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Nighthawks (1981)

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79 comments in total

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20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent Trio Make This A Top-Notch Thriller, 3 abril 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 de Lockport, NY, United States

This Sylvester Stallone movie may be his best because, unlike most of his more famous roles over the years, this is very believable. He isn't Rambo or Rocky...just a tough New York City cop.

Stallone and partner Billy Dee Williams team up in an attempt to stop a terrifying international terrorist (Rutger Hauer) before he kills more people. All three of those actors are riveting in this rough, gritty film.

I thought so much of this movie that I bought it twice. The first DVD that came out was fullscreen, no stereo and grainy. Later, they issued a better widescreen print and it was worth upgrading. The movie is a top-notch thriller start-to-finish and Hauer makes an outstanding villain.

It might be a cliché but this film always "kept m on the edge of my seat. "

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16 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Great, before its time..., 1 enero 2004

Author: imdb-45 de New York

post 9/11 this movie is even more meaningful and loses nothing from its entertainment value. Who thought these guys could act? Perhaps being in their element, Billy Dee Williams and Sylvester Stallone are convincing cops who are needed to fight a terrorist who has come to NY City to do his deeds....

Unquestionably one of the most underrated thrillers here. Good suspense, storyline, and pacing. You won't be disappointed, especially since Rutger Hauer just loves playing the villian, perhaps only second to his memorable performance in Bladerunner. For those looking for inane, endless, senseless guns and ammo, this isn't it but it is an amazing thrillride and has plenty of action scenes to keep you occupied.

Of note -- EVERYONE who sees the cable cars in NY thinks of this film. It's the trademark that has lasted for 2 decades and is one to see. Enjoy!

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Timely Terrorist Movie, 29 mayo 2001
Author: Schlockmeister de Midnight Movie Land

It was 1981 and the world had just gone through a decade of terrorism. Casting Rutger Hauer and Persis Khambatta (she was the bald woman in the original Star Trek movie) as heartlessly cold terrorists was great casting! Billy Dee Williams and Stallone as street cops suddenly transferred to a terrorist unit do a good job. Stallone had not become a parody of himself yet and his diction is better here than it had ever been up to then. The movie's pace is unrelenting. This is a movie that I almost always have to stop and watch, easily getting swiped up into the story again and again, when I see it on television. Excellent twist ending and monorail scene. Recommended highly.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Hauer steals the show, 22 agosto 2004

Author: getmynannerup de North Carolina

Remember a day when Rutger Hauer starred in good movies that actually saw wide theatrical release? No. Hmmmm. Hauer is one of my favorite actors and stars in two of my top ten favorite movies (Blade Runner and The Osterman Weekend), so it's hard not to already be slightly biased about the movie. I remember first hearing about Nighthawks on the Headliners and Legends biography of Stallone and how it was not as well received as his Rocky and First Blood movies. For shame, because Nighthawks does manage to be a top notch thriller most of the time. I could go into the plot, but I believe in telling people what I liked and disliked instead of parroting the plot details like almost every other review. (See, a movie to me is more fun when I only know a little about the story, instead of the first hour or so, because someone felt that they had to readers digest the entire film.)

Anyway, now that I've ranted, I have to admit that I enjoyed it for the most part, with the exception of the initial pacing. It continues to drag in places towards the middle, and takes a little over an hour to set up the crucial players backgrounds. The only real problem is that every time the film stops to focus on DeSilva (Stallone) and Fox (Williams), it spends twice as much time focusing on Wulfgar. Wulfgar is certainly a well crafted maniac, but when the movie is over we know almost nothing about Fox and only a little about Dee DeSilva. Still, the movie does succeed in making you care about our two main characters, by thrusting them into danger and having them do what is morally right (i.e. Towards the beginning of the film the two are in a drug raid, and refuse to take bribes from the perps who had apparently already paid off the cops from the first raid on their operation.

They're good cops, and it's their good guy image that endears them). I guess it would have been nice also to see a little more of Stallones relation to what's her name. (sorry, I haven't seen this in a about a month now.) I was interested in the prospect of a hero who was torn between the relation with his ex (who he was trying to re-ignite the flame with), and his duty. But, alas, she was just a narrative device who the writers have decided is only important in the last 15 minutes or so.

With all these cons, why did I still like it? Sudden scenes of high impact, good cast and acting all around, a villain who wasn't just a cardboard cutout, and Stallone's bitchin' beard, and a wholly convincing scenario.

The bottom line: This film is more akin to The French Connection than it is to Rocky. Methodical and often stylish, NightHawks deserves to at least be rented and watched with an open mind.

8 Stars out of 10

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12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
The original Lethal Weapon?, 18 julio 2004
Author: jlon de Dublin

Confusingly, there's another movie from the same era called Nighthawks. DVD review.

A terrorist hits New York. Only Stallone and Williams can stop him.

Compact early '80s cop buddy movie. Stallone has a Serpico-type image here. He's good in a role of the tough no-nonsense plain clothes cop who hits the street to tackle muggings. Hauer's terrorist is a complex character. Is he actually crazy? He'd make a good James Bond villain. I liked the way the opening and final scenes match each other. Best scene: the nightclub where Stallone stares and stares at Hauer until he realises who he is. Good topical movie that could be remade today. If you want to see Stallone dressed as a woman then this is the movie.

Nighthawks is an underrated cop movie.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Hollywood's toughest hero VS Hollywood's meanest villian, 24 agosto 1999
Author: crewcut6 de Allentown, PA

Finally, Sly Stallone stars in a film that he really deserves to appear in! He and Billy Dee Williams make a great team as two no-nonsense New York cops who chase Rutger Hauer, who has a great role as a remorseless terrorist (then again, no terrorist has a heart of gold!) Though he's totally unrecognizable with a long beard, Stallone does an exceptionally good performance because unlike his other cop roles, such as Ray Tango from "Tango and Cash", Sly doesn't portray a cocky character, which makes it very realistic. However, our hero doesn't show his muscles in this flick, but, it proves that you don't have to be brawny to be a tough guy.

Hauer is also perfect, playing what he does best, an oily villian. He might look very suave at first in this film, but when he shows his true colors, you better watch out. Last but not least is Billy Dee Williams, who does a cool Roger Murtaughesque cop who relies on his partner Sly to do the job.

If you're in the mood for suspense and good chase scenes, "Nighthawks" is your gameplan. Look out for the great conclusion. It might cause you a great deal of shock!

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the most underrated films..., 19 mayo 2000

Author: simba-18 de United States

This is one of the best action movies out there, even to this day. It's a must see especially for Stallone fans. If he chose more of this type of movie, he would be much more respected in Hollywood. Rutger Hauer is awesome as Wulfgar, the international terrorist. All performances are notable, Billy Dee Williams/Sylvester Stallone pairing works well. Stallone really is a great actor, given the right material, and this one certainly provides it. It's a shame he sold out with the "Rocky" sequels.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Stallone's best., 11 abril 2005

Author: Scott LeBrun de Winnipeg, Canada

"Nighthawks" is a thoroughly decent action thriller about street cop Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) who, along with his partner Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams), is assigned to a special counter-terrorism unit that's after terrorist-for-hire Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer, in his first American film), who comes to NYC to prove to terrorist cells worldwide that he is still employable after some bad moves on his part.

Right from the get go, "Nighthawks" proves to be a film that will waste little time. The film-makers tell the story in an efficient, very competent way, delivering good scenes of action and suspense. I would also venture to say that it's entertaining without trying to be overly flashy. The film was directed by Bruce Malmuth (who came in to replace the original director), then in his forties, making a belated film-making debut but doing a credible job. He elicits believable performances from his cast - Stallone offers one of his better performances, and he and Williams are well matched. Hauer is smooth and charismatic as the dapper yet cold-blooded bad guy. It's just too bad that Lindsay Wagner's role is mostly inconsequential. It WAS nice, as always, to see Joe Spinell - who was also in the original "Rocky" with Stallone - as Stallone's and Williams's superior. Nigel Davenport did a fine job as the terrorism expert, and the late, striking Indian actress Persis Khambatta is on hand as Wulfgar's associate Shakka. The music score by Keith Emerson was okay.

"Nighthawks" moves along well and is a pretty entertaining diversion.

8/10

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
You can always count on a cross-dressing Sylvester Stallone to save the day..., 7 enero 2004
Author: davideo-2 de Birmingham,England

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

From the on-set of the film,with Stallone chasing a crook wearing girl's tights and skirt (and coat),to the preposterous climax,this appears to be the highlight of the film.

This early action feature has the drawling stallion as undercover cop Deke De Silva who,along with his partner Fox (Billy Dee Williams),sets muggers up as bait on the streets of New York.Cut to London,New Years Eve.Lone terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer) sets off the first of what are to be a series of bombs in a store.Cut back to New York,and De Silva and Fox are managing their operations fairly successfully.But they're loose cannons at the mercy of their captain,who all of a sudden transfers them to the anti-terrorist unit.It is here that they become embroiled in the mission to catch Wulfgar before he wages total destruction.

As I stated,this is an early Stallone action flick.It's directed by Bruce Malmuth,who would later go on to helm the Steven Seagal flick Hard to Kill and the Dolph Lundgren flick Pentathlon.It features Stallone in the lead role as the hero,which he would go on to play to far more memorable effect (unless you regarded him as more of an anti-hero) one year later in the film First Blood,and Hauer as the villain,which he would,ironically,go on to play to more memorable effect one year later in Blade Runner.Both play their respective roles with the relish that would eventually lead to the greater things they would go on to acheive,Hauer especially who'd developed his menacing edge masterfully by the time he'd starred in The Hitcher.

The film is fairly entertaining but unremarkable.***

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
"I do not enjoy killing...But it's my JOB !", 19 septiembre 2005

Author: j_graves68 de Orange County, CA

One of the most underrated movies of the eighties. I couldn't figure out why this was so dissed by the critics and the public in the early eighties. Was it because people were not ready to embrace the thought of international terrorism in their front yard? I think so.

This is one of Sylvester Stallone's forgotten movies where he reminds you of Al Pacino as Serpico at times with his benevolent nature and the facial hair. He doesn't slur his monosyllabic sentences, or act as if he has lost more IQ points. Until this film came out, I didn't think there was much more to Stallone. Sadly, I was too young to see this all by myself in the theatres and saw it a year later on cable. And when I saw Rutger Hauer, I was amazed at how creepy the man was! He was born for the role, but unfortunately, Hauer doesn't seem to play good guys as well. Whenever I see him, this is the first film I think of. "Blade Runner"'s the second. Billy Dee Williams's character was bland that I didn't find myself rooting for nor hating him. Lindsay Wagner is expendable and I wish the late Persis Khambatta was able to stretch her role a little more. She was Hauer's perfect, plausible counterpart (and spoke some wicked French and German). Nigel Davenport is the typical foreign expert on the subject that gives the film an interesting transatlantic angle.

I found myself bored by the end of the first forty-five minutes, until the montage of Stallone and Williams looking for clues to the dead flight attendant at the various discoteques. And then when this movie came on TV, they changed the two songs in the disco: "Brown Sugar" from the Stones and "I'm a Man" from Keith Emerson to seventies stock tunes. Must of been a lawsuit pending. Suffice the music, there is a brutal, ten-minute-long chase through subway tunnels, a station, and then on the train itself. Afterwards, there's some downtime, but Wulfgar (Hauer) is at the point of no return now that the po-po has a physical description of him. So much for the plastic surgery. You can now sense the desperation he has, and he already knows he's not going to get a happy ending so that's why he decides to air-out Stallone's ex-wife (played by Wagner in two or three brief snippets). So you know that he's gonna lose, it's just HOW he is going to lose makes you watch the rest of it. You can also see that Stallone's character struggles with himself on how he'd rather bring Wulfgar in than kill the terrorist (he's got those law-enforcing ideology and beliefs going on overtime).

But the problem about this film is that it is so dated and by-the-numbers judging from today's standards, that it's almost a flat-out documentary. The formula is typical seventies where the exposition is gradually set up until the middle of the film- and by then the viewer is bored- but the action and suspense takes place throughout the rest (you'll notice from the "Dirty Harry", "Rocky", and "Star Wars" movies, the later "Indiana Jones" flicks, along with "Serpico", "The French Connection", etc). However, "Nighthawks" was clearly ahead of its time, and I could see a remake or something like this being done down the road from now. See, NOW it might sell because we've seen it in our own front yard. Get Vin Diesel to play Stallone's role; Tyrese Gibson to play Billy Dee Williams; Lindsay Wagner's character's axed; Cillian Murphy will be Rutger Hauer; Clive Owen can play Nigel Davenport's role; Milla Jovovich can be Shakka, and Michael Clarke Duncan will play their Lieutenant.

But leave in the "I do not enjoy killing, but it's my job"-line.

Still good for its time !

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