John Huston

John Huston (Nevada, Missouri, August 5, 1906 – Middletown, Rhode Island, August 28, 1987) was an Irish-born American director, screenwriter, and film actor. As a director, he made thirty-seven feature films, writing most of the scripts for them. His filmography includes classics such as The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen or The man who could reign. He is considered one of the best directors of classic American cinema, despite the fact that he is underestimated by certain sectors of criticism.

He was the father of Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston, both actors and directors.

Biography

Statue of John Huston in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

His father, Walter Huston, was an actor from childhood, later joining repertory companies, all traveling; although he also worked as an engineer, he never left that trade. He separated from her wife in 1912, and John went to live with her and her grandmother (but did not lose parental contact.) In his teens, Huston became a champion boxer and served as a US military attaché. in the Mexican army. He entered into his first marriage at the young age of 19. He lived as a street painter in Paris for a while, as he was very soon impressed with avant-garde art, and was in connection with the League of Art Students in Los Angeles, although he lost contact with it in 1924 when he went to live in New York. He also worked as an actor and was a writer for a New York magazine.

He began in the cinema as an extra in a movie, such as El testaferro, Saints from Hell or The Storm. Thanks to his father, who was already a well-known actor, he was the scriptwriter for several William Wyler films (La casa de discordia —A House Divided, 1931— or Jezebel —Jezebel, 1939—) and worked on an impressive number of screenplays during the 1930s and early 1940s: Sergeant York, The double crime of the Morgue street or The last refuge, among others.

His first film as a director, for which he also wrote a screenplay, The Maltese Falcon, is still considered a masterpiece of film history, starring Humphrey Bogart in the title role. The work is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel of the same name and is considered the first film noir. Bogart plays detective Sam Spade, who after accepting a commission from a woman who wants to find his sister, gets involved in a plot related to the search for The Maltese Falcon, a century-old statue in the shape of a falcon.

After making this film, he would find himself immersed in World War II, where he would work as a documentarian. In the middle of the invasion of Italy, he was in charge of making what for many is the best documentary on the conflict, San Pietro . In this battle, several of his cameras died, however, the director was unharmed. This documentary has influenced directors such as Steven Spielberg to make his film Saving Private Ryan.

After returning from the war, he made one of the best adventure films in cinema history, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, centered on the ambition of some adventurers in search of gold. Thanks to this film, he won his only Oscars for best director and best adapted screenplay. In addition, he earned his father his only Oscar as an actor.

His film Red Medal of Valor (1951), with its powerful images, was not completed. The African Queen, another of his masterpieces, shot in 1951, showed his crew how far he was willing to go to make a movie, filming in the Congo, with mosquitoes, heat and all kinds of diseases. Errol Flynn and Trevor Howard also suffered great hardships during the filming of The Roots of Heaven in Chad.

However, his career later declined somewhat, when he agreed to direct films such as The Bible, produced by Dino de Laurentiis; Annie; Escape or Victory, or Casino Royale, a James Bond film with five different directors.

Despite that, he continued to make great films later, such as Reflections in a Golden Eye or Under the Volcano.

He had the opportunity to direct his own father, Oscar-winning actor Walter Huston, in at least five feature films, and he also directed his daughter, Anjelica Huston, in Walk Through Love and Death, Prizzi's Honor and The Dead (his latest film), among others.

He died of emphysema in Middletown, Rhode Island. His memories end with what he would do if he could live again: “I would spend more time with my children; I would earn the money before spending it; he would learn the pleasures of wine instead of strong drink; I wouldn't smoke when I had pneumonia and I wouldn't marry a fifth time,' he wrote. It can be said that John Huston is one of the great directors in recent film history. He has his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1765 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography as a director

• The Maltese Falcon (The Maltese Falcon1941).
• Through the Pacific (Across the Pacific1942).
• Like she alone (In This Our Life1942).
• Report from the Aleutians (1943)
• The Battle of San Pietro (1944).
• Let There Be Light (1946).
• Key Largo (1948).
• The Treasure of Sierra Madre (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre1948).
• We were strangers (We Were Strangers1949).
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950).
• The African Queen (1951).
• Red Medal to Value/High of brave (The Red Badge of Courage1951).
• Moulin Rouge (1952).
• The mockery of the devil (Beat the Devil1954).
• Moby Dick (1956).
• Only God knows. (Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison1957).
• The barbarian and the geisha (The Barbarian and the Geisha1958.
• The roots of the sky (The Roots of Heaven1958.
• Those who do not forgive (The Unforgiven, 1960).
• The Misfits (1961).
• Freud, secret passion (Freud1962.
• The last of the list (The List of Adrian Messenger1963).
• The night of the iguana (The Night of the Iguana1964).
• The Bible (The Bible: In the Beginning1966).
• Casino Royale (1967).
• Reflexes of a golden eye (Reflections in a Golden Eye, 1967).
• The gallows can wait (Sinful Davey1968).
• Walk for love and death (A Walk with Love and Death1969).
• The letter from the Kremlin (The Kremlin Letter1970).
• The judge of the gallows (The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, 1972).
• Fat City, golden city (Fat City, 1972).
• The man of Mackintosh (The Mackintosh Man1973).
• The man who would be king / The man who could reign (The Man Who Would Be King1975).
• Blood wise (Wise Blood1979).
• Phobia (1980).
• Let There Be Light (1981).
• Escape to victory / Evasion or victory (Escape to Victory(1981).
• Annie. (1982).
• Under the volcano (Under the Volcano(1984).
• The honor of the Prizzi (Prizzi's Honor(1985).
• Dublines (The Dead) / From now and forever (The Dead(1987).

Filmography as an actor

• Bible (The Bible) (1966) on the role of Noah. Directed by him.
• Walk for love and death (A Walk with Love and Death) (1969), led by himself.

• Barrio Chino (Chinatown(1974), led by Roman Polanski.
• The other side of the wind (The Other Side of the Wind(filled in the 1970s and recently released in 2018), directed by Orson Welles.
• The man of a wild land (Man in the Wilderness) (1971), led by Richard C. Sarafian.
• Eleven plus one (A Minor Miracle(1983), directed by Terrell Tannen.

Awards and distinctions

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe

BAFTA Awards

Venice International Film Festival