Daily Inspiration Quote by Howard Hawks

Hawks’ line is a neat little demolition of prestige-movie bloat. It refuses the museum logic of cinema - the idea that a film’s worth is proven by seriousness, thematic density, or one “important” sequence. Instead, he frames movies as an attention economy: you’re only as good as what’s happening right now, and audiences can feel dead air like a draft under a door.

The “three good scenes” part is generous and pragmatic. Hawks isn’t pretending every minute can be transcendent; he’s identifying the durable spine of a crowd-pleaser. Those scenes are the ones you quote, the ones that make stars, the ones that turn plot into pleasure. They’re the contractual obligation of popular art: deliver a handful of moments so alive they justify the ticket and linger after the credits.

“No bad scenes” is the real dagger. Hawks is pointing at the hidden sin that kills rewatchability: slack connective tissue. Bad scenes aren’t just boring; they break the spell, reminding you you’re watching a manufactured thing. In Hawks’ world, craft is invisibility - clean staging, brisk pacing, dialogue that moves like a relay race. The director’s job is less poet than traffic cop, keeping every beat from becoming a bottleneck.

Context matters: Hawks made genre films - screwball comedies, noirs, westerns, war pictures - where momentum is morality. His credo also reads like a rebuke to self-indulgent auteurs and “important” films padded with virtue. He’s not anti-art; he’s pro-audience, and he’s ruthless about respect for their time.