I like to search through Netflix’s various suggestions to try to pick out some nuggets of movies I’ve never seen before, especially older ones. There’s some gems in there if you dig deep enough. The biggest problem with Netflix is I generally don’t get any real warning before a movie leaves the service, such that more than one that I’ve set aside leaves before I get a chance to see it. Sure, the movie might just pop up somewhere else, but it is a bit annoying.
Anyway, I have no idea how much longer 1981’s Nighthawks is going to be on there, but I did sit down to watch it all the same.
Set in 1980s New York City, the movie follows two cops, Deke DeSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams), though the spotlight is much more focused on DeSilva than Fox. The pair are pulled from their undercover work and transferred to an anti-terrorism squad, mostly so they can hopefully find and stop a mysterious terrorist known only as “Wulfgar” (Rutger Hauer). Wulfgar has come to the United States, most likely with a new face after a London bombing, to spread fear, and law enforcement needs ruthless cops to try and stop him any way possible. DeSilva and Fox, apprarently, both have military records that suggest they could be it. And while Fox, who takes very little of his briefing seriously, probably fits that bill, DeSilva is very reluctant to use lethal force. That said, DeSilva does the due diligence to find Wulfgar, putting him on the European man’s radar.
It’s probably important to note when this movie came along during Stallone’s career. This movie came out a year before his first appearance as John Rambo, so he hadn’t become the big action movie star yet. Heck, he hadn’t quite gotten there in the first Rambo movie either. That said, he has a rep now as either damaged Vietnam vet John Rambo or lovable lug Rocky Balboa. DeSilva isn’t like either of those guys. He supposed to be quiet, thoughtful, and intelligent. He does have an estranged wife (Linday Wagner) he has a somewhat sweet scene with, but this is a movie where he goes around in drag as part of his undercover work. He’s not much for violence, but he will if he’s out of options. This is Stallone trying to stretch hos acting muscles a bit in ways he isn’t generally known for.
By contrast, Williams’s Fox is a bit of a hothead, and if you ever wanted to hear Lando Calrissian curse like a sailor, this is the movie for you.
That said, the truly standout performance is Hauer as Wulfgar, a classy guy who loves women and dance, who can gun down cops at a party while holding a guitar and then slipped off. What is his big political goal? Mostly to spread far and embarrass the powerful and anyone else out to get him with as much random death as possible. Hauer seems to be having some fun playing the heavy, and that by itself may be worth the price of admission.
Now, if Wikipedia is correct, this movie was originally written as another sequel to The French Connection, but Gene Hackman had no desire to return to the role of Popeye Doyle again. As it is, Nighthawks does have something of a French Connection fell to it. That said, it also feels like it might be missing a scene here and there, relying on the familiarity of the characters and how they behave in a movie like this. It’s not the worst thing the movie could be doing, and even if much of what happens here feels like a cinematic cliche, it is still a well-done set of cliches. Far from perfect, and some of the leaps of logic will probably not hold up much to deep scrutiny, it was not a bad way to spend an evening.
Grade: B
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