Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 6, 2021

George McCowan's "Shadow of the Hawk" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film and exclusive new audio commentary by critics Mike McPadden and Ben Reiser. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The original material for Shadow of the Hawk apparently came from three different contributors. One of them is Peter Jensen, who was employed as a camera operator on such gems as Barfly and Bound. Lynette Cahill is the second contributor, but she is virtually unknown. Norman Thaddeus Vane is the third contributor and most horror junkies should quickly link his name to the low-budget chiller Frightmare, which he also directed. Now, Vane apparently worked on and delivered the screenplay for Shadow of the Hawk together with a young Herbert Wright, a future producer of War of the Worlds: The Complete First Season and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I am skeptical that the latter's contribution was substantial. I think that Vane was the person that did all the hard work, so the screenplay that Daryl Duke picked up from him had his version of the story that Shadow of the Hawk was expected to tell. But then production started, Duke was abruptly replaced with George McCowan, and no one really knows what happened next. Just to be clear, there must be some official story that arranges important production events in proper order, but I would not waste any time with it because it is guaranteed to be made up of half-truths and lies. I would like to explain why.

Shadow of the Hawk is such an underdeveloped mess that it is actually easier to describe as a poor reconstruction project where multiple people submitted random ideas, lost control of them, and then walked away from it. After Duke’s departure, McCowan was likely tasked to do something positive with them but failed because he was stuck with an irreversibly mismanaged material. We know that it is so because this is what is on full display in Shadow of the Hawk -- mismanaged material and desperate direction. The ideas are at odds with the atmosphere the film promotes. The acting isn’t right for the action and drama. The cinematography does not support the film’s attitude. Needless to say, the end product is an amusing cinematic catastrophe.

This cinematic catastrophe is loosely divided into three very badly edited sections. In the first, the aging shaman Old Man Hawk (Chief Dan George) travels to the big city to meet his grandson, Mike (Jan-Michael Vincent), who has been living his life as a ‘normal’ American. Old Man Hawk needs Mike’s help because he is sensing the emergence of great evil fostered by the powerful sorceress Dsonoqua (Marianne Jones). Initially, Mike refuses to follow him back to the wilderness, but the curious and attractive journalist Maureen (Marilynn Hassett) changes his mind. In the second section, Mike and Maureen warm up to each other and together with Old Man Hawk travel back to the wilderness where Dsonoqua uses her powers to destroy them. In the final section, there is an all-out battle between good and evil.

When Shadow of the Hawk was being conceived the main intent was likely to deliver a film about Indian mysticism and the ways in which a contemporary mind perceives it, and Vane must have been the person that controlled this intent until Duke was dismissed. After that, various people, some of which are not officially credited in the film, must have offered their interpretations of what the final version of the film should look like. How do we know that this is precisely what happened? A single person would not have envisioned and managed to stage the amateurish chaos that defines the film in its current form. Everything in it is too random, too mediocre, and unbearably silly.

McCowan probably deserves some credit for attaching his name to such an incoherent and unsavable project, but it is possible that executive producer Henry Gellis simply offered enough money to keep him ’interested’. (Before Shadow of the Hawk, Gellis served as a producer on the vastly superior The Mechanic, The New Centurions, and Busting). Either way, it is irrelevant what really took place. Shadow of the Hawk is the type of endurance test that gives genre films a bad name.

Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Shadow of the Hawk arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The master that was used to produce this release is not new. It has two issues that should be registered by most casual viewers. The first has to do with the manner in which grain is exposed. It looks a bit powdery and when the camera moves abruptly fluidity becomes problematic. Naturally, delineation and depth are negatively impacted as well. (I have chosen obvious examples for you in screencaptures #13 and 18). The second has to do with the density levels of the visuals. The overwhelming majority of the film looks very good, but there are some sporadic drops that reveal the age of the master. The most serious fluctuations can even affect color stability. (You can see an example in screencapture #21). The rest looks either good or very good. Color balance, for instance, is very pleasing, though in some daylight footage highlights should look better. There are no conventional distracting age-related anomalies either. All in all, even though the film can look significantly better in high-definition, I think that the current technical presentation is decent. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. Its overall range of dynamics is excellent as well. When the current master was prepared, the audio mix must have been carefully prepared to ensure optimal accuracy. Since the master was finalized by the folks at Sony Pictures, this does not surprise me at all.

Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage U.S. trailer for Shadow of the Hawk. In English, no subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Mike McPadden and Ben Reiser. The commentary contains plenty of information about the careers of Jan-Michael Vincent and Chief Dan George, the film business during the '70s, the excellent reception Shadow of the Hawk had in Canada, George McCowan and Daryl Duke's work on the film, etc.

• Booklet - a collector's booklet featuring essays by critics Lee Gambin and Craig Ian Mann, as well as technical credits.

Shadow of the Hawk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is a mystery why Shadow of the Hawk was so well received in Canada when it was released in 1976. Could it be that its success had everything to do with the fact that Chief Dan George was cast to play one of its key characters? I just think that the film isn't constructed right, which is why it very much looks like the creation of multiple people who gave up on it because they could not figure out how to make it work. I listened to the entire commentary that was recorded for this release because I wanted to find out more about its production history and exactly what George McCowan and Daryl Duke did on it, but now I actually have even more questions. There must be some official story that arranges important production events in proper order, but just from the way this film looks I would guess that it isn't legit. Why? Because there is too much incompatible and random material in it that does not produce anything of substance. (The commentators have a great deal of enthusiasm for the film, but it is not a coincidence that while addressing multiple sequences both admit that they are unsure what is happening). Needless to say, I think that the film is a failure.