More Hawks Women

I watched To Have and Have Not, another Hawks film and one that the extras on Rio Bravo referenced extensively.

THoHN has a couple of interesting things going on, not the least of which is it clearly wants to tap directly into the same vein as Casablanca. But while many of the elements are virtually identical (amoral expat has to decide whether or not to help the Free French), the love story makes it a whole other thing.

I can see why Rio Bravo critics often refer back to it. The first kiss in THoHN will be recycled almost exactly in Rio Bravo-- except that Lauren Bacall does not scare Humphrey Bogart. But like a good Hawks hero, he has A Job To Do and so he keeps moving. She is tough, vulnerable, but imo perhaps a bit more submissive than Feathers. But she's also a bit more audacious and funny, so it's a toss up for me. And Bacall sings like a man.

I'll be interested to see what you think.

The Thing (from another world) was directed by a man who worked on Hawks's crews for years, and Hawks is his producer. Lots of film historians argue just how big a hand Hawks took in directing it and it's easy to see why because it plays just like a Hawks film.

And once again, we have a tough woman who has a history with our hero-- he took her out once and she drank him under the table, then pinned a note on his unconscious body and had him shipped back to his base, to the great amusement of his men. She does none of the usual hysterical screaming, getting in the way, or requiring rescue. And at the end of the movie, in a typically Hawnsian non-sentimental way, she basically proposes to him while his men tease him and he realizes (good-naturedly) that she has him completely overmatched.

It occurs to me that all three of these women display the emotional side associated with female characters, but by embracing that side of themselves without getting all sentimental or weepy about it, they actually end up emotionally stronger than the men, who are busy putting a lid on their emotions so they can Do the Job.

Hawks is often cited for male characters who are all about the job, doing what they are supposed to be doing, regardless, and that's what makes them strong and admirable.

So perhaps the short answer is that in Hawks's world, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, and a woman's gotta feel what a woman's gotta feel, and as long as neither of them make a big deal out of it, things work out fine.

But I'll be interested to see what you think.