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"The other day, I was going down on my girlfriend. I said to her, 'Jeez, you've got a big pussy. Jeez, you've got a big pussy.' She said, 'Why did you say that twice?' I said, 'I didn't.' See, it was 'cause of the echo..."
Hawkins (from Predator)

Rick Hawkins[1] was a mercenary and a member of Major "Dutch" Schaefer's private military team. In 1987, Schaefer's team was hired by the U.S. military and the CIA for a rescue mission in Guatemala. After discovering that their mission was a set-up to dupe them into eliminating the rebels in the area, Schaefer's squad came into contact with a Predator that stalked and killed the elite mercenaries one-by-one.

Hawkins was the team's youngest member, radio operator and a perpetual comedian. He was the first member of the team to be killed by the Predator.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Hawkins was born in South Boston, Massachusetts.[1] In 1980, he joined Dutch's private military unit as the team's radio operator.[4] Although a part of the team as long as any of the other members, his role as their radio and communications expert meant he had less combat experience than his comrades.[5] Even so, he was still proficient in battle and a hardened warrior, and as part of Dutch's team he saw operations in Angola, Cambodia, Lebanon and Afghanistan,[6] and recently ended a terrorist siege at the Sudanese Embassy in Berlin, Germany.[7]

Guatemala[]

JH drags Hawkins away

Hawkins' body is dragged away by the Jungle Hunter.

Shortly after they were dropped into Guatemala, Dutch and his men discovered the skinned bodies of Jim Hopper and his men; the gruesome find greatly disturbed the hardened mercenaries.

After neutralizing the guerrillas and capturing one of their member, Anna, Hawkins learned over the radio that a much larger rebel force was closing in on their position, forcing the team to exfiltrate on foot. During the march, Anna attempted to escape, with Hawkins taking off in pursuit. While he quickly caught up with and subdued her, he was almost immediately killed by the Jungle Hunter, which disemboweled him and took his body. His corpse was later hung by its ankles from a tree, although the rest of Dutch's team never located it. The Yautja didn't skin him.

Despite never recovering his body, the circumstances of Hawkins' death convinced Dutch and the rest of his men that he had been killed by whoever had slain Hopper and his team.

Personality and Traits[]

"The other day, I went up to my girlfriend, I said, 'Y'know, I'd like a little pussy.' She said, 'Me too, mine's as big as a house!'"
Hawkins (from Predator)

Hawkins was a comic book fan and a die-hard comedian, constantly cracking crude jokes, usually in an attempt to make the humorless Billy laugh, a task at which he typically failed. Visually he did not fit in with the other team members, set apart by his nerdy or even goofy appearance. However, he was a skilled combatant with lightning-fast reflexes, as demonstrated when he caught a stress ball thrown at him by Poncho without even looking.

Notably, Hawkins seemed to treat Anna with a higher degree of respect than the rest of Dutch's squad, actually attempting to calm her down during her second escape attempt. Additionally, unlike most of the squad, Hawkins did not seem to immediately take a dislike to Dillon, nor did he appear to hold a grudge against him even after the true nature of the mission was revealed.

Equipment[]

Hawkins fires MP5

Hawkins fires his MP5.

Hawkins used a Heckler & Koch HK94A3 submachine gun in Guatemala. For backup, he carried a IMI Desert Eagle Mark I in a shoulder rig, although he never used the weapon. Hawkins also carried several M18A1 Claymores and the squad's radio equipment, including a collapsible dish antenna for satellite uplink.

Quotes[]

  • Hawkins: Hey Billy. Billy! The other day, I went up to my girlfriend, I said, "Y'know I'd like a little pussy". She said, "Me too, mine's as big as a house!"
  • [Billy stares blankly]
  • Hawkins: See, she, she wanted a little one 'cause hers was...
  • [Hawkins pauses, then trails off]
  • Hawkins: ... big as a house.
  • Poncho: - "¿Qué pasó, mujer? Mujer, ¿qué pasó? ¿Qué fue lo que viste? ¿Quién fue?" (What happened, woman? Woman, what happened? What did you see? Who was it?)
  • Anna:- "No sé, no sé." (I don't know, I don't know).
  • Poncho: - "Dime, mujer." (Tell me, woman)
  • Anna: - "No sé, la selva se lo llevó. No estoy segura. No sé." (I don't know, the rain forest took him. I'm not sure. I don't know.)
  • Poncho: - "She says the jungle, just came alive and took him."
  • Dillon: - "Bullshit, it's not what she said. What she said does not make any sense."

Trivia[]

  • Hawkins actor Shane Black would go on to direct the fourth Predator film, The Predator. In fact, he far is better known in Hollywood as a screenwriter and director than as an actor. He penned several famous action films during the 1980s and 90s, most notably the first two films in the Lethal Weapon series (which starred Predator 2 lead Danny Glover) and the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Last Action Hero. He would subsequently go on to write and direct features such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3.
  • In early drafts of the film's script, Hawkins was known as Dillon. The name Hawkins is instead given to another member of Dutch's team, cut from the movie before filming, who is killed during the assault on the rebel camp.[8]
  • From the outset, Black realized his character would not be as memorable as many of the other macho leads in the film and searched for a way to change this. At first he opted to wear a red beret, but quickly decided this would be tactically unsound in a jungle setting. Ultimately he settled for his character's large glasses (although Black has 20/20 vision) and his lewd jokes, many of which were ad-libbed by Black.[9]
  • In Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, one of the graves in the graveyard scene has the name Hawkins written on it
  • Hawkins was the first on-screen kill in the Predator film franchise.
  • In some ways, Hawkins is very similar to Jerry Lambert from Predator 2, in that both characters are somewhat immature comedians who crack lewd jokes to try and make their colleagues laugh.
  • The comic book Hawkins is seen reading in the closing credits (and possibly the helicopter scene) is Sgt. Rock #408 (February 1986). In the DVD commentary, director John McTiernan notes that at the time, Dutch actor Arnold Schwarzenegger had an adaptation of Sgt. Rock in production, which is why the comics were on set. McTiernan also described the scene where Dutch walks up to Billy, who senses the Predator's presence out in the bush, as a "Sgt. Rock moment".
  • The real-life goblin spider species Predatoroonops rickhawkins is named after Rick Hawkins; every member of the Predatoroonops genus has a name that references Predator, due to the perceived similarity between the spider's mouthparts and the Predator's mandibles.[10]
  • Although never mentioned in the film, the script described that Hawkins was also the team medic.
  • In the crossover comic book series Archie vs. Predator, a character resembling Hawkins can be seen in Dutch's Beach Bar reading a Sgt. Croc comic book.

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Paul Monette. Predator, p. 15 (1987), Jove Books.
  2. Hawkins' actor's (Shane Black) height is 5ft 11 (180.3 cm), so that is also how tall Hawkins would have been.
  3. Jim Thomas, John Thomas (writers), John McTiernan (director). Predator (1987), 20th Century Fox [DVD].
  4. Paul Monette. Predator, p. 118 (1987), Jove Books.
  5. Paul Monette. Predator, p. 102 (1987), Jove Books.
  6. Paul Monette. Predator, p. 3 (1987), Jove Books.
  7. Paul Monette. Predator, p. 9 (1987), Jove Books.
  8. Hunter script (July 27, 1985 draft) by Jim Thomas and John Thomas
  9. John McTiernan, Bill Duke, Shane BlackInside the Predator — Character Design (2004), 20th Century Fox [DVD].
  10. Brescovit, Bonaldo, Santos, Ott & Rheims, 2012: The Brazilian goblin spiders of the new genus Predatoroonops (Araneae, Oonopidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, n. 370, pp. 1–68 (whole text).
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