Hawk the Slayer (1980) Review

With the aid of his companions, a man seeks to defeat his evil brother who murdered their father.

On its release Hawk the Slayer was every kids dream, the VHS complemented your He-Man collection. However, on revisiting it seems to have paved the way for slightly better films in the genre namely Krull.

Hawk features to of my two of my favourite actors, the late legend Jack Palance and Lucio Fulic collaborator Catriona MacColl in a pivotal bit part as Eliane. To Marcel's credit actors synonymous with British film pop up Bernard Bresslaw, Annette Crosbie, Patrica Quinn Patrick Magee and the great Roy Kinnear to name a few. The casting is impressive even if the actors are somewhat under-utilised. William Morgan Sheppard as Ranulf is notable and upstages much of the acting.

In the vain of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars, the team is made up of magic sword welder Hawk (John Terry), Peter O'Farrell's tall dwarf, Bresslaw's short giant and a hyperactive elf. They set off to confront hammy Voltan, Hawks older brother played by Palance, who is awkwardly partially hidden by a helmet.

Debatably the main issue Terry Marcel's offering is the staging, it's clunky. That said you could argue it's more timely than The Sword and the Sourcer and certainly lengthy The Beastmaster. Musican Harry Robertson does an outlandish Jeff Wayne/John Barry. The effects are not too shoddy for the budget, the locations make up for what some of the sets lack.

It bests the endless recent DTV CGI low budget films of it's genre. It's sword sorcery fantasy comfort food and just the ingredients to make it a cult favourite, my 8 year old self would still enjoy. In retrospect though the poster art was better than the film. Watch for Palance and MacColl if nothing else.