BURT REYNOLDS played Hawk "Game with a Dead End" Kidnap Case

Burt Reynolds' first starring TV role was as John Hawk, a Native American working the night shift as a NYC detective. Gritty drama was not going to rival Ed Sullivan and Red Skelton, but ABC was developing some tough shows (NYPD, Felony Squad) and critics had liked "Naked City" and "Johnny Staccato" among others. ABC took a chance, but not much. HAWK ran from September to December in 1966, and was shut down. There weren't enough episodes for syndication. It got one brief re-run as a "summer" series, then went back into the vaults. It remains, from Kenyon Hopkins' eerie vocalise theme to the literally dark views of the city at night, to the loving close-ups of Burt's remarkable face, a long lost gem. Hawk is one of the best characters he ever played. The scripts were gripping, too, in portraying the low life scum, psychos and desperate criminals lurking in a town where the mayor shrugged and left it to the cops. John Hawk rarely smiled, and he didn't flirt quite so much with the hot babes, as later Burt characters did, but he was, and is memorable. It would've been nice if, in Burt's lifetime, this show got a DVD box set tribute.