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Keeping up with Hawks - Style in Cinema - filmmaker Howard Hawks
Style, Fall, 1998 by Lea Jacobs
WALTER. Listen I made a great reporter out of you, Hildy, but you won't be half as good on any other paper and you know it. We're a team that's what we are. You need me and I need you and the paper needs both of us! (At "I made" Grant points at her with his left hand and holds it to "'you." At "We're a team" he raises an open left hand to gesture at her. At "team" Russell starts making her nonsense noises, left hand on her hip, and right resting on the table. At " I need" he beats quickly three times on his chest, then turns and looks out at the general office and points in that direction, at "both" he points with his left hand at the office, reaching across his body to do so. At the same time, Russell hits the table with her right hand, both gestures punctuating "sold.")
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HILDY. (making nonsense syllables in the manner of an auctioneer) Sold American!
Although all of Grant's gestures at the end of this section make sense - he gestures at Russell when he says "you" and when he refers to them as a "team," he gestures to himself and to the paper at the appropriate points - the rhythm is surely more important than the meaning, the rapid series of gesticulations the visual equivalent of Russell's nonsense syllables. This equivalence is emphasized by the fact that his biggest gesture, when his left hand crosses his body to point to the office to his right, is timed precisely to coincide with Russell's banging on the table and the stressed word "Sold" in the line which ends this passage.
The fifth section slows down to 3.8 w/s for 1:22. I see this section as preparation for the next, which is the fastest part of the scene. Grant cedes the floor, raising both hands in mock defeat and saying, "Oh, all right. Go on." They both sit side by side on the table. Speaking softly and somewhat sadly, she tells him that it just didn't work out. Although the rate of delivery remains slow here, the use of gesture picks up quite a bit at Walter's insult: "And I still claim I was tight the night I proposed to you . . ." Russell throws her purse at Grant, in front of her. Grant ducks without looking behind him, and upbraids her for losing her "eye" while moving forward to answer the phone on the desk. What follows is the gestural equivalent of having two conversations at once. Grant pretends to be talking to Sweeny on the phone. Once he hangs up, he begins complaining that Sweeny has left his post to "have a baby" and paces back and forth, moving from the desk towards the windows rear right. Meanwhile, Russell stands still, taking out her compact and lipstick, applying lipstick, putting it away, and powdering her face. It is interesting to note how these two activities, two lines of business, as it were, come together and lead into the next section.
HILDY. (She laughs, opens her compact again and begins to powder her face.) Well, he didn't do it on purpose, did he?
WALTER. (In response to her question, he turns and comes forward again.) I don't care whether he did or not. He's supposed to be coveting the Earl Williams case, and where is he? Walking up and down in a hospital. Is there no sense of honor in this country? (At "he's supposed to be covering," he gestures, lifting his left hand. At "where is he?" he puts his hands behind his back and resumes pacing, in imitation of Sweeny in the hospital. At "walking up and down," she turns and looks at Grant. At "is there no sense of honor," he turns toward her, puts his cigarette in his mouth with his left hand, and adjusts the knot in his tie.)
