10 Most Influential Directors Of All Time

6. Howard Hawks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K2GqXeWCIY Howard Hawks is a true American director in every sense of the word. His characters have become so mimicked since he brought them to the screen that you can't find a current film that doesn't feature some variation on the Hawksian female or the typical Hawks male action hero. The tough female movie character was completely innovated by Hawks in the 30s and 40s with films such as Bringing up Baby, His Girl Friday, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. You can see the influence most notably in the character of Ellen Ripley in Alien and The Bride in the Kill Bill series. Hawks also created what can be viewed as the prototype for the Bond films with his adaption of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. The main character, Morgan, played by Humphrey Bogart bears a striking resemblance to the character of James Bond and Lauren Bacall's Slim is the archetype of the Bond Girl a decade before Ursula Andress walked out of the ocean in Dr. No. The plot of To Have and Have Not also heavily influenced Ian Fleming when he wrote his first Bond novel Casino Royale.