‘I didn’t join the police force to kill people…’
Sylvester Stallone is better known for his overwrought, over-the-top Hollywood blockbusters than for gritty realism. Bruce Malmuth’s 1981 movie Nighthawks, however, is closer to the downbeat character study of Cop Land than it is to Rocky or Rambo. Indeed, David Shaber’s screenplay was originally envisioned as a second sequel to William Friedkin’s The French Connection and the final product maintains some of that ’70s steel…
Deke (Stallone) and Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are NYC cops who are taken off the beat and assigned to the newly formed counter-terrorism unit following the arrival in the city of nefarious reactionary Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer). Deke’s reluctance to fire his weapon coupled with Wulfgar’s network of terrorists ensures that the latter always appears to be one step ahead.
As previously alluded to, despite being released in 1981, Nighthawks is very much a child of the ’70s. There is none of that ’80s gloss here, we are in Scorsese’s New York. A city full of scumbags, lowlifes and crime. This all means that Nighthawks is a dark film. There isn’t much hope breaking through the long shadow of a corrupt city but Mulmuth does offer a hint of redemption through Deke’s estranged wife Irene (Lindsay Wagner).
Stallone looks great, it must be said. Chiselled out of rock and sporting one of his most flamboyant haircuts, the grit and grime of NYC suits him and also hints at what might have been had he pursued more roles like this one. Elsewhere, Dee Williams is solid as Stallone’s long-suffering partner but it is Rutger Hauer and his devious and cunning antagonist that makes the film tick.
Nighthawks follows a long tradition of grimy New York movies (it would make an excellent double bill with Abel Ferrera’s Bad Lieutenant) and if you like that whole ’70s aesthetic, this is the film for you.