The Hawk (1935): A Dusty, Forgettable Quickie

Is it worth the hour?

If you like black-and-white westerns where the plot moves faster than the horses, sure. If you’re looking for something that makes sense? Probably skip it. It’s for the folks who love finding old, dusty reels that feel like they were made in a backyard over a long weekend.

Look, The Hawk is one of those movies that doesn't really care if you keep up. You have Jay Price, who spends half the runtime looking confused, and a locket that functions more like a magical plot device than an actual piece of jewelry.

The Locket Problem

The whole movie hinges on this locket. He loses it, finds it, loses it again. It’s exhausting. At one point, I actually found myself yelling at the screen, “Just put it in your pocket, man!” But no, he has to go work for the bad guy to get it back. Classic logic, right?

• The foreman is the Hawk, obviously.
• The ranch hands seem to be standing around waiting for something to happen.
• The dog, Zanda, is honestly the most believable actor in the room.

The pacing is… well, it’s not really there. It just kind of happens in chunks. One minute we are talking about his dying mother, the next we are at the ranch, and then suddenly he’s captured. It feels like someone cut out the middle of the script while they were holding the scissors.

Wait, is that a dog?

Yeah, Zanda the Dog is in this. Whenever the human actors start saying things that don't make sense, the camera pans over to the dog. It’s a nice relief. Maybe I’ve seen too many films like The Dude Bandit where everyone is just shouting about gold, but this one felt oddly quiet.

I caught myself checking my watch about twenty minutes in. It’s not that it’s boring, it’s just that it’s very thin. It’s like eating a single cracker when you’re actually starving. You feel something, but you aren’t sure what.

There’s this scene where Jay gets captured by the Hawk’s men, and it’s just so… stiff. Nobody looks like they actually want to be there. They’re just waiting for their cue to say their line and go get a coffee. ☕️

It’s not as charming as Money Magic, but it has that weird, grainy soul that only these 1930s quickies have. Just don't ask me what the ending was supposed to mean. I’m still not entirely sure.