“The Hawk” review
by Ron Russo - taught the world’s only Will Ferrell college course for 15 semesters over 7.5 years (upper division 3 credit began in a regular class room and moved to an auditorium); truly innovative student choice final papers!
Interesting that Netflix released the entire 10 episode first season all at once. It’s mandatory to watch something twice before writing about it, however I’ll adapt here binging the 10 episodes in 36 hours (though, I do go back and cherry pick for accurate details) and then write the article in one day. I almost rented a house with a perch balcony on the green of a golf course to have “The Hawk” live watch parties, but it was both wobbly like the donut tower and too stanky like Lonnie’s gross out hand bandages with spiders and maggots. However, oddly enough during July and August our house is nicknamed Camp Baby Hawk with several screeches daily (see/hear below).
“The Hawk” premiered on 7/16, Will’s 59th birthday, and he did a birthday cake gag on late night TV. Looking forward to the second season storylines of the Lonnie Hawkins’ family reunification; his psycho half-brother’s backstory; and Lance and Crystal’s future. I’m considering purchasing some “The Hawk” merch at the Netflix store including the golfing hat and hoodie, but Where’s the highly featured cans of Teed Off cold-brew ice tea infused with Spirits? Will has had previous success with Ron Burgundy Great Odin’s Raven brand Special Blended Scotch Whiskey (it was excellent); and I would be writing this drinking Teed Off (and I am eating pickles). 1 There are only Netflix ads by nemesis golfer Golden Fisk (Luke Wilson) for Mike’s Harder Lemonade.
Per above, there is an enormous amount of product placement, and per caddy Sam’s advice (Fortune Feimster), “[D]elicious beats bullshit every time.” I’m heading out now to get some vegan Milky Way bars, Twilight; and no, I’m not a Natalie fan (son Lance Hawkins’ health conscious love interest), and Will she return for season 2?
Will has a wide array of Sports films and series: from gymnastics, soccer, NASCAR, figure skating, basketball, and baseball, to skiing. Is dance an official sport?2 A Night at The Roxbury (1998) has Will and Molly Shannon in a troubled romance just like in Superstar (1999) and “The Hawk” 2026.
The creators (Will, Harper Steele, and Chris Henchy) have worked on several of Will’s films together and there are scores to hundreds of character streams, i.e. carry-overs, for example, animals: a raccoon from Buddy the elf, a velociraptor from Dr. Rick Marshall, and a cougar from Ricky Bobby. The hawk would fall under another category, actor/character conflation as Will has a large aviary.
Will is an OG costume expert, Want to sharpen your skills in this area? Study him, it’s in the details, layering, and evolution of the makeup, clothes type, and props. For the latter, a travel bus (also character streamed from both Ron Burgundy and Jackie Moon) with Florida license plate Hawk You, to a red 1957 BMW Isetta micro bubble car that Lonnie won in a video golf match; or the earlier referenced hand injury care (caused by the car) that went from a Paw Patrol Band-Aid, to a bootlace tied over, I believe, napkins, to Ace bandages held with blue painter’s tape, to decorative tape over newspaper (“the ink from the newsprint has healing properties”) with Henry’s watch over it, then start over to a single large flesh colored Band-Aid, to a small wrap, to finally a regular white cast with watch (and at some point a red playing card is stuck in the wrap).
Other props are used to identify his age/era such as old technology (a cassette player), cigarettes, a mouth guard, eye drops, and Alka-Seltzer. Scenes with classic rock, such as with Steely Dan or 10cc, further support it (and the soundtrack of new music created for the series is already available).
A full costume breakdown would add a few pages here and take two to three days of reviewing the episodes, and I would also include Sam and a few other characters. A comedy breakdown would produce likewise results with several nationalist humor jokes, repetition and multiplication, physical characteristics, sexual, and some high-end speech humor, to name a few.
I know nothing of golf (other than Caddyshack, Happy Gilmores, and The Caddy) and still enjoyed it!
1-Adult Swim and Comedy 4, page 72. Will is also found on pages 11 & 12, 41fn, 63, 68fn, 80fn, and 107 color images.
2-respectively Old School (2003); Kicking & Screaming (2005); Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006); Blades of Glory (2007); Semi-Pro (2008); “Eastbound & Down” (2009-12), Everything Must Go (2010), and Ferrell Takes The Field (2015); and Downhill (2020).
