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USA 1981
Directed by
Bruce Malmuth
95 minutes
Rated R

Reviewed by
David Michael Brown
3 stars

Nighthawks

Synopsis: Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) is an undercover street cop more at home pulling thugs and petty criminals off the street.  DaSilva is hand-picked to join an ant-terrorism squad and when a terrorist (Rutger Hauer) makes it personal against the unrelenting cop a cat-and-mouse chase through the clubs, subways and streets of the Big Apple results.

Once you get over Sylvester Stallone’s bouffant hairdo and bearded face there is plenty to enjoy in Bruce Malmuth’s 1981 thriller. The Italian Stallion had made the first two Rocky films by the time he made Nighthawks and it was an obvious attempt to distance himself from the monosyllabic boxer, although the strategy of playing a monosyllabic police detective may not have been the greatest idea. Joking aside, however, Stallone gives a good performance as Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva.

The rest of the cast is a fabulous collection of cult icons. Lyndsey Wagner, television’s original Bionic Woman plays DaSilva’s estranged wife. Billy Dee Williams, best known as Star Wars character, Lando Calrissian, plays DaSilva’s  police colleagueand best of all Rutger Hauer plays Wulfgar. the terrorist with his sights on New York City. Hauer will be known by most as Roy Batty in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner but he has also given memorable performances in many of Paul Verhoeven’s early works including Flesh and Blood as well as The Hitcher. In Nighthawks he is riveting as the most terrifying kind of terrorist, one with his own agenda; who desperately trying to ingratiate himself with a political party by lethal means.

One aspect of the film that does date Nighthawks is the soundtrack by Emeron, Lake and Palmer keyboardist, Keith Emerson. The majority of his soundtrack work has been in Italian horror films like Demons 3 and Lucio Fulci’s Murder Rock. Nighthawks was his second score after his insane musical accompaniment to Dario Argento’s Inferno. The music of Nighthawks follows this vein with many of Emerson’s customary keyboard flourishes, many of which are completely at odds with the visuals to which they are set.

Director Bruce Malmouth knows how to handle an action scene, wringing out every bit of suspense possible. Unsurprisingly the other film that the director is known for is Steven Seagal’s Hard to Kill, one of the few film’s to fully bring out the martial arts skills of that other iconic 80s hard man. The concept has a degree of relevance nowadays as terrorism holds America and the world in the grip of fear but stylistically Nighthawks is dated, the score, along with the fashions in particular give the viewer no doubt that no matter how relevant the plotline, Stallone’s image takes the film screaming back to the '80s.

 

 

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