Don't Believe the Hype

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The Baker of Baker's Hawk refers to young Lee Harcourt Montgomery who is the son of Clint Walker and Diane Baker who finds an injured hawk in the forest. Montgomery takes what he thinks is a chance and goes to the cabin of Burl Ives who has the reputation of being a crazy man. In truth he's just an old hermit who likes animals a lot better than people and the people around his part of the west don't give him any reason to feel differently. But he does warm to young Montgomery and the two of them work on mending the hawk and maybe training it.The adults have some problems of their own. Clint Walker is standing up against a town who wants to form a vigilante committee because they don't like certain elements coming into their area.. All under the guise of law and order, mind you. The head vigilante is of all people Alan Young who plays a storekeeper, but who really has no idea what he's starting. Eventually Walker becomes the deputy for the town to county sheriff Taylor Lacher and that sets everything up for a final confrontation.Baker's Hawk is a nice family film with some good teachings about taking the law into your own hands and the consequences that can result. It's got some nice location cinematography in a couple of national forests located in Utah. And the scenes with Ives and Montgomery and the animals are the best part of the film.

Some attractive scenery and a handful of nice moments among the cast are about all this family-oriented film has going for it. To say that it is a TV-level production is a bit of an insult to such beautifully mounted TV westerns as "The Big Valley", for nowhere in this film can there be found music, lighting or direction to match that or many other fine series. Montgomery (a child actor of some note in the '70's for his work in "Ben" and "Burnt Offerings") is a young boy in love with nature's animals, but caught in the adult relationships around him (mostly concerning local land ownership.) Walker plays his father, a level-headed man at odds with the mob mentality of the local townspeople. Baker plays the boy's mother and gives a decent performance considering the circumstances. Montgomery comes across a wounded young hawk and takes it to eccentric loner Ives for repair. Unfortunately, the townspeople (headed by Young) don't want Ives, along with several others, around their territory and conflict is brewing. The film would like to be another "Night of the Grizzly", but has neither the style, nor the budget to accomplish that. Though the shots of the mountains and terrain are good enough, most of the cast is filmed without proper lighting, thus former dreamboat Walker appears bleak and obscured by shadow. (Really......What would a piece of board covered in white cloth have cost to bounce a little more light off these people?!) Still, he puts a lot of thought into his role and shares a nice relationship with Baker and Montgomery (and eventually gets to show a little strength near the end.) Young is a bit of a liability as one of the hood-wearing raiders in the town. The long time co-star of "Mr. Ed" doesn't exactly instill fear in the viewer (though he does invest his role with some acting talent as well.) Buried without fanfare in the cast (tenth-billed!) is Bonaduce who, only a couple of years before, was a sensation on "The Partridge Family". Here he is second banana to an actor who immediately went into voice-work after this and he doesn't even rate billing in the opening credits. There is an embarrassing picnic sequence in which a bunch of extras in period drag attempt to act as if they are 19th century settlers (a lame attempt to crib a joke from "The Music Man" is included as well.) The film is likely too dull and colorless to entertain children and is too cheap-jack, dopey and tiresome to enthrall adults. Though the cast tries, they are undone by the material, the budget and the direction.

This poorly made production features Clint Walker as Dan Baker, a homesteader in 1876 Utah who refuses to join a local vigilante organization, led by the town dry goods grocer (Alan Young), and the resultant effects his independent actions have upon his son Billy (Lee H. Montgomery). Ancillary plots involve Billy's nurturing of a wounded fledgling hawk, abandoned from the nest, and the boy's friendship with Mr. McGraw (Burl Ives), a recluse whose vocation is the preparation of damaged wildlife for their return to freedom. It is not possible to include a kind word about the direction, screenplay and editing, as all are at levels which might, at best, approach that of student-made cinema. The acting is wooden, due largely to the rambling script and weak direction, with Montgomery embarrassingly inept, and only Ives rises above his shrunken material, giving some meaning to his scenes. Although there is precious little to like about this film, the scenery is remarkably beautiful, as the production was located within two of Utah's National Forest regions.