NIGHTHAWKS (1981)
Rating: 3.5 out of 4 /Buy the DVD Here
Tagline:One man can bring the world to its knees. And only one man can stop him.
Directed by Bruce Malmuth
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner, and Billy Dee Williams
THE KILL: Any movie featuring Sly Stallone in a wig, not once but twice, can’t be all bad, right? Wrong. It’s almost destined to be bad, because whenever Stallone is moved to do something like putting himself in drag, it usually means he’s in one of those horribly miscalculated comedies he was prone to do from time to time back in the day. But in NIGHTHAWKS, it’s actually a rather amusing surprise when Sly appears donning ladies’ wear, only because the moments serve as effective punchlines to legitimately tense sequences. And this movie has a bunch of them. (Suspense sequences, that is. It keeps the She-Stallone bit to a minimum.)
“This position isn’t awkward for you, is it Wulfgar?”
Revisiting NIGHTHAWKS for the first time in many years, I was struck not only by how damn entertaining it is, and what a fine addition to the “good” Stallone filmography, but also what a gritty New York cop thriller it proves itself to be. We usually think of the obvious ones: SERPICO, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, etc. NIGHTHAWKS – made in 1980, but fully of the 70s – isn’t necessarily as engaging from a moral standpoint, but as a detective movie taking place in the City That Never Sleeps’ grungiest era, it gets big points for kicking ass and shooting people with a sub-machine gun with style.
NIGHTHAWKS trailer!
The sub-machine gun is a favorite toy of Wulfgar’s, the film’s truly evil villain played with lizard-like intelligence by Rutgar Hauer. Wulfgar is a terrorist for hire, although his motives aren’t as pure or precise as his actions. Like the most despicable of cinema villains (think Ledger’s The Joker), Wulfgar’s secret is that he just loves blowing shit up, preferably when there’s people in whatever it is that he’s destroying. Although naturally he’ll tell you he’s got a perfectly logical rationale behind his evil deeds, the cunning smile betrays the fact that he’s just in it for the delicious nastiness of it all.
On the flipside, Stallone’s Deke DaSilva is a good man proud to wear the badge, a Sheriff of an unruly city filled with dirtbags he’s obligated to take down. And though, as is always necessary in this kind of flick, he doesn’t always play by the rules, he’s also not the complete loose cannon you go in expecting to meet. In fact, aside from his penchant to sometimes wear a bra to take down a bad guy, DaSilva is a rather by-the-book detective. In a crucial scene, he doesn’t take a shot that can end Wulfgar’s reign of terror, which has fatal results. Later in the same sequence, he chooses to stay behind with a slashed friend, as opposed to taking chase after the fleeing villain. Again, a conservative decision that your typical renegade cop would not make; the film doesn’t mind making DaSilva vulnerable and conflicted.
Essentially, NIGHTHAWKS is the old cat-and-mouse yarn (with the hero and villain switching roles throughout the film) played without frills or bullshit. The killer is cold as ice, the cop has emotional baggage, and only one of the two can survive the collision between the virtuous and the wicked. Because the two roles are played so convincingly (and in Hauer’s case, with much enthusiasm), the familiar story is given a lift, making this a top-notch crime drama. It’s certainly worth a wallow in nasty old New York.
For the Halloween party, Billy Dee went as Superman, and Sly went as Serpico… Neither won the costume contest…
TOP DEATH: Suffice to say, it’s incredibly satisfying when Wulfgar gets what’s coming to him; the moment of his downfall is a really great one.
TOP ACTION: A thrilling chase that begins at a nightclub, goes through a construction site, zooms through a subway tunnel, ending on a train car is the flick’s suspense setpiece.
FEMALE EXPLOITATION: Both Deke and Wulfgar have sexy ladies by their side, but neither is nice enough to show us the goods. A disappointment in that regard, although I do enjoy a woman who carries a gun and kills without mercy (that would be Wulfgar’s lady, for the slow ones out there).
HOMOEROTIC MOMENT: Anytime one man gently holds another man in his arms and screams with rage… well… it gets emotional. For all of us.
TOP DIALOGUE: Wulfgar has a chilling promise for anyone he’s about to kill: You’re going to a better life.”
DRINKING GAME: Chug every time you just want to bash Wulfgar’s face in with your fists. You’ll be taking your alcoholic rage out on your buddy about halfway through the film!
TRIVIA: Original director Gary Nelson was fired early into the production.
Stallone directed some of the exciting subway chase sequence because the film’s new director could not make it to the set that day.