Baker's Hawk question
Hi guys!
On the Feature Films for Families release of Baker's Hawk, which scenes are edited out since I have never seen the original version of this movie?
Thanks guys!
I have wondered that myself. On the Feature Films for Families (FFFF) DVD, the movie ends at 1:34:29, but there is a 14 second FFFF logo clip at the beginning, leaving a total of 94:15 or 94 minutes of movie. Volume 28 (copyrighted 1977) of the annual book 'Screen World' cites a theatric runtime of 98 minutes in its BAKER'S HAWK listing, which I presume is correct. This means a minimum of 3 to 4 minutes of frames were cut. I have also seen FFFF DVDs on which the order of segments was changed, on which frames have been flipped (left for right), and on which small segments have been duplicated with different or no dialogue, in addition to deletions of dialogue FFFF views as objectionable. In general, FFFF micro-edits movies and usually doesn't delete an entire scene, so the movie's vigilante issue was probably left unresolved in the theatric version. I presume that DVDs with longer runtimes such as 105 minutes (Image Entertainment, 11/19/1997) and 120 minutes (Worldwide, 1/5/2010)simply reflect errors in the jacket literature. After all, the FFFF DVD lists "Approx. 96 minutes" in its jacket literature.
share Usually Feature Films For Families (FFFF) edits are small deletions of words or phrases they deem are unsuitable for children or brief portions of scenes they deem are too traumatic for children. In Baker’s Hawk, seven deletions were made, removing 2:22 (2 minutes, 22 seconds) of screen images. At the beginning and the ending, FFFF added 0:49 of their own logo and text screens.
In the following descriptions of the deletions, the elapsed screen times are relative to the Echo Bridge DVD with UPC 096009956196 that has a 1:36:42 runtime.
1. The opening 0:21 (21 seconds) were deleted, consisting of a 0:09 Doty-Dayton Productions logo clip and 0:12 of the opening credits showing clouds rolling down a wooded mountainside behind the presentation text “A DOTY-DAYTON PRODUCTION / In Association With / BAKER’S HAWK, LTD. / Presents”.
2. 0:03 were deleted from 0:10:15 to 0:10:18 near the end of the scene where vigilantes make four squatters believe they are going to be hanged but then release them to warn other squatters. The deleted frames contained the line “All right, let’s get them horses and get the hell out of here!”
3. 0:06 were deleted from 0:34:23 to 0:34:29 in the scene where store owner and vigilante advocate Paul Carson tells Dan Baker he can’t extend the Bakers more credit because Dan won’t stand up for “decency” and support vigilantism. After Dan says “It’s decency that keeps me from coming over this counter,” the end of his sentence “because it sure as hell ain’t respect” is deleted.
4. 1:29 were deleted from 35:28 to 36:57, more than half of the church scene (34:29 to 36:57) where after his eye-for-an-eye sermon, the pastor adds that God’s word does not stand against a vigilance committee, causing Dan Baker to lead his family out of the church and complain about the pastor selling his sermon.
5. No frames were deleted, but the word damn was deleted from the soundtrack at 46:39 when Jenny Baker says “Billy and that hawk are the only things in this whole damn valley worth saving!”
6. 0:03 were deleted from 1:14:36 to 1:14:39 in the scene where Morrie Carson is threatening Mr. McGraw and Billy Baker with a rifle, deleting Robertson starting to laugh and Morrie saying “What the hell are you laughing at?” After the deletion, Robertson relates the story of shooting the doe.
7. The final 0:20 were deleted from 1:36:23 through 1:36:42, starting after the copyright notice, deleting the text: “The Producers wish to express their appreciation to the personnel at: Uinta National Forest, Wasatch National Forest and Brigham Young University for their cooperation in the filming of this motion picture.”
The quality of the FFFF DVD (UPC 796323189545) is noticeably better than the quality of the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD of Baker’s Hawk (UPC 096009956196) in terms of being brighter and showing more details in the shadows. Both DVD’s show dots and flecks of deterioration, but not in the same places, so they are not mastered from the same reels of film. On the Echo Bridge DVD a notice appears before the movie plays stating that the movie has been digitally re-mastered from film prints that were “many decades old”, so imperfections exist that result from the effects of time. This only means that they didn’t use a videotape master to create the DVD, not that the film was restored before the DVD master was made and not that the transfer equipment was optimally configured (for brightness) when the DVD master was made.