I saw this oater under it's re-issue title "Trail of the Hawk", but in checking the trivia information on this board, I don't believe it was the reworked film with the added footage of Tommy Scott and his family members. Yancey Lane portrays the lead character Jay Price, who's mother reveals to him the identity of his real father just before passing on. After that, the story tests the viewer's credibility time after time, beginning with Price's 'mail robbery' of a registered letter, sent annually by Jim King (Lafe McKee) to his son's last known location, in hopes of reuniting with him someday.
As another reviewer of this film mentions, why Jay Price/King simply didn't explain the story to his father is something I just don't understand. Especially when 'Wanted' posters start popping up offering a five hundred dollar reward for the mail robbery. Mail robbery? Come on - it was a letter! It's not like he robbed a stagecoach carrying the payroll for the local ranchers - geesh! (Never thought I'd use 'geesh' in a movie review).
Even with this kind of stuff going on, there were some interesting elements in the story that I got a kick out of. For starters, Price had a German Shepherd sidekick, easily preceding Roy Rogers and Sergeant Preston by a couple of decades. The other was a very early appearance by Dickie Jones, who has sort of a Dennis the Menace type role here instigating trouble and being a thorn in the side of Antonio/Tony the Cook. What really caught me off guard was when he out-shot Price with his slingshot, then humorously offered to teach the cowboy his tricks by parodying Mae West's famous 'Come up and see me sometime' line. That one I had to re-wind a couple of times!
You know, I got a chuckle out of another scene involving Jones. There was a scene where Jay Price places him on the horse he's riding, and holds him in place with one hand from behind while racing off after escaping the Hawk's henchman in the cabin. That horse must have been traveling thirty miles an hour or better with the kid bouncing around behind Price. Think about it - today, a kid Jones' age would have to sit in a car seat and wear a seat belt, never mind worrying about falling off a horse!
So anyway, what about The Hawk? Well that was the phantom leader of a gang of rustlers who happened to be Jim King's foreman, elected the chief of the local vigilante committee, ostensibly to bring himself in. This all works out in the end of course, but if there ever was an incompetent title character, this was it.
Of course, the picture offered a pretty female romantic lead (Betty Jordan), but I had to go back and check out her relationship to Jim King early in the story. She called him Uncle Jim, but Jim described her in conversation as his 'foster' daughter. Still, the idea that Jay King would close out the picture in a smooch with his 'foster' sister came off as just a bit creepy.
As another reviewer of this film mentions, why Jay Price/King simply didn't explain the story to his father is something I just don't understand. Especially when 'Wanted' posters start popping up offering a five hundred dollar reward for the mail robbery. Mail robbery? Come on - it was a letter! It's not like he robbed a stagecoach carrying the payroll for the local ranchers - geesh! (Never thought I'd use 'geesh' in a movie review).
Even with this kind of stuff going on, there were some interesting elements in the story that I got a kick out of. For starters, Price had a German Shepherd sidekick, easily preceding Roy Rogers and Sergeant Preston by a couple of decades. The other was a very early appearance by Dickie Jones, who has sort of a Dennis the Menace type role here instigating trouble and being a thorn in the side of Antonio/Tony the Cook. What really caught me off guard was when he out-shot Price with his slingshot, then humorously offered to teach the cowboy his tricks by parodying Mae West's famous 'Come up and see me sometime' line. That one I had to re-wind a couple of times!
You know, I got a chuckle out of another scene involving Jones. There was a scene where Jay Price places him on the horse he's riding, and holds him in place with one hand from behind while racing off after escaping the Hawk's henchman in the cabin. That horse must have been traveling thirty miles an hour or better with the kid bouncing around behind Price. Think about it - today, a kid Jones' age would have to sit in a car seat and wear a seat belt, never mind worrying about falling off a horse!
So anyway, what about The Hawk? Well that was the phantom leader of a gang of rustlers who happened to be Jim King's foreman, elected the chief of the local vigilante committee, ostensibly to bring himself in. This all works out in the end of course, but if there ever was an incompetent title character, this was it.
Of course, the picture offered a pretty female romantic lead (Betty Jordan), but I had to go back and check out her relationship to Jim King early in the story. She called him Uncle Jim, but Jim described her in conversation as his 'foster' daughter. Still, the idea that Jay King would close out the picture in a smooch with his 'foster' sister came off as just a bit creepy.