Hawks (1988)

"We call ourselves the hawks, the rest of the world are pigeons."

What would you do if you are diagnosed with cancer and only have several months to live?

Deckermensky (Anthony Edwards), an American football player, now can’t barely walk because of cancer. In the London hospital, he meets Bancroft (Timothy Dalton), once a brilliant solicitor. Bancroft, who also has only a few months more to live, seems to forget that he is sick and even able to give courage and inspiration to Decker, that they should struggle before they die. Decker wants to go to the famous brother in Amsterdam before he dies, while Bancroft wants to marry his girlfriend who avoids him after his illness. These two friends sneak out from the hospital at nights to go to clubs, expensive restaurants, and probably cinemas, too. When Decker asks Bancroft if he gets permission to leave, he replies, ‘A hawk requires no permission from the pigeons.’ Later they ‘borrow’ an ambulance, drive to Amsterdam, and meet two girls Hazel and Maureen who will give more meaning to their short life.



Hawks is a lovely little movie about friendship, moving and funny at once. I spent a hard time to obtain this movie. Bought it from the US in April 2006, but since it was only available as a used item, the store only could ship it to a US address. I sent it to my friend’s address and asked her to bring it to Indonesia when she came here for Christmas. She did came, but forgot to bring the tape and I had to wait until the next year. At least now it is here. It's a shame, a wonderful movie like this should be easy to get.

With a very good script, nice soundtrack by Barry Gibb, and two excellent actors as the main lead, if this movie was entered to the Academy Awards, I’m sure it would have won an award or two. There is something very warm in this movie. It’s hard to find a friend who would be happy to sacrifice his Rolex watch only to see you smile. Before meeting Bancroft, Decker has lost his will to live. On the other hand, Bancroft needs someone he can take care of to make his life worthy. Before Decker came, Bancroft's room-mate is ‘a lump of protein’ who can’t do anything but farts all day. He asks the nurse how long Decker has and if it’s worth to start a conversation. There is a very moving moment when he suggested to take a trip together and Decker said, ‘But I can’t walk.’, to which Bancroft replied, ‘I’ll wheel you.’