The Hawk appeared on BBC 2 in 1995 as part of their Screen Two strand of TV Movies. It seems to have played in cinema two years earlier in 1993 though.
It's a weird one allegedly loosely based on the terrible case of Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper. Unfortunately it just isn't convincing despite the veteran cast. Helen Mirren puts on a weird and not quite convincing cod-Northern accent, not sure if it is Yorkshire, Lancashire or RADA. Her character is as unbelievable as the accent. A housewife who suspects her husband might be the ripper, but without the depth of Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, but it is difficult with a comparatively short runtime of 85 minutes. Then there's the car driving she does which which Steve McQueen would struggle to pull off. In addition to that madness there's some bizarre scripting choices including some racist jokes told in a Curry House and a fair amount of swearing for a TV movie of this time. To be fair there's only one Dennis Potter and one David Mamet. David Hayman does a fine job with the material and as a pro of TV direction and British film (The Bill, Finney, Firm Friends) stretches the low budget far and makes it look more expensive than it cost to make.
This film can be difficult to find. An expensive OOP DVD on Cinema Club might be the best way, but it doesn't look massively better than an upscaled VHS; I think largely because I'm suspecting this was shot on tape rather than the film stock. For a comparison between film and tape, TV Series Jack The Ripper (1988) with Michael Caine was shot on film and looks gorgeous.
It's a weird one allegedly loosely based on the terrible case of Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper. Unfortunately it just isn't convincing despite the veteran cast. Helen Mirren puts on a weird and not quite convincing cod-Northern accent, not sure if it is Yorkshire, Lancashire or RADA. Her character is as unbelievable as the accent. A housewife who suspects her husband might be the ripper, but without the depth of Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, but it is difficult with a comparatively short runtime of 85 minutes. Then there's the car driving she does which which Steve McQueen would struggle to pull off. In addition to that madness there's some bizarre scripting choices including some racist jokes told in a Curry House and a fair amount of swearing for a TV movie of this time. To be fair there's only one Dennis Potter and one David Mamet. David Hayman does a fine job with the material and as a pro of TV direction and British film (The Bill, Finney, Firm Friends) stretches the low budget far and makes it look more expensive than it cost to make.
This film can be difficult to find. An expensive OOP DVD on Cinema Club might be the best way, but it doesn't look massively better than an upscaled VHS; I think largely because I'm suspecting this was shot on tape rather than the film stock. For a comparison between film and tape, TV Series Jack The Ripper (1988) with Michael Caine was shot on film and looks gorgeous.