As many of his fans know, director Budd Boetticher was mainly recognized for his classic B-Western films often starring legendary actor Randolph Scott.  Several of his films such as The Tall T for example arguably easily fit in the “A” category. His 1953 film Wings of the Hawk fits into the upper tier, not just because of the story and actors involved, but that it was also shot in 3-D!

Set in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in 1911, an American miner “Irish” Gallagher (screen legend Van Heflin, Shane, Possessed) gets mixed-up in the movement when a corrupt administrator Colonel Paco Ruiz (George Dolenz, Scared Stiff) unjustly seizes his gold mine and kills his partner Marco. Gallagher, about to be killed, is saved by rebels including Raquel Noriega (Julia Adams, Creature from the Black Lagoon). In turn, he also saves Raquel’s life by removing the bullets from her during his rescue. The remainder of the story is about the rebels getting their revenge on Ruiz and his partners leading to an explosive climax.

Because of the star power of Ven Heflin, Wings of the Hawk rises above some of director Boetticher’s films. Without the great acting Heflin and the solid supporting cast with Julia Adams, the movie would have been another routine Western. Yes, the music by Frank Skinner also assisted in this film rising to the cream of the crop. The film flows well, and has the common elements Westerns, such horse chase and gun fight scenes galore which are well executed.

Kino Lorber releases Wings of the Hawk on Blu-ray. This offering includes both 3-D and 2-D versions of the feature film. The film has been newly restored in 3-D by the good folks at the 3-D Film Archive. On the back of the Blu-ray, it claims that it is a “3-D restoration from 2K Scans of the Left & Right Eye InterPositives”. I thought the image, in 2D was decent, if inconsistent. The boost in contrast made some of the scenes too bright and had a yellowish tint. On the positive side, there are plenty of areas where the image looks outstanding with rich colors. Scenes taking place in the evening tended to be a bit muddy and too grainy to really enjoy the visuals. It is not the strongest presentation for displaying 1080p quality, but at the very least the video quality is serviceable. But no, do not expect anything too dazzling here.

There are a pair of audio tracks for Wings of the Hawk. The first is English DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 which is detailed as the original 1953 High Dynamic Range Theatrical Mix. The other option is English DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround which is described as a “2020 Compressed 3.0 Midnight Movie Mix”

After listening to both I found the 5.1 option to be a little stronger when it came to the action sounds and shoot-outs, but you really cannot go wrong either way as the dialog and other sounds including the musical scores by Frank Skinner coming in clear without hissing, drop-offs and other defects. English subtitles are available for this release.

Extras are above the usual amount that Kino provides for this release. We get an informative commentary track by film historian Jeremy Arnold. In this commentary we learn about Boetticher’s distain for the 3-D gimmick, how he felt about the film among other tidbits.  If you are a fan of Woody Woodpecker, the cartoon, Hypnotic Hick which can be seen in 3-D or 2-D is part of the supplements. I had not seen this cartoon in years and still enjoyed it after all this time.

We also get a 20-Minute Audio Commentary by 3-D Expert Mike Ballew who talks about the 3-D process

A theatrical trailer for Wings of the Hawk is the remaining extra.

Fans of Wings of the Hawk should be glad that it finally made it to the world of Blu-ray. While not the greatest in the video department does have two strong audio options and some great, fun extras to make this a worthwhile release. Fans of Westerns should have no qualms about picking this one up!

Wings of the Hawk

Director- Budd Boetticher

Cast- Van Heflin, Julie Adams, Abbe Lane

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date-4/2/21