Hawk the Slayer

[Quasqueton]

I just got Hawk the Slayer on DVD. God, how I love this awfully bad movie.

This was the first fantasy film I saw after starting to play D&D in 1980. (It is the first fantasy film I have any memory of.) The movie was produced in 1980, and I only ever saw it on Showtime (or HBO) in that year. It has a terrible script, terrible acting, terrible effects, etc. As a piece of art, this film is one step above The Gamers in quality.

As a film, it was simply crap. But to my 13-year-old mind, it was a D&D movie -- it has a party of adventurers: an elf, a dwarf, a giant (all of 6'3"), a witch, a magic sword, and Jack Palance as the BBEG. I watched it again this weekend, for the first time in 24 years, and it brought back all those wonderful Basic D&D memories. It *was* D&D to me then, and by God, it still feels like D&D now. I'm looking forward to watching it again. It gave me a real warm and fuzzy feeling watching it again.

Some funny things I noticed: the elf is wearing penny loafers; Voltan (Palance) pushes a guy down with the point of his sword, and the sword flexes/bends; the movie ends with the set up for a sequel. Did a sequel ever get made?

I love this awful movie. I'm setting up a night to invite all my gamer buddies to come over and watch it with me again.

Have you seen this movie? Do you have any heart-level affection for a movie like this?

Quasqueton

 

[DM_Jeff]

Prince Talon

>>Have you seen this movie? Do you have any heart-level affection for a movie like this?

I remember watching it once, in the mid-80's at a friend's house. We both sat there comparing it to D&D sessions and laughed ourselves silly.

My "1st Edition feel" movie was Sword & The Sorcerer with Lee Horsley & Richard Moll (and the 3-bladed sword which could shoot its blades). That just reeked of D&D inspired visuals and ideas. We have this on DVD and watch it on occasion for that same old-time warm & fuzzy effect you get with Mr. Slayer.

-DM Jeff

 

[Rackhir]

Hawk the Slayer was also very popular among my gaming friends back in HS. Though of course with typical teen male mentality it was frequently referred to as "Hawk the Lay-er" (my how inventive and original we were back then...). I never actually got to see much more than the last 15-20 min iirc, though. So I am curious to actually see the whole thing sometime.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0545169/

Apparently the writer/director of Hawk is also responsible for such majestic productions as "Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983) (TV)" and "Dark Knight" (2000) TV Series, which is currently running on Showtime and is every bit as good as Hawk ever was... But no mention of a sequel at least in the director's IMDB listing. I suspect that it may have been a failed pilot like contemporary "Fugitive from the Empire", which had the cool "Moonbow"? and the exploding arrows.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082027/

Apparently the writer/director for Fugitive has also been involved in a number of truly awful SF/Fantasy tv series over the years.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0179709/

Including Voyager...

 

[diaglo]

yes. i saw this one many times.

i taped it way back when...

 

[Truth Seeker]

I just got Hawk the Slayer on DVD. God, how I love this awfully bad movie.

This was the first fantasy film I saw after starting to play D&D in 1980. (It is the first fantasy film I have any memory of.) The movie was produced in 1980, and I only ever saw it on Showtime (or HBO) in that year. It has a terrible script, terrible acting, terrible effects, etc. As a piece of art, this film is one step above The Gamers in quality.

As a film, it was simply crap. But to my 13-year-old mind, it was a D&D movie -- it has a party of adventurers: an elf, a dwarf, a giant (all of 6'3"), a witch, a magic sword, and Jack Palance as the BBEG. I watched it again this weekend, for the first time in 24 years, and it brought back all those wonderful Basic D&D memories. It *was* D&D to me then, and by God, it still feels like D&D now. I'm looking forward to watching it again. It gave me a real warm and fuzzy feeling watching it again.

Some funny things I noticed: the elf is wearing penny loafers; Voltan (Palance) pushes a guy down with the point of his sword, and the sword flexes/bends; the movie ends with the set up for a sequel. Did a sequel ever get made?

I love this awful movie. I'm setting up a night to invite all my gamer buddies to come over and watch it with me again.

Have you seen this movie? Do you have any heart-level affection for a movie like this?

Quasqueton

WHERE!!!!????

What Store is selling it.????!!!

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

WHERE!!!!????

What Store is selling it.????!!!

I just checked 10 sites that sell DVDs and www.DeepdiscountDVD.com has the best price at 14.98 with free shipping.

Hmmm... I just might have to get this.

 

[Jamdin]

Ah, I love Hawk The Slayer and finally tracked down a video tape on ebay a few years ago. Earlier this year, I sent off for the DVD. I still love Crow the elf, Baldin the dwarf and Gort the giant. Sure, it was not the best movie ever made but it is still great seeing those three in action.

 

[jasper]

hate to say this but I have forgotten hawk the slayer
is than the one with the magic hawk which flying over head drops a tail feather and that changes into a quiver of arrows or am I thinking of another bad tv movie.
never mind that was archer the heartbow. which made in some of my friend campaign

 

[Quasqueton]

is than the one with the magic hawk which flying over head drops a tail feather and that changes into a quiver of arrows or am I thinking of another bad tv movie.

You must be thinking of another movie. Nothing like that in this one. Not that the name of the movie or the blurb on the cover gives any clue to the actual plot.

No reason for the main character to be named "Hawk", much less "the Slayer". There's no bird-related aspect about the protagonist.

And the blurb on the cover is ridiculously unrelated to the actual plot of the movie: "Two brothers locked in deadly combat till the end of time."

Quasqueton

 

[Bloodstone Press]

"Two brothers locked in deadly combat till the end of time."

Damn, that sucks. Its like the person who wrote that didn't even watch the movie.

Yeah, I remember it, it was great (to my mind at about 10 years old). I watched it several times in the mid 80s, since we had it on tape. "Elven mind stones" even made it into my first DnD campaigns.

Didn't a couple of the heroes die at the end of that?