomes a skilled marksman and leads an extraordinary mission in the Argonne Forest. This culminates in him finding a strategic position behind German lines, from which he engages in a ferocious firefight with scores of troops.

Cooper went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his efforts, and Hawks received his only nomination. Sergeant York was a massive success on release, in part because of the surge in patriotism after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred while the movie was still in cinemas. Interesting bit of trivia: this is the York that Inglourious Basterds's Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) refers to when he says that his comrades nicknamed him "the German Sergeant York".

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7 'Scarface' (1932)

IMDb: 7.7/10

Fifty years before the Al Pacino version, Hawks directed this gangster movie with Paul Muni in the role of Tony Camonte, a ruthless and ambitious mobster in Chicago during the Prohibition era. Tony ascends the criminal ranks by eliminating his rivals and taking control of the illegal liquor trade, but his violence and hunger for power also threaten to cause his downfall. Muni is great in the part - the quintessential mobster antihero.

Scarface ranks among the most influential gangster movies ever. It was unusually violent and graphic for its time, causing it to be heavily censored. Similarly, the film features a bleak and intense aesthetic using high contrasts of black-and-white. In this regard, it helped to establish, along with Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, the blueprint for '30s and '40s crime films. Its examination of power, corruption, and the destructive allure of the criminal lifestyle has also been endlessly imitated.

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6 'To Have and Have Not' (1944)

IMDb: 7.8/10

Based loosely on Ernest Hemingway's novel, To Have and Have Not takes place during World War II and features Humphrey Bogart as Harry Morgan, the operator of a sport fishing boat off the coast of Martinique, currently under the control of the Nazi-aligned Vichy regime. He is hired to transport two members of the French resistance, Paul de Bursac (Walter Surovy) and his wife Hélène (Dolores Moran) onto the island. At the same time, Harry begins a romance with the lounge singer and pickpocket Slim Browning (Lauren Bacall).

It's essentially a noir romance, which some have hailed as a quintessential Hawks film and others panned as a pale imitation of Casablanca. Either way, there's no denying the charisma of Bogart and Bacall. The latter is particularly famous for delivering a sultry and iconic rendition of the song "How Little We Know" in one key scene. This was the first collaboration between them, and they would go on to be married in 1945.

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5 'His Girl Friday' (1940)

IMDb: 7.8/10

"Walter, you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way." Talented reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) quits her job at the newspaper to marry the mild-mannered Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). However, her ex-husband and editor, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), is hell-bent on getting back together with her. He tries all sorts of schemes to keep Hildy reporting on a breaking news story involving an escaped prisoner, leading to plenty of wacky scenarios. The result is perhaps the defining screwball comedy, frequently ranked as one of the greatest comedies of all time.

His Girl Friday not only showcases the chaos of the newspaper world but also challenges traditional gender roles, portraying Hildy as a strong and independent woman in a male-dominated field. In addition, the film's rapid-fire dialogue, clever humor, and the chemistry between Grant and Russell lend it enduring appeal. Notably, Quentin Tarantino has cited the film as an influence on his own approach to writing dialogue.

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4 'Bringing Up Baby' (1938)

IMDb: 7.8/10

Bringing Up Baby follows the misadventures of David Huxley (Cary Grant), a straight-laced paleontologist, whose life takes an unexpected turn when he meets Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), a free-spirited and eccentric heiress. She falls for him, even though he's set to get married the following day. Attempting to delay the wedding by all means necessary, Susan leads David on a whirlwind escapade involving a leopard named Baby, a missing dinosaur bone, and a series of comical misunderstandings.

Despite this star power and Hawks at the helm, the film was a box office flop, barely recouping its budget. Nevertheless, it received positive reviews, and its critical standing has continued to increase over the intervening decades. This is Hawks at his zaniest, with the film not even trying to be realistic. Somehow, it still works. Bringing Up Baby is pure fun from start to finish. Crucially, the madcap plot never lets up. As David himself says, "It isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you; but, well, there haven't been any quiet moments!"

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3 'Red River' (1948)

IMDb: 7.8/10

This landmark Western revolves around Tom Dunson (John Wayne), a determined and authoritarian cattle rancher who embarks on a perilous cattle drive from Texas to Missouri. The tension escalates as Dunson's adopted son, Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift), challenges his father's harsh leadership style, leading to a dramatic power struggle amidst the grueling journey. At the same time, they must contend with stampedes, theft, and various attacks. There's a particularly intense scene where the wagon train comes under assault.

Everything is epic in Red River, and sweeping landscape cinematography is at a premium. The highlight, however, is Wayne. He was often typecast as the cardboard-cutout Western hero, but here he is endlessly complex. Dunson is both a hero and villain, with many noble qualities but also a cruel streak. Wayne is given a tortured and conflicted character to play, and he excels, hinting at the role of Ethan Edwards he would later play in The Searchers.

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2 'The Big Sleep' (1946)

IMDb: 7.9/10

The Big Sleep is a classic film noir, adapted from the novel by Raymond Chandler. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall feature again, this time as the iconic private detective Philip Marlowe and the enigmatic Vivian Sternwood Rutledge. Marlowe is hired by wealthy patriarch General Sternwood to investigate the gambling debts of his two daughters, Vivian and Carmen (Martha Vickers). As Marlowe delves deeper into the case, he becomes entangled in a web of deceit, murder, and blackmail.

The Big Sleep is considered by many to be the pinnacle of its genre. The plot is notoriously confusing, but the performances are great, the dialogue is snappy (it was co-written by legend William Faulkner), and there's an abundance of hard-boiled atmosphere. Bogie is effortlessly charming as usual, even when he's playing a grizzled PI. Plus, the spark between him and Bacall is real, and you can practically see how much they enjoy their scenes together (even though Bogart was also going through a messy divorce at the time).

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1 'Rio Bravo' (1959)

IMDb: 8.0/10

This gem unfolds in the small town of Rio Bravo, where Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne), must contend with a powerful rancher seeking to free his brother from the town jail. As the sheriff faces overwhelming odds and corruption within, he forms an unlikely alliance with a recovering alcoholic deputy (Dean Martin), a young gunslinger (Ricky Nelson), and a spirited saloon owner (Angie Dickinson). They must hold the fort against the onslaught from the rancher's gang.

Rio Bravo is not just a tale of gunfights; it's a character-driven hangout movie that explores camaraderie, loyalty, and the resilience of a community against external threats. The film is renowned for its engaging storytelling, memorable characters, and Hawks' trademark blend of action, humor, and human drama. In particular, Hawks made the film in response to the more pessimistic Western High Noon. In contrast to that movie, he wanted to tell a story where the main characters are all fundamentally good. This is a big part of what makes Rio Bravo enjoyable. The plot would go on to inspire John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, which essentially relocates the premise to a police station.

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NEXT: The 10 Best Roger Corman Movies, According to IMDb