whipeditor
If you looking for a feel good movie of the year, well of 1988 that is, heh heh, then look no further than Hawks. This movie is inspired by a true story. The movie has all the important components required for a good story, the actors too have done a commendable job and there is this elevating drama but the audience may hardly feel anything great about the film.It seems the directors have missed out on something to leave viewer feel good in spite of so many good factors of the movie.The story is all about (as the name suggests) by a couple a Hawks!, which are played by Timothy Dalton (Bancroft) and Anthony Edwards (Decker). Janet McTeer (Hazel) is a columnist writing about the Hawks in their natural environment and she dedicates her column to Bancroft and Decker and builds a rapport with them. Bancroft shoots up to fame and glory with Hazel's write-up. And due to Bancroft's mental ailment Hazel is de-motivated to write further. But Bancroft continues to soar high in the sky.The mental sickness of Bancroft is depicted rather unconvincingly and probably the director was not quite sure of portraying this aspect in a rationale way. Bancroft's character is fluctuating and promiscuous but you may wonder how a good drama can be successful with such a loose element and this leads to a point when even Hazel's patience level is tested.It is difficult to criticise the performance by Dalton who is portrayed to be jittery, perturbed and most likely he seems to be a schizophrenic. Dalton surely expected an award-winning performance but he is badly let down by the director and the screenwriter of the film and they fail to make a serious and sensitive film on Hawks and their environment. The movie has lost track in between these two aspects.Still its quite a good watch.
avampyrn
Deck (Anthony Edwards) appears onscreen first as prospective purchaser of a sweet-featured, warm red & all decked-out Saab: "sleek, fine, and fast!" Then after the rather traumatizing experience of the test drive, the persistent salesman tells him that the warranty's 5 years- "I'll take that," he says. And- That, with utter conviction.What a great opening to set the tone for this wonderful sleeper of a movie - which stars Timothy Dalton, Edwards, Janet McTeer, and Camille Codori. This film has all the essential elements touching the heart: attractive & sympathetic leads - humor - poignancy - and the encompass of existence, light & the dark of it.Dalton never ceases to amaze me with the scope and range of his performances. He's deftly captured King Philip of France, Henry Darnley, Hamlet, Hotspur, Antony, Heathcliff, Rochester, James Bond, and others. He actually had the audacity to make this movie in between his two Bond films! He packs a powerful punch here as the very flawed but endearing Bancroft: a highly intelligent man on a relentless quest for fun in spite (or, is it because of?) the bleak prognosis of his life.His partner in crime is Deck - an American being treated for the same affliction in the Charing Cross, London hospital. Despite their conflicts, their health, militant nursing sisters, and all constraints with the English law regarding ambulances, together they depart for a momentous trek across the channel to Amsterdam.There, they meet Hazel and Maureen - two best friends from London on their own trek: that, to reunite Hazel with the father of the baby she's pregnant with.Bancroft and Deck had gone to Amsterdam in quest of a brothel - the girls in quest of a balding Hollander. What they all find instead is something completely different. They come to find a somewhat quirky enlightenment, each in their own individual way.
I highly recommend this little treasure of a movie - best watched snuggled on lots of pillows, under a warm down comforter, and with a glass of well-bodied wine.
guygrantham
Profound film which deserves to be far wider known and is fondly remembered by all who have seen it. Ok it was remade to much greater affect by Til Schweiger as 'Knocking on heaven's Door' (1997) but this is still a meritorious effort deserving of praise. This is a trying theme and many will feel the subject does not provide suitable entertainment. I think the cinema is one of the most poignant and appropiate places to discuss and elaborate on such weighty matters as it succeeds in elevating the mundane and overtly pessimistic where other media fail. In cinema everything is possible, good, bad or indifferent. A draining experience yes, but a life affirming one.
