The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Relatively obscure as it is, I still had modest expectations from Shadow Of The Hawk - there are several positive reviews here on the IMDb, the idea is appealing, and the cast contains two of the unsung workhorses of 70s cinema in Chief Dan George and Jan Michael Vincent. A little part of me hoped that perhaps this might be one of those rare overlooked gems one is lucky enough to unearth from time to time. Sadly, the film does not live up to its potential - it has a couple of highlights, separated by long stretches of tedium; worse, for a horror flick, it commits the cardinal sin of being virtually scare-less for its entire duration.Mike (Jan Michael Vincent) has half-Indian ancestry, but has forsaken tribal life for a job in the big city as a computer executive. He is visited by his grandfather Old Man Hawk (Cheif Dan George), who wants him to come back to the old tribal community to help him fight the spirit of Dsonoqua, a vengeful old witch-woman who has previous history with Hawk's family. Mike is initially reluctant to turn his back on his high-tech city lifestyle to go chasing ghosts and goblins in the forest. However, a female journalist, Maureen (Marilyn Hassett), persuades him that he really should show enough respect to at least take his grandfather home and check out his claims. Maureen senses there may be a news story somewhere in all this, and that too motivates her. Mike, Hawk and Maureen begin the long, lonesome drive into the woodland but they are threatened by strange events en route. A menacing black car pursues them and forces them off the road; a masked figure continually observes them from the bushes; they are attacked by enchanted snakes and roving bears. As they near the tribal village, Old Man Hawk reveals that he has known Mike will be the one to face down Dsonoqua since he was a young baby. Now is the time for Mike to embrace his tribal roots and defeat the malevolent spirit of the enemy.The script trips up everyone here, lacking both drive and coherence. George is a wisened old pro, but he looks pretty indifferent here; Vincent was a rising young star at the time of release, but he too looks like his heart isn't really in it. Things are cursorily explained so there is very little interest or suspense in the events. A couple of scenes are neatly done - a snake bites Old Man Hawk while he sleeps; a car crashes into an 'invisible barrier'; a group of eerily masked worshippers emerge from the trees to terrorise Vincent while he stands in an enchanted circle... but these strong moments are separated by such long stretches of dullness that they cannot save the wider film. Too many scenes fizzle out without making much impression, and an air of dispiritedness hangs over the proceedings. 'Dreary' is the most apt description for it - 'Shadow Of A Movie' might have been a better title!

This is my first review . This show is well worth a watch, It shows very well how we can deny who we are all we want but it will still affect you. The conflict of serving self vs serving all is clear, excepting who you like it or not. The 1970's was not the best time for accurate depiction of native American tribal rites but they did fair,I'm sure Dan George did his best. After all he was chief of the Burrard Band of North Vancouver, British Columbia. I myself have been through a dream quest I found some of the things in the movie similar. I personally enjoy every show Dan George has been in, he adds a bit of real to his parts. I thought Jan-Michael Vincent did a pretty good job making his character believable. The obvious thing to me was the evil spirit has decided to return and the tribal shaman feels he's to weak to stop it alone, so off he goes to get his heir (grandson Mike) to help him. I'm no shaman but I think the training takes awhile but Mike is a natural and with a little guidance from Hawk he takes to the fight all the while evil followers try to stop them. The way evil works is really shown well in this film. In short remember when it was filmed and enjoy its a great show with many life lessons .

I would classify this as a horror/suspense movie. It deals with Native American black magic in the beautiful Canadian forests of British Columbia. Jan Michael Vincent plays Mike, or young "Hawk" (which is funny since in Airwolf he's HAWKE too!) who has to come to terms with an old Indian curse which is troubling his grandfather. Arriving in Vancouver(?), his grandfather persuades him and a journalist, Maureen, to drive him back to his Indian village. Meanwhile, Jan has been haunted by a really spooky, white-faced, grotesque mask that freaks him out at night and in the pool with his girlfriend. Apparently an ancient Indian witch is trying to destroy his grandfather, and now him! There are some really creepy moments in this movie. There's a Stephen King like 50's car with blackened windows that appears and reappears eerily. Weird things happen to Jan's 70's style SUV while driving - the breaks go out, a tire almost falls off. In the forest, a bear tries to kill JMV. Just a a lot of black magic evil abounds!! Anyway, Jan eventually comes to terms and confronts the evil in the Indian village after going through a 'ritual' of sorts. I think the scenery is the best part about this film. It has that 'X Files' look of spooky Canadian forests - just stunning mountain vistas. The movie is effective enough to keep you creep-ed out. This is a great Jan Michael Vincent role for his early career. I wouldn't call is great acting, but he does maintain his 'cool' while still showing skepticism and caution at all the strange happenings around him. Plus, he looks great! That's probably the best reason to see this movie - for JMV fans especially!

I first watched this film back in 1980 when first acquiring my love for Native people of the Americas. The last time it was on TV was back in 1987 and it was a good thing I taped it because it was the last time shown on TV.This is an all round good film. However there are a couple of false misconceptions that viewers must know. First of all, regarding the spirit Dsonoqua (the awesome looking white mask)--> she in fact is the Cannibal Woman of the Woods who captured and ate disobedient children who misbehaved. She was NEVER an "evil spirit" who went after people whose ancestors "put her to death" more than 200 years earlier like the way the film portrays. That was just added in to help create suspense. The other misconception ... the voodoo dolls of Mike and Old Man Hawk were only used to add more suspense. The reality is that the First Nations of the Northwest Coast never practised voodoo.Anyways ... I give the film a 9 because of my love for all the original People of the Western Hemisphere ... not trying to be biased in any way. ONLY my opinion. Most other viewers gave the movie a 6, which is fine. Everyone sees the film differently from different viewpoints. But I would certainly recommend this to all Canadian film fans.