His Girl Friday (1940)

Howard Hawks directs this screwball comedy with a variation on "The Front Page". Cary Cary Grant is a hardboiled Managing Editor for a city newspaper, and his star reporter is Hildy, played by Rosallind Russell. (She's also his ex-wife, and wants the quiet life with a new husband (Ralph Bellamy), but can't resist the big story, nor Grant. This clever script with overlapping dialogue and simultaneous conversations has inspired many films and TV shows. (Was one of the films screened at the Chicago Outdoor film fest in Grant Park in 2004)

Rio Bravo (1959)

Howard Hawk's celebrated western---has John Wayne teaming with two unlikely co-stars: crooner Dean Martin and pop superstar Ricky Nelson. Wayne is a small-town sheriff, Martin is a former drunk turned deputy, and Nelson is the new-in-town young gunfighter whose friend (Ward Bond) is killed by a group of villains who want to overtake the town. One of them is played by Claude Akins, who is holed up in prison for most of the movie. Best thing about the movie is the character Feathers, Wayne's saloon-girl love interest, played by Angie Dickenson. Also starring Walter Brennan. Good shootout scenes, and a few songs by our singer-stars.

Recommended Blog Posts about or related to "Rio Bravo":

For a longer review, check out Ed's review of "Rio Bravo" from his blog, Decisions At Sundown: A Blog About Westerns.

More about Dean Martin and his swinging TV show from A Shroud of Thoughts.

Also, this is Monty's favorite western (not mine). Check out his praises here.


Quentin Tarantino also loves this movie; check out his praises below

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

This film is often considered the definitive screwball comedy.

Cary Grant plays the uptight anthropologist.

Determined to win him over, Katherine uses her brother's pet leopard Baby to get his attention.

Directed by Howard Hawks.

Great comic performances by Grant and Hepburn.