SHADOW OF THE HAWK (1976)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphyscial*

This low-budget supernatural thriller, directed by George McCowan of FROGS fame, is significant for being one of the few commercial films up to that time to delve into the world of Native American magical practices. 

Jan-Michael Vincent plays Mike (no last name), a young, half-Indian computer tech living in the big city and dating a rich girl. He seems to be on his way up the corporate ladder, but he has a weird dream in which he sees a ghostly creature trying to reach him. At the same time, Mike gets a visit from a relative he hasn't seen in ten years: his grandfather Old Man Hawk (Chief Dan George). As a few establishing scenes demonstrate, Hawk seems to be bedeviled by mysterious forces as he walks all the way to the big city. There the old man collapses. He's succored by lady reporter Maureen (Marilyn Hassett), who helps Hawk reach his grandson. 

Hawk then spins a wild tale of being pursued by a vengeful witch. Though Mike has always known that his grandpa served as medicine man to his tribe, but the young man never believed in Indian sorcery, and in any case has entirely embraced the life of his white forbear. (There's no info given about either of Mike's parents.) Hawk foresees that he may not be able to conquer the witch's powers, and so he wants Mike to take up the mantle of the medicine man and defeat the witch.

Though Mike is reluctant to leave his prosperous life, Hawk and Maureen convince him to drive his grandpa back to his tribal lands, with Maureen ostensibly coming along for a possible human interest story (though both she and Mike are plainly interested in one another). Strange men in a black car pursue Mike's vehicle, and Hawk demonstrates the reality of Indian magic by conjuring up an invisible wall in the road, so that the pursuit car crashes into it. Soon the trio are forced to make their way on foot through the Canadian wilderness, as they are harassed by various spells from the witch and occasional human pawns (a man dressed up in a bird costume). Not surprisingly, Mike overcomes his reluctance, accepts his heroic duty and vanquishes the sorceress-- though he seems to learn magic with no more difficulty than taking up gardening.

SHADOW is mostly a chase-film, with some nice if not exceptional wilderness-scenes. I can't claim that the script is deeply insightful into Native American religion, but some scenes communicate the dominant Indian attitude toward the magical ways of seeing the supernatural as an outgrowth of the natural world. McGowan mostly worked in television, so his visual style is never more than efficient, but I found this simple thriller more entertaining than a great number of CGI-heavy movies.