Nighthawks (1981)

Director: Bruce Malmuth

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, Nigel Davenport and RUTGER HAUER!!!

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Wulfgar, an international terrorist holds the City of New York hostage, but Deke DaSilva, the most dangerous cop known to man, can take him down.

Plot: Conservative street cop DaSilva reluctantly agrees to terminate an international terrorist who has demanded media attention. But DaSilva's "at-home" tactics are very much put to the challenge.

My Rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? I could, I suppose.

This movie's loaded with badasses. Hell, even that bald broad from the first STAR TREK flick, Persis Khambatta, is in it (as a terrorist!!!). This is 1981 so Stallone was still four years away from being the blockbuster action star that he was to become with the second Rambo picture in 1985. Sure, he'd had a couple of ROCKY pictures under his belt, and F.I.S.T. and PARADISE ALLEY (both in '78), but none of them are really action films. So, really, post ROCKY, NIGHTHAWKS is his first foray into the action genre...and it's a good one.

What I REALLY liked most (besides the cast), and I would have liked to have seen more of, was the playfulness between Stallone and Williams. They prodded and kidded around like two good friends who worked together would. It was cute in that manly sort of way.


It took someone else to point out Khambatta as the chick from STAR TREK: TMP. I never would have recognized her with hair. Hauer, as always, is a badass. I really dig it when the bad guys kill someone to make a point, kill without remorse. He waxes a female hostage without flinching because he needs to show he means business. Nice!


I HATE/LOATHE/DESPISE jump scares because they're almost always used to spook you when it's nothing more than a loud noise and a quick edit. It's weak and it's a technique used by directors who can't get a scare otherwise...except when it works. There's one such scene where Hauer's hand comes from offscreen. There's no sudden loud ass explosion of music (just a song playing on the record player) and there's no editing; it just appears and grabs her hand. It's one of the most effective uses of that technique I've ever seen and it's because it was done right.


The opening scene that introduces Stallone's character is a riot. There's a much longer than you would expect chase scene that begins when Stallone spots Hauer for the first time. It's a chase through the city, on a moving train, and then off again. Very well done. The tension was just right. I mention the length because it felt like something I hadn't seen in a long time; something that just isn't made anymore. An exception would be the opening to the recent CASINO ROYALE Bond picture. It just goes on and on and on and it's great.

Another thing that surprised me is that at 99 minutes long, it flew by. That's good film making. And the ending took me by complete surprise. Did I mention how yummy Lindsay Wagner (TVs THE BIONIC WOMAN) was? No? Delicious!

Lindsay Wagner needs to have my bionic babies!

Crap! I almost forgot to mention Keith Emerson's (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer fame) score - one of the absolute worst I've ever heard. Damn, it's bad. I'm not so sure I'll need to return to this film years from now but if it's playing at someone's house somewhere and I've got the time to kill, I'll plop my ass down and finish it. (Somehow that didn't come out the way I intended). (Wow. neither did that!)