JESSE HAWKES
JESSE HAWKES (April 1989 - May 1989) -- season only, episode ? -- With second
"Special Guest Star" billing, James Morrison plays a deputy sheriff in a small
town in California.
Having spent most of their lives in the rugged and beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains (as
presented in the 1988 TV series HIGH MOUNTAIN RANGERS), Jesse Hawkes and his sons, Matt
and Cody (played by real-life sons, Christian and Shane Conrad), relocated to San
Francisco.
The move was prompted when Matt was taken to a hospital there to recover from serious
injuries suffered during a drug bust in the mountains. Jesse and Cody followed to be close
to him and to find the drug dealers who were responsible. After solving the case they
stayed on, working as detective/bounty hunters, using the skills they had developed as
rangers to help them track down criminals.
While on the road to a peaceful fishing vacation, the Hawkes boys are accidentally caught
up in an intrigue. The family stops for lunch in the seemingly peaceful town of Sutter.
Jesse and Matt sit down to eat while Cody goes to bank for spending money. Unfortunately,
this bank is about to be held up.
Already inside the bank are two thugs and their Ferrari-driving, shotgun- toting,
Mafioso-type leader named... Robbie. Cody becomes one of their five hostages, as they
secure the bank. Robbie starts unloading the banks vault, but he is disappointed to
find out that the million-dollar delivery he expected to find has not yet arrived.
Meanwhile in the Ferrari, Robbies new girlfriend, Baby, anxiously awaits her
lovers return. She becomes suspicious when the bank guard suddenly closes the
shutters and curtains. She goes to the banks door and finds Matt Hawkes looking for
his brother. The two of them barge into the bank together.
Cody yells a warning to Matt, and Matt leaps through a glass window to escape. Baby
remains inside, quite surprised to find that her new love is a criminal.
Matt alerts the town to the threat, and the sheriff and his deputy arrive. Sheriff
Thompson hopes to settle the matter and enters the bank to talk about a solution. He tries
to convince Robbie to surrender. Robbie responds by shooting the sheriff in the back as he
exits the bank.
Deputy Sheriff Kenny Kyle takes over. He grabs a megaphone and confronts Robbie,
threatening him. Robbie threatens back and names his demands -- deliver the armored truck
and its million-dollar delivery or he starts shooting hostages.
Over enthusiastic with his newly found power, Kyle plays at odds with veteran lawman,
Jesse Hawkes. Hawkes insists that a trade, money for hostages, would put the robbers in a
more vulnerable position. But Kyle wants to rush the thugs in the bank. He sets up Robbie
to be taken out by a sharpshooter with a second police force ready to take the bank from
the rear.
Kyle lures Robbie outside the bank again, but his plan fails when one of Robbies men
sees the sharpshooter on the roof. Robbie rushes back inside, and the three bandits hold
off the cops advancing from the back of the bank with gunfire. The cops retreat, but
Robbie isnt satisfied. He sends one of the hostages, the bank security guard, out
the front door and shoots him dead in the middle of the street.
Kyle finally concedes and Hawkes comes up with a plan. He sends Matt to find the armored
truck and bring it back. Then Hawkes goes in to negotiate with the robbers. They agree to
a trade, the money for the hostage.
Matt arrives with the truck, disguised in the uniform of the regular security driver.
Robbie and the others check out the truck and attempt to take an additional hostage, a
pregnant bank teller. Hawkes refuses, insisting that he take the driver, only, as his
hostage. Robbie reluctantly agrees and heads back into the bank to return the girl.
Kyle runs up to Hawkes to remind him that the agreement was NO hostages at all. Then Kyle
carelessly says, "The only reason youre in this is because your kids in
there." One of the robbers overhears this and tells Robbie. Robbie decides that his
best insurance would be to take the driver AND Cody, who, because he is the only young
hostage in the group, is the only likely choice to be Hawkes child.
The robbers depart with Matt, Cody and Baby in tow. But on the road, the armored truck
starts to overheat. They pull over, and Matt convinces them the vehicle cannot be
repaired. Robbie attempts to pull over a car headed in their direction. The car stops, and
Hawkes jumps out of the drivers seat. Taking advantage of the diversion, Matt gets a
hold of one bandit and Cody, with Babys help, gets the other.
The Hawkes boys save the day and return to San Francisco to play a relaxing game of
basketball.
Best line of the piece is watching Morrison yell, "Im in charge here,
Hawkes!" six years before filming a foot of McQueen/Cooper footage. Additional
information provided from a review in THE COMPLETE DIRECTORY TO PRIME TIME NETWORK AND
CABLE TV SHOWS by Tim Brooks.