Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Although Sylvester Stallone has had many roles as a law enforcement officer, perhaps his best performance as a cop can be seen in a movie which is two decades old-- Nighthawks. The movie may be seriously dated as evidenced by subway scenes from the time, but the subject matter is still timely: terrorism in the United States had been around for years on a small scale. While Sylvester Stallone received rave reviews for his performance as Garrison, New Jersey sheriff Freddie Heflin in Cop Land (1997), it is as Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva in Nighthawks (1981) that he delivers one of his best performances.
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Nighthawks (1981)
99 minutes

Major Credits:
Bruce Malmuth - Director
David Shaber - Writer
Paul Sylbert - Writer
Bill Badalato - Line Producer
Franklin R. Levy - Executive Producer
Herb Nanas - Producer
Martin Poll - Producer
Keith Emerson - Original Music

• Cast
• Plot
• Setting
• Performance
• Characterization
• Believability
• Special Effects
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Cast
• Sylvester Stallone - Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva
• Billy Dee Williams - Detective Sergeant Matthew Fox
• Nigel Davenport - Peter Hartman
• Rutger Hauer - Reinhardt Heymar Wulfgar/Eric, Terrorist
• Lindsay Wagner - Irene, Deke's Girlfriend
• Persis Khambatta - Shakka Holland(Kapoor), Terrorist
Hilary Thompson - Pam, Stewardess/victim of Wulfgar
Joe Spinell - Lieutenant Munafo
Walter Mathews - Commissioner
E. Brian Dean - Sergeant
Caesar Cordova - Puerto Rican Proprietor
Charles Duval - Dr. Ghiselin
Tony Munafo - Big Mike
Howard Stein - Disco Manager
Luke Reilly - Conductor
Yvette Hawkins - Mrs. Ntembwe
Einar Perry Scott - Sostrum
Erle Bjornstad - Mrs. Sostrum
Jacques Roux - French Ambassador
Clebert Ford - Nigerian Ambassador
Eivind Harum - Swedish Ambassador
Obaka Adedunyo - Mr. Ntembwe
Corine Lorain - Suzanne Marigny
Jean-Pierre Stewart - Rene Marigny, 1st Assistant French Ambassador
Thomas Rosales Jr. - Ripper
John Shamsul Alam - Ripper
José Santana - Ripper
Patrick Fox - Reporter
John Cianfrone - Mugger (Central Park)
Tim Marquart - Mugger (Central Park)
Tony Maffatone - Mugger (Central Park)
Tom Degidon - Immigration Officer
Rita Tellone - Brunette
Al Cerullo - Helicopter Pilot
Karl A. Wickman - Helicopter Pilot
Cliff Cudney - A.T.A.C. Man
Joe Dabenigno - A.T.A.C. Man
Steve Daskawisz - A.T.A.C. Man
John Devaney - A.T.A.C. Man
Paul Farentino - A.T.A.C. Man
Edward Fox - A.T.A.C. Man
Randy Francklan - A.T.A.C. Man
Roger Caine - A.T.A.C. Man
Richard Noyce - A.T.A.C. Man
Dar Robinson - A.T.A.C. Man
Judee Wales - A.T.A.C. Man
Luke Walter - A.T.A.C. Man
Zoya Leporska - Subway Hostage
Brian Osborne - Orchard
Robert Pugh - Kenna, murdered by Wulfgar
Catherine Mary Stewart - Sales Girl at Harding & Hobbs department store
Frederick Treves - Chief Police Inspector
Susan Vanner - Girl at Party
Jim Beaver - Subway Passenger
Jamie Gillis - Designer

Plot
Even in 1981 terrorism had been an unwanted fact of life in Europe on some scale. Upper-class idealists with Marxist-Leninist tendencies found themselves as members of an "army" which is "fighting" a war "on behalf of" those who are "less fortunate" or "downtrodden." However, along with these idealists are cold-blooded killers who use the aegis of terrorism as an excuse to get rich and kill. One such killer is Reinhardt Heymar Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer), also known as Eric among his fellow terrorists.

European law enforcement agencies had already been dealing with the terrorist threat for years. Nighthawks begins with Wulfgar and his brood committing a terrorist act, partying that night, and preparing for the next terrorist act. Wulfgar sees the need to keep a low profile, so he decides to undergo cosmetic/plastic surgery to change his looks. One person who finds ways to keep tabs on Wulfgar is Peter Hartman (Nigel Davenport) from the United Kingdom.

Hartman goes to the United States to train a select group of police officers to participate in a counter-terrorism task force. These police officers are taken from several jurisdictions nationwide. Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Detective Sergeant Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are two police officers taken from the NYPD shortly after they apprehend a group of muggers wreaking havoc in Central Park. DaSilva and Hartman clash throughout the training because both approach terrorism from different perspectives-- DaSilva still thinks like a regular cop on the beat while Hartman plays for keeps and takes no prisoners in his war against terrorists.

Time passes after DaSilva and Fox receive their counter-terrorism training (mainly classroom instruction and psychoanalysis with a bit of simulation). DaSilva and Fox find themselves in a discotheque relaxing when DaSilva notices someone who looks very familiar. DaSilva realizes he is seeing a surgically-altered Wulfgar. When DaSilva notices that Wulgar sees he is recognized he chases Wulfgar out of the disco, through the streets of New York, and into the subway system. Wulfgar shows DaSilva how a terrorist operates first-hand, and DaSilva re-evaluates his training as a police officer. From here DaSilva makes it his mission to eliminate Wulfgar.

Wulfgar has contacts in New York, and later in Nighthawks he plans on taking United Nations ambassadors hostage in the name of the terrorist group he represents. When Wulfgar sees that DaSilva is one of the people after him he decides to make this a personal battle between himself and DaSilva. Wulfgar already has control of the tramway connecting Manhattan Island with Roosevelt Island on the East River. Fox is incapacitated, so DaSilva and Wulfgar are locked in a war of wills as well as a battle of wits.

Setting
The first portion of Nighthawks takes place in Europe, mainly London and West Germany. Nighthawks shifts to New York City and the United Nations. European locations seem tranquil until Wulfgar strikes, and then the scenes become chaotic. New York is busy all the time with all sorts of things happening, so not many people notice DaSilva and Wulfgar running through the streets. The scenes were filmed on location-- subway stations appear dirty and grimy, and subway trains were covered with graffiti characteristic of the time.

Performance
Sylvester Stallone is perfect as the gritty police detective with a an aggressive attitude. DaSilva is not Rocky Balboa as a cop-- DaSilva is a dedicated cop weary of the daily grind of fighting crime, then he is renewed with purpose as a member of the counter-terrorist team. Billy Dee Williams is good as Detective Sergeant Matthew Fox, the smooth yet low-profile partner. Nigel Davenport makes Peter Hartman seem hard and cold, but the humanity he has inside comes through in his portrayal of the terrorism expert from London. Rutger Hauer plays Wulfgar perfectly-- the cold-blooded and calculating killer who uses terrorism to further his ends while he says he fights on behalf of the oppressed masses worldwide. Wulfgar in Nighthawks is Rutger Hauer's first role in a movie made for American audiences. Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer together bring high energy to their scenes.

Characterization
DaSilva had become jaded from his daily work finding and apprehending criminals such as muggers and thieves, but he was still of of the better detectives in the NYPD. Fox makes sure that DaSilva gets a grip on himself so that he doesn't stay in a negative frame of mind. Peter Hartman devoted the rest of his life to combatting terrorism in all its forms, and Wulfgar hit home when he struck in London. Wulfgar is a mastermind among terrorists, but in the end he is guided buy currency (dollars, pounds, marks, francs, etc.)

Believability
Of all the law enforcement roles Sylvester Stallone played over the years, Deke DaSilva in Nighthawks is the most realistic. Nighthawks itself is one of the more realistic police movies made over the last 25 years. The movie is not all action-- there are scenes which show each main character in daily life situations. Even the demanding vocation of law enforcement and the dangerous business of counter-terrorism have their moments of sheer tedium as shown by how DaSilva, Fox, and Hartman handle the classroom instruction to become familiar with counter-terrorist philosophies.

Special Effects
Compared to other action movies even of the time, Nighthawks is a low-to-medium budget movie with mainly low-tech special effects. The explosions look believable, but they do not detract dominate scenes as they do in movies like Rambo III from (1988) or Demolition Man from (1992). Nighthawks uses what has to be used and nothing more. While there are some special effects-intensive scenes, Nighthawks itself is a character-driven movie.
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The American hostage crisis in Iran was already a fading memory when Nighthawks was released in 1981, and movies like Serpico and The French Connection still set the tone for many crime dramas-- action movies didn't become major events until the middle 1980s. Since the special effects budgets for movies of the time were not that large, the movies needed to keep the audience gripped on the events taking place among the main characters. Chase scenes were (and remain today) important elements of movies featuring the struggle between good and evil.

Nighthawks was made within that context, and even though it was not a box office hit it still proved to be a high-quality drama (action movie, police movie). Since Nighthawks had a modest budget, every scene was made to be close to reality (unlike the big-budget shoot-'em-ups of the 1990s and late 1980s). As a result, Nighthawks has a grit not found in later movies, and Nighthawks is not concerned with action-- the action takes care of itself as long as the characters interact as expected.

Times are different today, and recent events have changed how many people view movies. Unlike Rambo III, a movie which was rendered historically irrelevant after a couple of years, Nighthawks still has meaning because it deals with a battle which will be waged on many levels by small groups of people worldwide. Nighthawks doesn't pretend to be an action spectacle such as any of the Die Hard movies; instead, Nighthawks shows everything in a matter-of-fact manner and lets the audience itself decide how well the movie communicates its themes. Nighthawks may not be one of Sylvester Stallone's better known movies, but it is one of his better movies.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older