These notes accompany screenings of Howard Hawks’s </i>Scarface: The Shame of a Nation, September 22, 23, and 24 in Theater 3.</p>
Howard Hawks (1896–1977), in his forty-four year career, was arguably the most consistently successful of all directors in satisfying the commercial demands of the Hollywood studio system while simultaneously maintaining a high level of personal expression in his films. One might say he was the “auteur’s auteur.” It helped a great deal that he was proficient in so many different genres.