Disc Reviews

Hawk The Slayer Blu-ray Review

6th Jul 2015

Here we have a very sweet new Blu-Ray release as part of Network’s ’The British Film’ collection.

Writer/Director Terry Marcel’s 1980 sword & sorcery classic (and I know some folks might balk at the use of that particular ‘c’ word, but we care not a jot here at Filmwerk), Hawk the Slayer gets the now very well established high definition spit and polish. It’s a by the book transfer from the original 35mm negative, which in the case of this film was no doubt sitting quite nicely unmolested for all these years.

Starring John Terry (no, young readers, not the football person), in his first lead role as the title character Hawk, and Jack Palance as his evil (much) older brother Voltan, plus a veritable smorgasbord of well known jobbing British character actors in supporting roles (carry on Bernard Bresslaw, and Patricia ‘Magenta’ Quinn to name but a notable two). The film is basically a fantasy, sword & sorcery adaptation of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Our hero Hawk must travel the wilderness of the Pinewood Studio’s backlot in search of his former compadres, and recruit them back into the ‘team’ in order to battle Voltan, who’s nefarious scheme seems to revolve around little more than kidnapping Anette Crosbie for a ransom in gold….and killing Hawk of course.

Cue various ‘adventures’ recruiting the weird and wonderful team, some flashbacks for narrative exposition, and an eventual final showdown with Voltan and his horde. Oh, let us not forget that Hawk is also the wielder of a mysterious and powerful weapon; the Mind Sword. Which through it’s glowing green potato pommel, imbues Hawk with remarkable combat skills.

Let us at this point, remind ourselves that this is a disc review, not a retrospective. As such, commentary, recollections, anecdotes and personal opinions; so much the mainstay of the retrospective format,; are not requested or required here, except in passing. Suffice to say then, that as a nine year old boy excitedly seeing Hawk the Slayer in the cinema in 1980; this author (despite the slight ribbing I just gave it), is one of the legion of folks the world over who maintain an almost ridiculous level of love and good will for the movie, even now…and despite its many shortcomings (more on those later perhaps).

With the arrival of this new Hi-Def release, let’s see how the movie holds up.

The Blu-Ray:

Well, it’s safe to say it won’t topple Jaws from its lofty perch atop the pedestal of classic Hi-Def greatness, but then nothing really does. Only films like Alien and Blade Runner come anywhere close (both of which enjoy far higher standing, and ipso facto many more restoration doubloons spent on them than poor Hawk can muster). Saying that; the transfer here is actually pretty good. This movie always looked grainy, dark and low rent on TV and VHS, and at the very least, this Blu-ray has just become the very best way to see the movie. This release also sees the presentation of the film in it’s original, rather televisual 1.75:1 shooting ratio too, although this is really only a ‘plus’ compared to a ‘pan & scan’ version.

One oft mentioned drawback of the Hi-Def process is its detrimental effect on old school photochemical special effects. Miniatures look more like the kit-bashed models they are, and composite effects shots that required multiple passes through the optical printer just can’t be easily pulled back up to the quality of surrounding single pass shots due to immense generational grain. In the case of Hawk the Slayer the simple visual effects do suffer, but were never exactly cutting edge anyway. Close ups of the Mind Sword at the top of the movie suffer the glare of the Hi-Def treatment in terms of the prop being revealed as somewhat more lashed together, and slapped with gold paint than one remembers. However, its design is still effective, and the shot of the hand shaped pommel opening up to grab the green glowing potato is somewhat indelible, dare I say ‘iconic’ (with a small ‘i’ admittedly).

The other game to play here is seeing if the new found clarity of the HD image allows you to tell when Jack Palance isn’t wearing Voltan’s burn makeup under his Darth helmet (which is no doubt most of the time).

Disc Extras:

This release does feature a collection of extras, some of which may be historically interesting to people who saw the film upon release.

Here are the details:

Original theatrical trailer (HD)
Raw textless elements (HD)
Clapperboard: Revenge by the Sword – For anyone old enough to remember this long running children’s TV show, this will be something of a blast from the past to cherish. This is certainly the bonus feature this author most enjoyed. Where else can you see loveable chubby host Chris Kelly, attempting to interview a semi-in character Jack Palance on set? Off topic, but has British television even got a kid’s movie show with that kind of access anymore?
By the Sword Divided – More candid on-location interviews
Sharpening the Blade – Behind the Scenes
Image Gallery (HD)
Original Script PDF

Not a terrible collection of supplemental material then for sure, but sorely lacking some more up to date additions. Fans of the movie would no doubt have appreciated something new and meaty. A new retrospective documentary, or a commentary perhaps.

Conclusion:

Ok, so who are we trying to kid here, the movie of course doesn’t really hold up in any properly quantifiable way. John Terry became a fine actor (he was a perfectly decent Felix Leiter in The Living Daylights only a few years after this for example), but this is him right at the beginning of his career, and it really shows. His plight is not helped by the quality of the dialogue either, which is often quite cringeworthy, and certainly clunky at best. The flip side of the John Terry situation, good old Darth Vader, sorry Voltan, bless him. Jack Palance was heading towards the twilight of his career, although Batman and his Oscar for City Slickers were still some years away. He’s often a polarising presence, especially as an older man in more modern movies. One can give him credit for just being a powerful personality, and commanding the screen. He does this in an effortless ‘real deal’ kind of way, similar to other people of his generation like Charles Bronson. However, demerits come thick and fast here, in the sense that his style of villainous acting is at best, of a much simpler era, and requires better writing to make work. No-one breathes through their mouth and over pronounces words quite like Palance though, and there are some doozies in this film.

Much of the supporting cast are similarly afflicted by some kind of ‘how to act well’ amnesia, which is sometimes quite strange. The aforementioned Anette Crosbie’s Abbess for example is a long way from being the worst thing in the movie (that honour might go to Shane Briant’s laughably terrible Drogo), but knowing what a wonderful actress she already was at this point in her career; it can only be terrible writing in conjunction with some kind of collective complacency that renders even her, just a bit naff.

Speaking of naff, a quick word on Harry Robertson’s score. Well, you can certainly tell we are operating in the years directly following the massive success of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Robertson fuses elements of this with leitmotifs akin to something from Ennio Morricone’s reject bag. The result is exactly what you would expect given my description. Yes, every time (and I mean every time) Hawk appears as if by the sneakiest of magics; his little signature motif plays. It’s hokey, but that’s not to say in general, the score isn’t a very listenable piece of work, it is. Catching up with the film after so long, it was actually the thing that was most enjoyable, after the Mind Sword of course.

So, after all that; you would think a recommendation to buy this new Blu-Ray would not be very forthcoming. Well, you would be somewhat right, but also quite wrong.

Certainly, for those too young to have seen Hawk the Slayer in 1980, or on video and TV a year or two later, and indeed whenever it was trotted out throughout the 80s; perhaps there isn’t too much for you to get excited about. The Mind Sword might still be cool to a youngster today, but not much else I suspect. In Hawk’s defence; it must be said that this is probably the case for most of the movies of this type and era getting rejuvenated and released in Hi-Def. The release is by design, surely aimed primarily at those who remember and have a fondness for the movie already established, and would like a better looking copy for their collections.

So despite the alarmingly obvious lack of budget, bloodless PG sword violence, bargain bucket visual effects, dubious script and terrible acting; Hawk the Slayer is still somehow cool, and this author’s lingering affection for him and his Mind Sword is immortal. In conjunction with the enjoyably abundant period documentary coverage included on the disc; I think it’s a winner, and it will receive four great big stars…..but it’s not for everyone, and those stars do come with a lot of excuses, eye rolling, and shameless shrugs of one’s shoulders.