My late auntie took my brother to see this as a double feature, with was either Raiders (which i loved) and or Saturn Five (which i didn't as we were not as desensitised back then). She was a great fan of SciFi Fantasy and passed it on to me, we miss her but i like to think she pops by occasionally in spirit to watch Dune with me 🙂
07:59 I loved Hawk the Slayer because it reminded me of the tabletop scenarios I'd think up during school free periods. It's cheesy and fun while not being well-written.
I saw Hawk the Slayer as a child and it became, and probably still is, my favourite movie of all time. If not, then certainly a top 5 contender...having watched so many different types of films spanning many genres. Growing up, I had a huge love for the Fantasy genre, as well as Horror and Sci-Fi, etc....but when I saw this, despite its obviously flaws...I was just instantly hooked. I think it's easy to understand over the years why it's got its critics and that's fair enough, so many aspects of it are ropey and undeniably cheesy/bad. But amongst all that, it has a strange charm that is almost hard to identify what it is exactly that makes it so enjoyable or even good to fans of it like those of us here. For me it's a unique film that even though works very loosely with typical tropes of the genre, finds an almost oddball, quasi-surreal way to exist without being so madcap it loses you (at least in my opinion). Nothing is ever really explained in enough of a detail to give it some kind of logical existence, so instead it just cuts loose with its strangeness and magical qualities (both literally and figuratively). It has a wild score, bordering on Acid Western territory and yet Medieval, but with Disco beats and percussion. So there's almost our first clue it shouldn't work and yet the music is damn infectious and befitting that you can't help but get swept up, as if being galloped up by Fire Mares (!!) (Different place, different time). The other thing with all this is it's quite 'original', it doesn't have a 1000 things we've seen before despite it's shortcomings and other poorly put together features, characters are unusual ("a strange fellow to be sure.."), it isn't brought to life based off an old comic or novel, it's just fleshed out and brought to life all of its own. It's a unique experience, but at the same time more influential than it gets credit for. Crow for instance is an amazing Elf, running through the forest in slo-mo but clearly like the wind to the most hypnotic parts of the score I've heard (there's something almost meditative about this part and it's an incredible break from all the wild fighting and high-speed crossbows and arrows flying into varied victims at the rate of knots!) and then 'leaping' into a tree to give the gang surveillance on the baddies 'lair'...hilariously just a series of tents or whatever in the wood! I probably should grow up, but that whole sequence just enchants me to this day and it was things like this that commanded my attention as a child to adult-now, because it was just so different to what I'd seen before! I don't mind Hawk is so taciturn, John Terry gets a lot of stick for this - but it feels appropriate for the character. He lost his beloved to his evil bro's murderous hands and then his father who bestowed upon him the amazing Mind Sword; he has little time to grieve or take stock, he has to get moving - so he feels purposeful and focused, hardly interested in cracking skulls, blathering drunken mirth and tending to busty wenches in some bawdy tavern, and his sole focus is to kill Voltan, which nicely precedes the title card and music run in to get this movie going when he activates the Elfin Mind Sword...it really is quite well crafted in that respect and the sword looks amazing, another original feature of the movie; so really the story is about vengeance and it's nothing original, but the abbess-kidnap just ties in with the notion that the 2 will have to clash in the ultimate battle (in lovely cheesy slo-mo no less!). The struggle between the forces of good and evil. Overall I think Terry does an admiral enough job of playing it cool and being focused on gaining his vengeance, that's his motivation, not to clown around but use the Mind Sword to gain an advantage, and then ultimately recruit his ragtag guys for some camaraderie and for them to add some light humour (the stuff between Baldin and Gort). I have no issue with Terry's performance I think he is fine as Hawk and plays it as it should be. Let the sword do the talking!! It's f***ing big enough! Oh well, it appears I have said too much already. For fear Voltan may cut out my tongue entirely, I will, alas...move on, into the fog, shows these dead eyes many things; no longer stalking the land...."Wizzzarrrdddddddd, you promised me........".
Excellent observations! I saw this move waaaay back, in the mid 1980's. When it briefly made the rounds on television here in America. And it's always stayed with me. Despite it's obvious cheesiness. There were literally SCORES of movies like this back then. Knock-offs of Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. For years I've wondered why I always remembered "Hawk" over other, similar movies of this time. And I think the reason was that it was so different from the others. The music (best described as "medieval disco"), the serious earnestness of the British actors, while delivering the silliest dialogue---all this made the film memorable.
I recently watched it with my dad (who had never seen it) the movie is a delightful feast of over acting, under acting, and hilarious special effects ( silly string, anyone?) but the one thing that my poor dad kept asking was “All this for 2,000 gold pieces?”
1:07 I actually watched this on RUclips last week (December 2022) with my wife who has never seen it. The quality, especially by today's standards isn't good but we thoroughly love the concept. With a serious upgrade I think it could still be a hit today.
For the animated equivalent, see my adorable childhood fave, The Flight Of Dragons. Budget Topcraft but with beautiful and detailed character designs; ambitious (if choppy) shots of numerous dragons in the air at once; goes into great worldbuilding lengths on how dragons 'work'; stellar voice cast including FUCKING DARTH VADER; and has a few fine setpieces when the film finally gets off its arse and realises there's supposed to be 'story' there. But it, er, doesn't actually have a plot.
You know, I have heard of Hawk The Slayer, but I've never seen it. Watching you talk about it now has me very tempted to go and watch it (especially since it has Henry Gordon Jago in it).
Some of us bought the recent Network Blu-ray release for a massive slice of cheesy goodness sir. I do hope you will next cast your eye over Krull for a double bill of UK fantasy.
I first discovered Hawk The Slayer due to the numerous mentions of it in the Knights Of The DInner table comic book, and a chance discovery of a used rental VHS sitting in the dollar bin at the local farmer's market. Even tho I have the DVD, I still hang onto the VHS for sentimental reasons. - also, if you liked Hawk, you should also hunt up a copy of "The Archer: Fugitive From The Empire."
Watched the film on youtube last night. Hardly impressed but it was an enjoyable 90 minutes; a break out the the coke and popcorn and disengage brain type of movie. This assemement is so spot on regards sets and costumes it has the feel of something a junior high school film class would do.
Absolutely loved it when I saw it at the flicks as a twelve year old. But you're absolutely right, think I knew it was a bit ropey even then, but just didn't care 🤣 Think The Sword and the Sorcerer was out about the same time and that made even less sense 😂
I absolutely love this movie. It's brilliant, I watch it at least six or seven times a year. Hawk played Felix Lighter in a Timothy Dalton Bond movie, Licence to kill I think. I still love the old Hammer Horrors with rubber bats on bits of string. For me you don't need a huge budget as long as a film's done well : )))) As for the Witcher it sucks, I don't want to see this made for the modern audience. I wouldn't like todays idealogical loons anywhere near it. I think it's best to leave it how I remember it instead of doing the dreaded Star Wars or Indiana Jones hatchet job on it.
Love Hawk the Slayer - a firm favourite from childhood! Did you ever get around to seeing Terry Marcel's Prisoners of the Lost Universe? It's floating around on RUclips, and serves more of the same sword and sorcery-type nonsense (if slightly worse than Hawk, believe it or not!). Another childhood fave.
Hands-down the BEST review of this movie anywhere! Your comment that "the script seems to have been written by a 12 year-old" is spot on. "The prophecy is fulfilled!" "Wolves roam where none were known before". "The wizards gather in the South". It's like someone filled a Rolodex with every cliched line from every sword and sorcery movie ever, pulled them out at random and wrote the script.
These are good points. I think the director of the original Godzilla said modern cinema is doing too much, and the limitations of old style cinema allowed the unconscious of the viewers to participate more in the creation/experience.
In truth I think your D&D adventure owes more to Hawk The Slayer than Lord Of The Rings. What I like about this movie is its a movie that knows its short of cash, so plays a story to that.
The BBC making amazing ideas with a limited budget is the exact opposite of Hollywood: making the same movie over and over again using ever more money.
I have seen Hawk the Slayer many times and I loved the music and I love the magic of the sword the mind sword I think if the man that killed Hawks wife if he is going to come back like the person or you could call it the person the darkness says you're still needed does that mean that is a second movie installed when he comes back and half is still needed well he hasn't got free of his friends around him only is men man that as a big Hummer that likes drinking a lot of beer and chicken or does that mean that is another team involved well I've not seen the second one I may have seen pictures of it on the internet but I've never seen it and it's never been on the TV but you listen to the music very carefully it's sounds good it is catching especially the whistling if you eared a whistling of the fruit whose playing that Jesus that sounds good especially the Hawk your ear it's not a bad movie I think it is the best movie you can ever watch it's like the movie He-Man when he says I have the power of Grace goal and more of the movies you see with action and adventure in it well this one that we are talking about it is the best but I think this should be a longer version of it more action when he kills his brother that killed his wife because he came back to get revenge but our law does the bad one come back like the dark creature said you are still needed tell me that then does he come back and is Hawk still needed give this movie 200% very good
I read somewhere that due to Hollywood's fixation on making either sequels or adaptations, there's a practice emerging where screenwriters will produce a graphic novel of their concepts in order to increase its chances of being greenlit onto the screen. Between that and the potency of such buzzwords as 'cult classic' or 'forgotten gem', it's not unreasonable to think that Hawk could possibly be getting a revival.
Story boards in print form help, but some production companies made hardbound books. Alejandro Jodorowsky had a dictionary sized one published for his abortive Dune movie attempt in the 70s.
HTS is simply a shite film that makes great use of people's rose tinted specs. Just watch Krull and throw HTS in the bin where it belongs That said, I will be reading the comic.
AUTOMATIC. CROSSBOW. Saw it when I was 8, have been obsessed with it for the last 42 years. Other people are mad at Elon Musk because he hasn’t built an Iron Man suit, me? I’m miffed he hasn’t BUILT AN AUTOMATIC CROSSBOW.
![Lil Uzi Vert - Chill Bae [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D7F42F_JM3U/mqdefault.jpg)
My stepdad was part of the reenactment group that did the fight-arranging and weapons on Hawk the Slayer. I love the film.
How cool!
I remember watching this when i was a kid in the 80s and got so excited about the elf archer. The best!
My late auntie took my brother to see this as a double feature, with was either Raiders (which i loved) and or Saturn Five (which i didn't as we were not as desensitised back then). She was a great fan of SciFi Fantasy and passed it on to me, we miss her but i like to think she pops by occasionally in spirit to watch Dune with me 🙂
What a sweet story. 💙
07:59 I loved Hawk the Slayer because it reminded me of the tabletop scenarios I'd think up during school free periods. It's cheesy and fun while not being well-written.
I saw Hawk the Slayer as a child and it became, and probably still is, my favourite movie of all time. If not, then certainly a top 5 contender...having watched so many different types of films spanning many genres. Growing up, I had a huge love for the Fantasy genre, as well as Horror and Sci-Fi, etc....but when I saw this, despite its obviously flaws...I was just instantly hooked.
I think it's easy to understand over the years why it's got its critics and that's fair enough, so many aspects of it are ropey and undeniably cheesy/bad. But amongst all that, it has a strange charm that is almost hard to identify what it is exactly that makes it so enjoyable or even good to fans of it like those of us here. For me it's a unique film that even though works very loosely with typical tropes of the genre, finds an almost oddball, quasi-surreal way to exist without being so madcap it loses you (at least in my opinion). Nothing is ever really explained in enough of a detail to give it some kind of logical existence, so instead it just cuts loose with its strangeness and magical qualities (both literally and figuratively). It has a wild score, bordering on Acid Western territory and yet Medieval, but with Disco beats and percussion. So there's almost our first clue it shouldn't work and yet the music is damn infectious and befitting that you can't help but get swept up, as if being galloped up by Fire Mares (!!) (Different place, different time).
The other thing with all this is it's quite 'original', it doesn't have a 1000 things we've seen before despite it's shortcomings and other poorly put together features, characters are unusual ("a strange fellow to be sure.."), it isn't brought to life based off an old comic or novel, it's just fleshed out and brought to life all of its own. It's a unique experience, but at the same time more influential than it gets credit for. Crow for instance is an amazing Elf, running through the forest in slo-mo but clearly like the wind to the most hypnotic parts of the score I've heard (there's something almost meditative about this part and it's an incredible break from all the wild fighting and high-speed crossbows and arrows flying into varied victims at the rate of knots!) and then 'leaping' into a tree to give the gang surveillance on the baddies 'lair'...hilariously just a series of tents or whatever in the wood! I probably should grow up, but that whole sequence just enchants me to this day and it was things like this that commanded my attention as a child to adult-now, because it was just so different to what I'd seen before!
I don't mind Hawk is so taciturn, John Terry gets a lot of stick for this - but it feels appropriate for the character. He lost his beloved to his evil bro's murderous hands and then his father who bestowed upon him the amazing Mind Sword; he has little time to grieve or take stock, he has to get moving - so he feels purposeful and focused, hardly interested in cracking skulls, blathering drunken mirth and tending to busty wenches in some bawdy tavern, and his sole focus is to kill Voltan, which nicely precedes the title card and music run in to get this movie going when he activates the Elfin Mind Sword...it really is quite well crafted in that respect and the sword looks amazing, another original feature of the movie; so really the story is about vengeance and it's nothing original, but the abbess-kidnap just ties in with the notion that the 2 will have to clash in the ultimate battle (in lovely cheesy slo-mo no less!). The struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Overall I think Terry does an admiral enough job of playing it cool and being focused on gaining his vengeance, that's his motivation, not to clown around but use the Mind Sword to gain an advantage, and then ultimately recruit his ragtag guys for some camaraderie and for them to add some light humour (the stuff between Baldin and Gort). I have no issue with Terry's performance I think he is fine as Hawk and plays it as it should be. Let the sword do the talking!! It's f***ing big enough!
Oh well, it appears I have said too much already. For fear Voltan may cut out my tongue entirely, I will, alas...move on, into the fog, shows these dead eyes many things; no longer stalking the land...."Wizzzarrrdddddddd, you promised me........".
Excellent observations! I saw this move waaaay back, in the mid 1980's. When it briefly made the rounds on television here in America. And it's always stayed with me. Despite it's obvious cheesiness. There were literally SCORES of movies like this back then. Knock-offs of Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian. For years I've wondered why I always remembered "Hawk" over other, similar movies of this time. And I think the reason was that it was so different from the others. The music (best described as "medieval disco"), the serious earnestness of the British actors, while delivering the silliest dialogue---all this made the film memorable.
I recently watched it with my dad (who had never seen it) the movie is a delightful feast of over acting, under acting, and hilarious special effects ( silly string, anyone?) but the one thing that my poor dad kept asking was “All this for 2,000 gold pieces?”
Adjusted for inflation - thats a lot of money.
1:07 I actually watched this on RUclips last week (December 2022) with my wife who has never seen it.
The quality, especially by today's standards isn't good but we thoroughly love the concept. With a serious upgrade I think it could still be a hit today.
For the animated equivalent, see my adorable childhood fave, The Flight Of Dragons. Budget Topcraft but with beautiful and detailed character designs; ambitious (if choppy) shots of numerous dragons in the air at once; goes into great worldbuilding lengths on how dragons 'work'; stellar voice cast including FUCKING DARTH VADER; and has a few fine setpieces when the film finally gets off its arse and realises there's supposed to be 'story' there. But it, er, doesn't actually have a plot.
You know, I have heard of Hawk The Slayer, but I've never seen it. Watching you talk about it now has me very tempted to go and watch it (especially since it has Henry Gordon Jago in it).
there is a free version on youtube...
Dudes, it’s well worth the running time!
Some movies are cheesy. Some are fromage. HtS is fromage. Hope you gave it a watch.
Hawk is brilliant! I saw it when it came out in the cinema. Your review is perfect, Much, thanks!
I was 15 and I adored it :) I haven’t seen it in at least 30 years. Might have to go and check it out.
PS. Also still love Ladyhawke ;)
I first discovered this via a mini wargame company called crooked dice. They’ve made a whole set of the heroes and voltan.
Back in my day, this is all we had and we LIKED it!
“Hawk the Slayer’s rubbish.”
Let’s give Krull a try, and we’ll discuss it later…
@@philiphunn194 took you long enough. 🤣
Discovered it one night when I was a kid late at night. Absolutely loved the combination of awesomeness and naffness.
Five year old me loved Hawk the Slayer, adult me bought the DVD. 😂
Some of us bought the recent Network Blu-ray release for a massive slice of cheesy goodness sir. I do hope you will next cast your eye over Krull for a double bill of UK fantasy.
And more Bernard Bresslaw
@@Mattheq but with less eyes.
I first discovered Hawk The Slayer due to the numerous mentions of it in the Knights Of The DInner table comic book, and a chance discovery of a used rental VHS sitting in the dollar bin at the local farmer's market. Even tho I have the DVD, I still hang onto the VHS for sentimental reasons. - also, if you liked Hawk, you should also hunt up a copy of "The Archer: Fugitive From The Empire."
Watched the film on youtube last night. Hardly impressed but it was an enjoyable 90 minutes; a break out the the coke and popcorn and disengage brain type of movie. This assemement is so spot on regards sets and costumes it has the feel of something a junior high school film class would do.
Absolutely loved it when I saw it at the flicks as a twelve year old. But you're absolutely right, think I knew it was a bit ropey even then, but just didn't care 🤣 Think The Sword and the Sorcerer was out about the same time and that made even less sense 😂
Yes, Hawk the Slayer II: Citizen Hawk.
Brilliant film. We used to rent it of video shop most weekends in early 80s. I have it on tape. DVD and prime movies. Love it.
It's also getting some sort of audio sequel which was kickstarted
Best film ever made!!
I absolutely love this movie. It's brilliant, I watch it at least six or seven times a year. Hawk played Felix Lighter in a Timothy Dalton Bond movie, Licence to kill I think. I still love the old Hammer Horrors with rubber bats on bits of string. For me you don't need a huge budget as long as a film's done well : )))) As for the Witcher it sucks, I don't want to see this made for the modern audience. I wouldn't like todays idealogical loons anywhere near it. I think it's best to leave it how I remember it instead of doing the dreaded Star Wars or Indiana Jones hatchet job on it.
Hawk the Slayer was cheesy but it had some great elements to it. I remember it fondly and I need to watch it again soon
Think I'm going to switch my "To Do List" to "Go there. Do a thing. AND IT'S AWESOME!" to stave off the mundane living death that is middle age.
I’ve watched probably over 500 times.
The you're really sad and pathetic.
@@mikerochburns4104 cheers me dears. 😂
The reason why I love this movie was do to dungeons and dragons for me.
the graphic novel sequel is now out ... called... watch for me in the night
the movie is more based on Dungeons & Dragons than trying depict real history. Its just a fun fantasy romp!
And the OD&D early boxed set, and Holmes Badic at that!
Love Hawk the Slayer - a firm favourite from childhood!
Did you ever get around to seeing Terry Marcel's Prisoners of the Lost Universe? It's floating around on RUclips, and serves more of the same sword and sorcery-type nonsense (if slightly worse than Hawk, believe it or not!). Another childhood fave.
Hands-down the BEST review of this movie anywhere!
Your comment that "the script seems to have been written by a 12 year-old" is spot on. "The prophecy is fulfilled!" "Wolves roam where none were known before". "The wizards gather in the South". It's like someone filled a Rolodex with every cliched line from every sword and sorcery movie ever, pulled them out at random and wrote the script.
Was Warren Clarke ever young?
Watched the Rifftrax take on Hawk "Woooo easy Mark Furman" 😂 (best Riff)
An actor we've never heard of? Sir, John Terry is a living legend who uttered the line "its a huge shit sandwich and we all have to take a bite "
These are good points. I think the director of the original Godzilla said modern cinema is doing too much, and the limitations of old style cinema allowed the unconscious of the viewers to participate more in the creation/experience.
Was Krull any better? Seem to recall it was. Benard Bresslaw again but as a cyclops alongside Tucker Jenkins.
In truth I think your D&D adventure owes more to Hawk The Slayer than Lord Of The Rings.
What I like about this movie is its a movie that knows its short of cash, so plays a story to that.
The BBC making amazing ideas with a limited budget is the exact opposite of Hollywood: making the same movie over and over again using ever more money.
Recently saw this for the first time gave it a 1 and 1/2 stars out of 5 but it was a blast.
Just here to see how many people write "Hawk the Slayer is rubbish"
*Prisoners of the Lost Universe* is incredibly easy to find.
You just add the word "Archive" to the end of every title you want to find.... Voila!!
I have seen Hawk the Slayer many times and I loved the music and I love the magic of the sword the mind sword I think if the man that killed Hawks wife if he is going to come back like the person or you could call it the person the darkness says you're still needed does that mean that is a second movie installed when he comes back and half is still needed well he hasn't got free of his friends around him only is men man that as a big Hummer that likes drinking a lot of beer and chicken or does that mean that is another team involved well I've not seen the second one I may have seen pictures of it on the internet but I've never seen it and it's never been on the TV but you listen to the music very carefully it's sounds good it is catching especially the whistling if you eared a whistling of the fruit whose playing that Jesus that sounds good especially the Hawk your ear it's not a bad movie I think it is the best movie you can ever watch it's like the movie He-Man when he says I have the power of Grace goal and more of the movies you see with action and adventure in it well this one that we are talking about it is the best but I think this should be a longer version of it more action when he kills his brother that killed his wife because he came back to get revenge but our law does the bad one come back like the dark creature said you are still needed tell me that then does he come back and is Hawk still needed give this movie 200% very good
I read somewhere that due to Hollywood's fixation on making either sequels or adaptations, there's a practice emerging where screenwriters will produce a graphic novel of their concepts in order to increase its chances of being greenlit onto the screen. Between that and the potency of such buzzwords as 'cult classic' or 'forgotten gem', it's not unreasonable to think that Hawk could possibly be getting a revival.
Story boards in print form help, but some production companies made hardbound books. Alejandro Jodorowsky had a dictionary sized one published for his abortive Dune movie attempt in the 70s.
Battle beyond the stars is a subpar Sci fi rip off of the magnificent seven. with Robert Vaughn reprising the same character but in space.
I have seen PRISONERS OF THE LOST UNIVERSE. It makes HAWK THE SLAYER look like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.
Carry On, Bernard Bresslaw.
Same way Boris used to be? *shrug*
HTS is simply a shite film that makes great use of people's rose tinted specs.
Just watch Krull and throw HTS in the bin where it belongs
That said, I will be reading the comic.
The only thing better about Krull is Lysette Anthony :)
Hmm a Patreon scrounged No content
AUTOMATIC. CROSSBOW. Saw it when I was 8, have been obsessed with it for the last 42 years. Other people are mad at Elon Musk because he hasn’t built an Iron Man suit, me? I’m miffed he hasn’t BUILT AN AUTOMATIC CROSSBOW.