DC Comics Character Johnny Cloud Navajo Ace

Like many comic book publishers, DC Comics (then officially known as National Comics Publications) entered the field of war comics in early 1952. Initially, DC Comics' war comic books were anthology titles of the truest form. Each issue featured several standalone stories. This began to change in the late Fifties and early Sixties, when DC Comics began adding continuing series to their war comic books, including Sgt Rock in Our Army at War and Gunner & Sarge in Our Fighting Forces. It was in All-American Men of War no. 82 (December 1960) that a character who was rather more unique first appeared. Lt. Johnny Cloud was not only set apart from DC Comics' other continuing war characters in that he was a fighter pilot, but in the fact that he was Native American.

This made Johnny Cloud a rather historic character. Native American characters with their own series were very rare in American comic books of the time. At DC Comics the only important Native American character prior to Lt. Johnny Cloud was Pow Wow Smith, who appeared in both Detective Comics and Western Comics. Of course, while Johnny Cloud was a historic character at DC Comics, that did not mean that the portrayal of Diné culture was particularly accurate.  Johnny Cloud was created by writer Rob Kanigher and artist Irv Novick.

In Johnny Cloud's first appearance, we are given some of his background and how he became a pilot. His father named him "Flying Cloud" after seeing a cloud formation that brought to his mind a man riding a horse. As an adult Flying Cloud enlisted in the United States Air Force during World War II. He then became a P-51 Mustang pilot. It was at this point that Flying Cloud was given the more English-sounding name John Cloud. While the portrayal of Navajo culture in the "Johnny Cloud" feature may not have been accurate, sadly the racism that Johnny Cloud was. It was after he took out a whole squadron of Nazi bombers by himself that Johnny was given command of his own patrol, which was given the code name "the Happy Braves."  Beginning as a lieutenant, Johnny Cloud would later be promoted to captain.

Ultimately, the Johnny Cloud series was a product of its time. It was pioneering in featuring a Native American lead character. It was also pioneering in portraying the racism that Native Americans faced. The portrayal of racism against any ethnicity, let alone Native Americans, was not particularly common in comic books of the Fifties. Unfortunately, the Johnny Cloud series also included several Native American cliches and outright stereotypes. Johnny Cloud and other Native American characters in the series were generally portrayed as stoic. The vision of a cloud which Johnny's father saw is portrayed as a Plains Indian wearing a war bonnet riding a horse. Johnny's first plane bears the image of a Plains Indian atop a horse along with the words "Flying Chief."

While the Johnny Cloud series was not a particularly accurate portrayal of Diné culture and it did include various cliches about Native Americans, ultimately it can be considered a positive portrayal of a Native American for its time. Johnny displays courage, loyalty, and intelligence. He is handsome and identifiably Native American. This made Johnny Cloud an important character at a time when many Native Americans in Western movies and Western comic books were still being portrayed as savages.

Johnny Cloud continued to be the star of All-American Men of War until no. 117 (September-October 1966),  the final issue of the title's initial run. While he was still appearing in All-American Men of War, Johnny Cloud appeared in The Brave and the Bold no. 52 (March 1964), in which he teamed up with Sgt. Rock (star of Our Army at War) and the Haunted Tank (star of G.I. Combat).

While Johnny Cloud's series ended with All-American Men of War no. 117, he did not disappear from comic books entirely. It was in G.I. Combat no. 138 (October 1969) that Johnny Cloud teamed up with Captain Storm (a PT boat commander who had his own title from 1964 to 1967) and Gunner & Sarge to form the group known as The Losers. The Losers received their own series with Our Fighting Forces no. 123 (January-February 1970). They continued as the stars of Our Fighting Forces no. 181 (September-October 1978), the final issue of the title. Johnny Cloud would later appear in The Losers Special no. 1 (August 1985) and still later in DC Universe Legacies no. 4 (October 2010).

Johnny Cloud was very much a character of his era. On the one hand, the series leaned heavily into such tropes as the stoic American Indian and Native American mysticism. On the other hand, Johnny Cloud was a positive portrayal of a Native American at a time when Native Americans were still being portrayed as savages. The series also portrayed racism against Native Americans at a time when racism was rarely portrayed in American comic books. Ultimately, Johnny Cloud would pave the way for more accurate portrayals of Native Americans in comics.

The Sniper (1952)

The emergence of film noir also saw the emergence of the police procedural, many of them which were shot in documentary fashion. These included such movies as T-Men (1947), The Naked City (1948), and He Walked by Night (1948). Among the police procedurals of the early Fifties was The Sniper (1952). What sets The Sniper apart from other police procedurals and films noirs is that it spends more time on the psychology of its antagonist than law enforcement's pursuit of him.

At the centre of The Sniper (1952) is Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), a delivery man who hates women. This hatred of women eventually manifests itself in Miller killing women at a long distance with a rifle. In order to catch the killer, the police find they must work with a psychologist, who creates a profile of the killer.

The Sniper (1952) was based on a story by Edna and Edward Anhatt, who had earlier came up with the story of the film noir Panic in the Streets (1950). The inspiration for the story came about when Edward Anhatt noticed a steeplejack atop a smoke stack in San Diego. In the May 4 1952 issue of The New York Times, in the article "The Shiper--From Research to Shooting," Edna & Edward Anhatt explained that they had four purposes in writing and producing the film with Stanley Kramer, "One, to expose the shocking inability of our present social machinery to protect the individual citizen against the sex criminal. Two, to do so with a maximum of suspense and excitement, i.e. entertainment. Third, to use the correct psychological vocabulary of the situations to make our points, regardless of traditional censorship. Four, to do a completely straight story line without jazzing up or gimmicking for cinematic effects or relief."

The Anhatts sold the story to producer Stanley Kramer.. Stanley Kramer was already becoming known for producing films with messages, having already produced Home of the Brave (1949) and The Men (1950). To write the screenplay Stanley Kramer turned to novelist, poet, and playwright Harry Brown. Harry Brown had already worked in film, hving written the screenplays for such films as A Place in the Sun (1951), Only the Valiant (1941), and Bugles in the Afternoon (1952). Stanley Kramer would adapt Harry Brown's play A Sound of Hunting as the film Eight Iron Men (1952).

The Sniper (1952) would run into trouble with the Production Code Administration. On June 26 1951 Joseph Breen of the PCA wrote to Stanley Kramer with his concerns about the first draft screenplay of The Sniper. Mr. Breen informed Mr. Kramer that The Sniper could not be approved by the PCA as it violated the provision of the Code which stated that "sex perversion or any inferences to it is forbidden." This did not discourage Stanley Kramer. The producer, his team, Edna and Edward Anhatt, and Harry Brown, met with a representative from the PCA on August 2." Ultimately, it was agreed to remove any inferences of sex perversion from the screenplay. The PCA approved a revised version of the screenplay on August 14, 1951, although the PCA wanted further changes. The PCA would eventually relax its stance against The Sniper referencing  sex offenders. It finally approved The Sniper on December 10 1951.

The Sniper (1951) would also run afoul of the British Board of Film Censors. When The Sniper was first submitted to the board, the BBFC determined it to be unsuitable for classification. The BBFC would eventually approve The Sniper (1952), but only after several cuts were made to the movie. Even then, The Sniper was given an X certificate, which meant no one under the age of 16 could see the movie. Apparently the British still regard The Sniper (1952) as intense. In 2021 when The Sniper (1952) was submitted for home entertainment (both physical entertainment and streaming), the uncut film was classified "15," meaning it is suitable only for those 15 years and older.

Of course, The Sniper was controversial not only because of its content, but because of its director. Edward Dmytryk had been a member of the Communist Party for a brief time in 1944 and 1945. It was in 1947 that he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He then became one of the Hollywood Ten, ten screenwriters and directors who refused to testify HUAC. He was cited for contempt of Congress, sentenced to prison, blaclklisted in Hollywood, and fired from RKO. Edward Dmytryk ten fled to England. He had to return to the United States to renew his passport, where he was arrested. He served four months and 17 days in prison. It was in 1951 that Edward Dmytryk went before HUAC were he testified and named names. 

Given the political beliefs of both Stanley Kramer and Edward Dmytryk, it might be surprising that Adlophe Menjou was cast as Police Lt. Frank Kafka. Adolphe Menjou was a staunch Republican who tended to think of Democrats as "socialists." He fully supported HUAC and willingly testified before them in 1947.Knowing that Edward Dmytryk and Adolphe Menjou were polar opposites when it came to politics, he called them both into his office and asked them to get the job done without any political or personal resentments. Fortunately, both Edward Dmytryk and Adolphe Menjou proved to be professionals on the set.

Beyond having to work with Edward Dmytryk, the casting of Adolphe Menjou is interesting for another reason. Know for his sense of fashion, in The Sniper (1952) Adolphe Menjou wore cheap suits and cheap shoes as Lt. Kafka. It would be the last leading role of Adolphe Menjou's career.

The Sniper (1952) is known for its extensive location work in San Francisco. Much of the film was shot around Telegraph Hill, with scenes shot on Filbert Street, Union Street, and Montgomery Street. One scene not shot in San Francisco is one that in the film is supposed to be Playland at the Beach. In reality it was the Pike amusement park in Long Beach. Other scenes were shot at Columbia.Warner Bros. Ranch.

The Sniper (1952) premiered in Washington DC on March 12 1952. The moview received good reviews in both The Hollywood Reporter and  Variety, although Bosley Crowther in The New York Times gave it a mixed review. One place where The Sniper received no love was The Daily Worker, which was pleased with neither Stanley Kramer's choice of Edward Dmytryk as director or Adolphe Menjou as star. It complained  "Movie director Edward Dmytryk, ex-member of the Hollywood Ten who turned informer for the FBI, is now palsy-walsy with his erstwhile foe--the rabid witch-hunter and haberdasher's friend--Adolphe Menjou."

Unfortunately, among those who disliked The Sniper (1952) were Harry Cohn the head of Columbia. Stanley Kramer reported him as saying, "This thing sticks, and it will never make a nickel." It was perhaps because of this that the Columbia publicity and distribution departments did little towards promoting the film. It then proved to be a disappointment at the box office.

While it was not a hit with audiences in 1952, The Sniper 1952 is highly regarded to day. It is a fairly sophisticated film, that can be appreciated on multiple levels. On one hand, it is a tightly plotted thriller On the other hand, it is very much a character study of a very disturbed individual. Indeed, The Sniper (1952) is one of the earliest films to feature the psychological profiling of a criminal. The film also brings up some important questions, such as how society fails individuals such as the film's antagonist, who never received help although repeatedly crying out for such. The film also features some excellent performances, from Arthur Franz to  Gerald Mohr to Marie Windsor to Richard Kiley. Even today, The Sniper (1952) is an intense film.

TCMParty on Bluesky

Chances are if you were a classic film fan on Twitter, you are familiar with TCMParty, the collective live tweet of movies on Turner Classic Movies using the hashtag #TCMParty. "TCMParty" is also used of the group of TCM fans who tweet using that hashtag. TCMParty originated on Twitter, with the first official TCMParty taking place on September 3 2011. It would expand to Tumblr and Facebook, but Twitter has always been its home. Unfortunately, Twitter would change after its acquisition by its current owner (whom I will not give the honour of being named on this blog) in October 2022, and not for the better. Many longtime Twitter users left the platform immediately after he bought it, including some TCMParty members. Over the coming year, Twitter would continue to lose users. Advertisers fled Twitter (or "X" as its owner renamed it in July 2023) en masse in November. For many people, the past few months have been the final straw. Between the election, planned changes to blocking that would allow accounts to view posts from those who had blocked them, and a change to its terms of service that would allow its AI to train on everyone's posts, people began fleeing Twitter in large numbers starting about two weeks ago. The official TCMParty account will make the move itself on December 1. As to where most of them are going, well, it's Bluesky.

If you don't know about Blueksy, it is a microblogging platform that was inspired by and largely modelled after Twitter. It was launched on October 4 2021. The service remained by invitation only until February 6 2024, when it finally opened up to everyone. As to TCMParty, there have been unofficial TCMParties taking place on Bluesky well before many TCMPartiers found their way there two weeks ago. They were going on when I joined Bluesky on October 29 2023. Someone even had a TCMParty feed in place before I joined. Of course, until two weeks ago, at most there might only be three or four of us posting during any given TCMParty on Bluesky.

It has only been in the past two weeks that we have had TCMParties on Bluesky that felt like the ones we had on Twitter before October 2022. The TCMParty for Strangers on a Train (1951) on Bluesky on November 12 2024 was the first real TCMParty I feel like I have experienced in a long time. Of course, there have been hiccups due to the sheer number of people joining Bluesky in the past few weeks. There have been a couple of times more than a week ago when the feeds were wonky, probably due to the sheer number of people joining Bluesky. That having been said, the TCMParties on Bluesky have been much more enjoyable than most on Twitter in the past two years. 

I must admit that I am a bit sad about Twitter. I am one of the original members of TCMParty. It is where I made many friends. It is where I made the dearest friend I have ever had, Vanessa Marquez. Unfortunately, its current owner is making Twitter increasingly unusable. Neither my fellow TCMpartiers nor I are alone in thinking this. Around 115000 users deactivated their Twitter accounts on the day after the election alone. After years of being one of the foremost social media services around, it is fast becoming a fringe service used by the radical right (Parler 2.0). If Twitter is not headed for extinction, it is certainly headed for irrelevance. And it seems Bluesky, a fairly apolitical service, will take its place.

Legendary Guitarist Jesse Ed Davis

When people think of Native American music artists, they are apt to think of Kay Starr, Link Wray, and Redbone. Among the music artists who might come to their mind is Jesse Ed Davis. Jesse Ed Davis was an enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma, and also had Comanche, Muskogee, and Seminole blood. In a career that spanned from the Fifties to the Eighties, he played with such artists as Taj Mahal, Gene Clark, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, and yet others. He also released albums as a solo artist.

Jesse Edwin Davis III was born on September 21 1944 in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother, Vivian (Bea) Saunkeah was Kiowa. His father was Jesse Edwin Davis II, was Comanche, with some Seminole and Muscogee ancestry as well. His Comanche name was Asawoya. Jesse Ed Davis came from an impressive family. He was related to the first female chief of the Seminole Nation, Alice Brown Davis, among other notables.

Jesse Ed Davis discovered music while still young, becoming a fan of Elvis Presley and Jimmy Reed, He was in seventh grade when he began learning to play guitar. His style was shaped by such diverse sources as his mother's piano lessons, the horns players of the Count Baisie Orchestra, and the powows he had attended. Ultimately, Mr. Davis developed a unique style that was highly rhythmic and wholly organic. Taj Mahal said of Jesse Ed Davis, "In those days everyone wanted to play the blues, but they’d overplay their licks at high volume, trying to get up into the stratosphere. They didn’t have the natural feeling he did — Jesse legitimately had the blues and played it his own way."

He started his career while still a teenager, playing in local bands in the late Fifties. He was 18 years old when he toured with Conway Twitter, then a rock 'n' roll singer, as part of his backing band. He attended the University of Oklahoma and joined the National Guard. It was in 1966 that he made his way to Los Angeles to pursue his career in music. He did session work before becoming  Taj Mahal's lead guitarist. He played on Taj Mahal's first four albums: Taj Mahal (1968), The Natch'l Blues (1968), Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home (1969), and Happy Just Lie I Am (1971).

It was in 1971 that Jesse Ed Davis's first solo album, ¡Jesse Davis!, was released. He would follow it with only one more solo album, Ululu, released in 1972. In the Seventies Jesse Ed Davis would work with several different music artists. He not played on, but also produced Gene Clark's 1971 solo album White Light. He also played guitar on Jackson Browne's song "Doctor My Eyes" from Jackson Browne's 1972 debut album. He worked with George Harrison, performing at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden. He would also work with others Beatles. He played guitar John Lennon's albums Walls and Bridges (1974) and Rock 'n' Roll (1975). He also played on Ringo Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) and Ringo's Rotogravure (1976). During the Seventies Jesse Ed Davis played with such diverse artists as Charles Lloyd, Leon Russell, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Bryan Ferry, The Pointer Sisters, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen, Emmylou Harris, and yet others.

Jesse Ed Davis moved to Hawaii in 1977. He returned to Los Angeles in 1981. Unfortunately, he had developed addictions to both drugs and alcohol, and spent a portion of the Eighties in rehabilitation clinics. He appeared on Guthrie Thomas's album Hobo Eagle Thief in 1983. In 1985 he and fellow Native American performer formed the Graffiti Band. They would release two albums under John Trudell's name: AKA Graffiti Man (1986) and Heart Jump Bouquet  (1987).

Sadly, Jesse Ed Davis's drug addition would eventually catch up with him. It was on June 22 1988 that he collapsed in the laundry room of an apartment building. Police claimed the death appeared to be from a drug overdose, as he had a fresh needle mark on one arm. Making some suspicious of this death was the fact that he also had a head wound and his shoes had been stolen.

Jesse Ed Davis is not as famous as such guitarists as Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, perhaps because he generally worked as a sideman for other music artists and was never a part of a well-known successful band such as Led Zeppelin or Cream. Regardless, there is every reason he should be. As fans of 1960s 1970s blues and rock music known, Jesse Ed Davis was a gifted guitarist with a rhythmic style all his own, and be could play in a variety of genres, from old time rock 'n' roll to blues to rhythm and blues to even glam rock.

Pushover (1954)

The MPAA Production Code enforced throughout much of the Golden Age of Hollywood included a list of subjects that must be treated with special care, including "...titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law enforcing officers." For that reason, corrupt police officers were rarely seen in American movies for much of the era. By the late 1940s, the Production Code had begun to weaken, so crooked cops began to appear much more frequently in movies, especially in film noir. Pushover (1954) was among those movies to feature a corrupt police officer, What is surprising is that the police officer was played by Fred MacMurray, who usually played good guys (Double Indemnity and The Apartment being notable exceptions).

Pushover (1954) begins with a bank robbery in which one of the robbers Harry Wheeler (Paul Richards) not only makes off with $250,000 but kills a bank guard in the process. Among the police officers charged with bringing Wheeler to justice and getting the money back is detective Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray). The cops then stake out the apartment of Wheeler's girlfriend, Lorna McLane (Kim Novak), in hopes that she will lead them to Wheeler and the loot. Unfortunately, Paul Sheridan takes a bit too much of an interest in Lorna McLane.

Pushover (1954) began with producer Philip Waxman, who had earlier produced the 1951 film noir The Big Night for United Artists. Mr. Waxman bought the rights to the novel The Night Watch by Thomas Walsh, which had been serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. It was adapted as a screenplay by Orin Jennings and Stanley Ellin. Philip Waxman then sold the screenplay to Columbia Pictures. While Philip Waxman remained an associate producer on the movie, Columbia assigned Pushover (1954) to producer Jules Schermer, who had earlier produced such movies as Framed (1947), Union Station (1950), The Pride of St. Louis (1952), and Pickup on South Street (1953).

It was at Columbia that, Pushover (1954) would take inspiration from another novel besides The Night Watch. The film took the idea of a corrupt cop who wants the money from a bank heist. From the novel Rafferty by William S. Ballinger Pushover (1954) took the idea of a detective becoming obsessed with a woman he was observing during a stakeout. The new screenplay was written by Roy Huggins. Roy Huggins had written the novels The Double Take, Too Late for Tears, and Lovely Lady, Pity Me, as well as the screenplay for 1948's I Love Trouble (based on his novel The Double Take), Too Late for Tears (based on his novel of the same name), The Good Humor Man (1950), and other films. Today he may be best known as the creator of the show Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files.

One change would be made from Roy Huggins's screenplay that he did not particularly care for. Producer Jules Schermer did not particularly like the ending of Mr. Huggins's screenplay, so he took elements from an earlier film he had produced, Framed (1947), starring Glenn Ford. When Roy Huggins saw a rough cut of Pushover (1954), he commented to the producer, "You've ruined my picture. Pushover (1954) would go through the working titles The Killer Wore a Badge (the title under which The Night Watch had been serialized in The Saturday Evening Post), 322 French Street, and The Night Watch.


Pushover (1954) went into limited release on July 14 1954 and then wide release on August 6 1954. The film received generally positive, if not overly enthusiastic reviews. The review from the July 28 1954 issue of Variety read, "Pushover is a cops-n-robbers meller whose suspense holds up despite its mite too long 88 minutes running time." The New York Times review from July 31 1954 was modestly positive, noting the resemblance of Fred MacMurray's role to that in Double Indemnity while at the same time noting, "Viewed strictly on its own, as it should be, this modest Columbia melodrama is a creditable job for about half the time." The critic from The Chicago Tribune wrote, "MacMurray is blunt and believable, and young Phil Carey does very well as his partner. The film has been previously produced, but it's not bad, as crime melodramas go." Audiences liked the movie, as Pushover (1954) did well at the box office.

Of course, Pushover (!954) is notable for giving Kim Novak her first starring role as Lorna McLane. Even at this point in her career, Miss Novak seemed to be every inch a movie star. Fred McMurray, even then known for more wholesome roles, does a good job of playing corrupt cop Paul Sheridan, who is obsessed with Lorna. The rest of the cast is notable as well. Philip Carey does a good job of playing Rick McAllister, the young police officer who realizes that Sheridan is not what he should be. Dorothy Malone gives a good performance as McAllister's love interest, Ann Stewart. E. G. Marshall plays Police Lieutenant Karl Eckstrom.

While Pushover does owe a good deal to other film noirs, Roy Huggins's screenplay is very well done, allowing suspense to build at a moderate pace. Richard Quine also provided the film with appropriately taut direction. Starting an acting career as a child actor in films from Cavalcade (1930) to Little Men (1934), Mr. Quine had taken up directing with the movie Leather Gloves (1948). After Pushover (1954), he would go on to direct such movies as My Sister Eileen (1955), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), The Notorious Landlady (1962), and Sex and the Single Girl (1964).

While Pushover (1954) does not rank among the most famous films noirs, it would be one of the influences on d Jean-Luc Godard's film Breathless, alongside such fellow films noirs as Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) and Gun Crazy (1950).  It is understandable why Mr. Godard would have been impressed with Pushover. While somewhat derivative of other films, it is a tense film noir with several good performances and a plot that will keep viewers hooked for the entirety of its running time.

"Baby Love" by The Supremes

Today is cold and extremely windy and I feel under the weather, so this evening I will leave you with one of my favourite songs. "Baby Love" would be one of the earliest and biggest hits for The Supremes. It was written by the songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who wrote and produced many of The Supremes' hits, as well as hits for Martha and The Vandellas and The Four Tops.

"Baby Love" hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 31 1964. It was their second number one, after "Where Did Our Love Go?," making them the first Motown group to have more than one number one record. It hit no. 1 on the UK singles chart on November 19 1964, making them the first all-female group to have a number one record on the chart. Across the Pond, it was still at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hawk: An Obscure Burt Reynolds TV Series

In the Sixties, Burt Reynolds's star was on the rise. Since the late Fifties, he had made several guest appearances on television. Starting in 1962 he played half-Comanche blacksmith Quint Asper on Gunsmoke. In 1966 he starred in the spaghetti Western Navajo Joe. It should have then come as no surprise that Burt Reynolds received his own television series in 1966. Hawk was historic as the first American television show to centre on a Native American in a modern-day setting (it was preceded by Brave Eagle and Broken Arrow, which were both  Westerns).

Hawk starred Burt Reynolds as New York City police lieutenant John Hawk, who was full-blooded Iroquois. Hawk worked as a special investigator for the District Attorney's office. His partner was Dan Carter (Wayne Grice). Bruce Glover played Assistant District Attorney Murray Slaken, while Leon Janney played Assistant District Attorney Ed Gorton.

Hawk was created by Allan Sloane, who had written for such television series as The Big Story, Navy Log, Lamp Unto My Feet, and East Side/West Side. He was among the entertainment professionals who had been listed in the right-wing, anti-Communist pamphlet Red Channels. As a result in November 1952, CBS informed him that it would no longer accept any of his scripts. Fortunately, Mr. Sloane would find his way back to working in the television industry.

Hawk was one of a number of Native American roles Burt Reynolds played in his career, including Quint on Gunsmoke. For much of his career, Burt Reynolds claimed to be Cherokee. In his memoir But Enough About Me, Mr. Reynolds wrote "My dad had Native American blood. By the time it got down to me there wasn't much left, but I was proud of what there was."  Regardless, none of Burt Reynold's ancestry has been verified to have been Native American, despite his claims and the fact that he played many Native Americans throughout his career.

Aside from featuring a lead character who was Native American, Hawk was a bit ahead of its time in other ways. The show was filmed on the streets of New York City. Only a few shows before Hawk, such as Naked City and Route 66 regularly shot on location, with most series during the 1966-1967 season still being shot on studio backlots. Hawk also had a grittier, more realistic feel than many police dramas of its time, and in some ways was closer to such Seventies movies as The French Connection (1971), Serpico (1973), and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).

Hawk debuted on ABC on September 8 1966. For the most part, the series received positive reviews. Harry Harris of The Philadelphia Inquirer described Hawk as "Taut, suspenseful." Jack Gould wrote in The New York Times, "Enough virtues to suggest the series may find a niche for itself." Terence O'Flaherty called Hawk, "One of the best crafted of the new television programs." While Hawk received positive notices, it did not receive good ratings. Hawk aired on Thursday night at 10:00 Eastern/9:00 Central opposite The Dean Martin Show on NBC (which ranked no. 14 for the season) and The CBS Thursday Night Movie (which ranked no. 29 for the season). Against such competition, Hawk did so poorly that it was cancelled on December 29 1966 after only 17 episodes.

NBC aired repeats of Hawk during the spring of 1976 following Burt Reynolds's success in such movies as Deliverance (1972) and The Longest Yard (1974). In the Eighties, Colex Enterprises syndicated Hawk to local stations. More recently, it has aired on GetTV,

By today's standards Hawk is somewhat problematic. If made today, the question of Burt Reynold's Naive American heritage or lack thereof would make the show controversial. In fact, it seems likely that if Hawk had been made today an enrolled member of a Native American tribe would be cast as John Hawk. As it was for much of the 20th Century it was standard procedure for white people or other ethnicities to be cast as American Indians. On the 1950s television show Brave Eagle, the title character was played by Keith Larsen, who was Scottish, Danish, and Spanish in descent. In the Fifties, Middle-Eastern-born Michael Ansara played lead roles as Native Americans no less than twice, playing Cochise in the TV show Broken Arrow and Deputy Marshal Sam Buckhart in Law of the Plainsman.

Another problem with Hawk is that the show is essentially an assimilationist narrative. While we are told John Hawk is Iroquois, the culture and customs of the tribe play no real role on the show. John Hawk has been thoroughly assimilated into white society. This is in sharp contrast to later shows centred on Native American lawmen. While the star of Nakia, Robert Forster, was English and Italian in descent, the show often acknowledged Navajo traditions and customs. The three adaptations of Tony Hillerman's "Leaphorn and Chee" novels that aired on PBS and the current series Dark Winds (also based on Tony Hillerman's) not only feature Native American actors in the lead roles but go even further in the portrayal of Navajo culture.

While Hawk never dealt with the customs and culture of the Iroquois, the show is notable in dealing with the racism and discrimination that John Hawk faced, both on the streets of New York City and in the District Attorney's Office. While several television Westerns had dealt with racism against American Indians over the years, in the Fifties and Sixties it was rare that discrimination against Native Americans was dealt with in a modern setting.

Of course, as noted above Hawk was the first American show to centred on a Native American in a modern setting. Outside of Westerns, Native Americans were nearly invisible on American television. It was rare that Native Americans appeared in a modern setting. The absence of Native Americans from shows set in the present day for much of American television's history could well give the impression that Native Americans are a thing of the past, that they have gone extinct, or that they are no longer relevant.

The past several years have seen representation of Native Americans in films and on television somewhat improve from what it was. Not only have there been shows starring Native Americans, but shows made by Native Americans as well. This has allowed for much more accurate portrayals of Native life. While Hawk had many flaws, in some ways the show did pave the way for Native American characters on television.