MovieChat Forums > Hawk the Slayer (1980) Discussion > Faithful to Dungeons and Dragons fiction

Faithful to Dungeons and Dragons fiction

posted 15 years ago by jeffyoung1
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I want to continue discussion of HAWK THE SLAYER as arguably the most faithful sword and sorcery movies to the Dungeons and Dragons fictional mythos, not counting the Lords of the Rings trilogy movies.

HAWK THE SLAYER was by no means perfect. The acting was unbelievably campy. Except for the band of heroes, everyone in this fictional medieval land were nasty, brutish, selfish, ill-mannered, uncouth, and hilariously campy evil. I particularly held a special distain for the left-wing liberal convent nuns who believed in monkey see no evil, monkey hear no evil, and monkey speak no evil; as if ruthlessly evil villains could be sweet-talked out of murder. I'm one of those people who believes in God and doesn't believe in excusing the actions of evil people by, "...it's God's will". God doesn't will any evil person to do evil. Even in the Old Testament, the good angels confronted the rebellious angels and defeated them primarily by outnumbering the bad ones, two to one.
The dialogue was stilted and pseudo-comic, as if many of the characters didn't take the movie seriously. Even the main character, Hawk, spoke in a forced heroic dialogue that sometimes made me wonder if Hawk thought he was a Vulcan.

All my criticisms aside, HAWK THE SLAYER still was the closest to Dungeons and Dragons. It had the medieval setting. There was sorcery, black magic, and good magical spells. There was the human hero; a witch (good one, fortunately); a good giant warrior; a realistic-looking elven archer (this character took his role seriously); and a dwarf adventurer, playing against the dour dwarf personality stereotype. Then of course we had the diabolical villain and his henchmen, who wasn't above using dark sorcery if need be. The story-line was very simple and straightforward, as if out of one of the earliest Dungeons and Dragons game modules. The only thing missing was the D & D-type monsters, but perhaps I'm asking for too much already.

There was the 2001 movie, "Dungeons and Dragons", that completely missed the mark. And it's a shame because I read long ago that there was a Dungeons and Dragons fanatic who pursued a 15-year crusade to convince Hollywood to film a D & D movie. Too bad he wasn't given oversight of the script and filming.

I takes someone who has actually played the Dungeons and Dragons game modules to understand how to actually film a proper sword and sorcery movie.
I've read on this thread that a 2009 sequel is in the works. Is that true?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] atretrioeciii 13 years ago

In 1984 I joined the Boys Club that was in my neghiborhood and on a bulletin board was a daily schedule that listed the sports/activities and when and where they would take place.

I can still recall the moment when I saw:

"Dungeons and Dragons M-F 3:00pm to 8:oopm Library"

It was 2:30 and the library was where I was headed to anyway, so I decided to check it out. As I walked in it looked like some guys were playing with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The excitement of that day is a memory I cherish deeply.

A short time after that I started playing AD&D. As we were getting ready to game a couple of guys were talking about a movie called "Hawk the Slayer", and how it looked like exactly like a "Dungeons and Dragons" game session would look like in "real" life.

After seeing the movie myself, I realized those guys were absolutely right!

Your post made me feel like I was 12 years old again.