Thriller The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk (1960–1962) Online

This is one of those Thriller tales that might have been better marketed as an episode of The Twilight Zone. How frightening can a story be when it opens at a farm that's known as the Home of the Pampered Pig? Right off the bat you know you're in for something offbeat when the celebrated Cissy Hawk (Jo Van Fleet) uses a little witchcraft to turn Bruce Dern into this little piggy.

The story is based on Circe, a goddess of ancient Greek mythology who turned humans into animals using magic potions. Mrs. Hawk has a preference for prize winning hogs as it turns out, and provides a happy playground for her pampered piglets. Somehow I think old Jason Longfellow (John Carradine) should have known better than to try and outwit the remarkable Mrs. Hawk. She'd been at this witchcraft business a whole lot longer than he was a con man.

Even the local sheriff was no match for this smooth seductress. Tom Willett's middle name was Ulysses, just like the Greek king who had his men turned into hogs by the aforementioned Circe. Hopefully most Thriller fans won't be too disappointed that this one is done more in a whimsical vein than going for flat out horror. I kind of enjoyed the comic turn this one took, but I'll have to think twice the next time I go for my bottle of blackberry brandy.

Wonderful black comedy stars Jo Van Fleet in the title role of Mrs. Cissy Hawk, a lonely widow who runs a prize-winning pig farm, with a penchant for picking up young male loners as potential husbands or handymen. Scheming blackmailer Jason Longfellow (John Carradine), Latin scholar and railroad hobo, sends his confederate Johnny Norton (Bruce Dern) to check out the premises, disappearing after an aborted attempt at robbery. An undeterred Jason then tries using another accomplice, Pete Gogan (Hal Baylor), passing himself off as the young man's uncle. Paul Newlan plays the local sheriff, who ferrets out the blackmail scheme but cannot solve the many disappearances, avoiding the widow's advances all the while. Newlan makes his fourth and final THRILLER (after 12 "The Big Blackout," 15 "The Cheaters," 37 "The Grim Reaper") while the scene-stealing John Carradine essays another role tailor-made for him by scriptwriter Donald S.Sanford (after Jed Carta in episode 43 "Masquerade"). Director John Brahm had previously worked with the actor on the 1958 episode of SUSPICION, "A Touch of Evil," teaming up once more for THE GIRL FROM U.N.C.L.E. in 1966, "The Montori Device Affair."

On very rare occasions, "Thriller" made a few episodes which were more comedic than usual. The best, by far, is "Masquerade"...a delightful comedy episode with Tom Poston and Elizabeth Montgomery. While still enjoyable, "The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk" isn't nearly as fun.

Mrs. Hawk (Jo Van Fleet) seems like the sweetest and nicest middle aged woman. However, on her pig farm workers keep disappearing. Is it because the men are just transients and go their way or is something more sinister afoot? To find out what is happening, see the show.

I can't really say much more about the show as it might give away the strange twist. Suffice to say, it's very, very unlikely you'll guess what's happening to the men! Clever and occasionally darkly funny...but also a bit...well...stupid.

This episode had an interesting premise. Apparently, Circe, the goddess that Odysseus (Ulysses) encountered on his journey to Ithaca, is still alive and running a pig farm. Of course, she is the one who turned all of Ulysses men into pigs, so she is able to ply her trade by bringing in unwary men and transitioning them. A couple of men of the road come to her house the one is tricked and becomes major pork chop. The other lasts a little longer (John Carradine). He mistakenly announces that he will blackmail the lady and she uses dust to turn him into a swine. The problem with this episode is simple. There has to be an out. Even if the characters end up tragically, they had to have a chance. Because this sorceress doesn't seem to have a weakness. I longed for a table turner, but it was not to be.

Engaging all the way through.

Some men that I think like to see themselves win all the time have voted this down, but this is a TV episode where the female wins against men trying to take advantage of her, even rob her.

It's my favorite episode besides only one other, maybe?

It's about a woman working with her therapist to find out about herself. She's a beautiful blonde. And she had visions of a perfect house that she wants to own. She finds it, and then finds out she's a ghost or spirit that previously lived there. I thought it was part of the "Thriller" series, but in repeatedly searching through the episodes, I can't find it. Does anyone have any ideas?

Jo Van Fleet stars as Cissy Hawk, a seemingly kind-hearted woman farmer who has raised a bunch of prize-winning hogs for the annual county fair. She often hires drifters and other desperate men(like costar Bruce Dern) as farm hands, even though some of them at least seem untrustworthy. Still, it is odd how they always seem to disappear suddenly, or the high turnover rate of these workers. One ambitious and scholarly hobo(played by John Carradine) tries to fool Mrs. Hawk, but neither he nor the sheriff know what they are up against... Macabre episode is most off-putting, despite some clever touches. Result is a mildly mean-spirited tale that goes nowhere.