Well hello there! I bet you were
expecting some Obscure Italian Horror movie. Nah, I think I got my
point across but dammit I do need input on the flow of reviews, what
you think I should be tackling and what really makes for good TV,
Movie and Video Games. That being said, the story we are about to
take on what intended to be the third in the French Connection that
would have teamed up Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle with a wisecracking
smart ass cop probably played by Richard Pryor. Hackman showed next
to no interest in doing a third movie so writer David Shaber
(Such Good Friends, The Warriors, Last Embrace, Rollover and
Flight of the Intruder) bought the rights to it, tinkered
with it and released it under the title it is better known for. This
is Nighthawks.
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| We in the club!.. I'll slap myself for that one. |
There are approximately 2 major stories
as well as 3 sub-stories in our films so if you get lost, I will toss
you a Marty McFly life jacket. Our main story revolves around the
ruthless terrorist Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer of LadyHawke,
Bladerunner, The Hitcher, Blind Fury, Split Second, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer and Batman Begins) a marksman and demolition expert whose
only cause is himself and striking fear into those that wronged him.
After a department store bombing in London goes awry, Wulfgar needs
a new identity, papers and even a new face to stay off the grid.
In the streets of New York, two street
crime cops pull stings to rid of muggers, rapists and gangers as
Detective Sergeants DaSilva (Slyvester Stallone of Rocky, First
Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cliffhanger, Daylight, Copland and
The Expendables) and Fox (Billy Dee Williams of
Carter's Army, Hit!, The Take, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,
Fear City, Batman, Mask of Death and Steel Sharks) pull up
the scum off the ground like so much chewing gum and toss it in the
trash...or jail if you prefer. No sooner are they serving a
high-risk warrant, our boys discover there are corrupt cops in with
the dealers and all Hell breaks loose.
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| Why yes, I was in The Hitcher. |
Wulfgar meets with his contacts for
papers and cash when the delivery man takes too long and sweats.
Wulfgar senses a trap and smokes him along with three constables from
London Metro. Chief Inspector Hartman (Nigel Davenport of Play
Dirty, A Man for All Seasons, Phase IV, The Island of Dr. Moreau,
Chariots of Fire and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the
Apes) knows Wulfgar in and out and finds from his documents
he is making his way to New York.
With the brewing storm of NYPD
corruption going to be proved in what the fellas saw, their
lieutenant sends them to Hartman as a division of an
counter-terrorist task force given their experience in Vietnam. What
you call Hell, Rambo calls New York. With their street savvy,
knowledge of the fences, middlemen and weapons dealers, they hope to
capture Wulfgar once and for all.
But hey we haven't had any ladies in
this thus far. Enter DaSilva's estranged ex-wife Irene (Lindsay
Wagner of The Paper Chase, The Bionic Woman, Ricochet, Thicker Than
Water and Warehouse 13) attempts to deal with her ex-hubby's
high-risk work and the fear of him dying on the streets broke them up
in the first place but they both want to try to put things back
together.
Meanwhile, Wulfgar's partner, in every
sense of the word, Shakka (Persis Khambatta of Conduct
Unbecoming, The Man with the Power, Star Trek: The Motion Picture,
Megaforce and Warrior of the Lost World) tells Wulfgar his
methods that slaughtered children were just too risque for his fellow
terrorists so they wash their hands of him. In case that did read a
bit wacky, HIS METHODS DID NOT WORK WELL WITH TERRORISTS.
Hartman and DaSilva seem to be on the
same page with Wulfgar and they want him dead or alive at this point.
Will they succeed? Will Wulfgar escape and get to plow Shakka?
The film had a "Rocky" start
to begin with when director Gary Nelson (Get Smart,
Freaky Friday, The Black Hole, Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of
Gold and Early Edition) was let go from the project after a
week's production to be replaced by Bruce Malmuth, who at the
time only been a second unit director for a couple of scenes of
Foreplay, was unable to
shoot the first day after Nelson was canned, so Stallone stepped up
to shoot a scene for the day, being the chase in the subway. Yes
they got fined for it by the Directors Guild of America due to
"burning daylight" is not considered an emergency.
Rutger
Hauer was injured on the set thanks to a malfunctioning squib (bullet
wound triggered by remote control with a blood pack) burned him and
getting yanked on a harness line through a window (with spun sugar
glass) that jacked his back. Hauer and Stallone apparently had
shouting matches that would have made Christian Bale blush at the
choice metaphors.
Nothing
more vicious in this flick than the damn MPAA
(Motion Picture Association of America)
that gave the original cut of the movie an X rating due to its gore
and graphic content that is actually nowhere near as bloody as say
Dirty Harry, The Mechanic or even The French Connection. Re-editing
and new submission was still deemed too violent for even an R rating.
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| PHOENIIIXXXXX!!!!!!! |
