Nighthawks
by Bruce Malmuth, Gary Nelson
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Actor: Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, Rutger Hauer, Sylvester StalloneDirector: Bruce Malmuth, Gary Nelson
Brand: Universal Studios
Producer: Bill Badalato
Producer: Franklin R. Levy
Producer: Herb Nanas
Producer: Kathryn Stellmack
Writer: David Shaber
Writer: Paul Sylbert
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-05-11
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Nighthawks
DVD Review: Old school cops vs terrorists
Summary: 3 Stars
It's strange how seen from a distance some films can assume a whole new aspect that was never intended when they were made. Watching 1981's Nighthawks is like looking at a world and a style of film-making that is probably gone forever. From the last days when cop thrillers were gritty rather than glossy (there are few primary colours) and violence was nasty rather than slick, it's pretty much the last big-studio cop-buddy movie before Shane Black and Joel Silver reinvented the genre with Lethal Weapon. The buddies are Sylvester Stallone, in his first flush of screen stardom, and Billy Dee Williams, New York cops with big hair and terrible wardrobes assigned to track down Rutger Hauer's ruthless celebrity international terrorist out to re-establish his credibility.
Bruce Malmouth's direction is resolutely old-fashioned, although he does occasionally throw in the odd interesting touch (the visual similarities between Stallone's cop and Hauer's terrorist, Stallone's reluctance to become an 'assassin'), but these are never developed and the politics don't pass muster: Hauer is little more than a mercenary for hire, flitting between the IRA - who, rather incredulously, disapprove when he spectacularly blows up Arding and Hobbs department store because of civilian casualties! - and the Arabs. Even at the 95 minute mark it feels the need to add padding, with Lindsay Wagner's glamorous ex thrown in for a couple of brief scenes to reassure us that while he may wear the odd dress in the line of duty, there's nothing unmanly about our Sly, although it's actually Hauer who gets all the best opportunities in his American debut.
An efficient enough production-line number, although nothing special by a long shot, at the time a number of imaginative reasons were trotted out for the film's indifferent reception at the box-office - Stallone wore a beard, Stallone wore drag, Stallone wore glasses, Stallone kept his shirt on - but, along with the film's other problems in truth it was probably the subject matter that was to blame. There's never been a particularly financially successful film dealing with terrorism (Black Sunday came closest, but even that was far from the blockbuster everyone expected), largely because until fairly recently American audiences failed to see it as a genuine threat while for European audiences it was too close for comfort as entertainment. Even that element has dated: terrorism has grown bigger and more media conscious - the odd hostage situation is no longer enough, with big 'event' outrages like Oklahoma and the World Trade Centre and the Enniskillen and City of London blasts taking centre stage. It's a sad testament to the last couple of decades that Hauer's on-screen outrages now seem so tame and everyday.
Description of Nighthawks
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