Watch This: Howard Hawks 1972 Video Interview

Here’s a video of the legendary director Howard Hawks, in his unwanted retirement, relaxing on the deck of a yacht and talking about his career and philosophy of filmmaking. Hawks, with his deep voice and precise enunciation, sounds like he came out of a time machine direct from 1931. He speaks about violence in films – with great authority, as the creator of the modern gangster film – and talks about the best way to learn how to be a director.

“Go and see as many pictures as you can made by good directors, and then make up your mind what is good and what is bad.”

I excerpted these clips from a Spanish documentary that does not provide translations of the questions so we hear answers only. It’s pretty easy to understand the discussion from contextual cues though.