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

Nighthawks (1981)

Sylvester Stallone plays a tough NYC detective soon after playing Rocky II so it was one of his first cop movies and one of the best. 

Stallone plays Deke DaSilva, a street crime decoy with his partner Billy Dee Williams. We see them go through a typical scenario with Stallone masquerading as a young woman and then along with Williams, busting the trio of street thugs that try to rob him/her.  Their success attracts attention and they are reassigned to a terrorism detail at Interpol combating Wulfgar, an international terrorist played by Rutger Hauer. 

The movie alternates between showing the cops and the bad guy’s side of the story.  The training takes place under the auspices of an Interpol terrorism expert played by familiar face Nigel Davenport.

A few conflicts are introduced to create tension.  For example, Stallone, despite being a decorated serviceman in Vietnam does not like to use his gun as a cop.  He is also divorced and keeps checking back with his ex, beautiful Lindsay Wagner.  The viewer knows that the idea of not liking to shoot will be tested before the film is over. The romantic subplot basically gets abandoned part way through as the action switches on.

Hauer, for his part, despite being the top dog terrorist has been cut off from his sponsors for excessive violence (I know, unbelievable) so he has to operate solo.  These conflicts are introduced but do not make a lot of difference in the big picture so I think they could have been cut and had a better movie.  The terrorism by Hauer is shown as various terroristic acts, but his set ups of the bigger capers just come off so it’s hard to get too much into his character because not too much method is shown.   For example, he kills a person or two who comes upon him and also kills a hostage in one scene to prove he is determined but the movie does not rely on lots of explosions and mayhem but small acts of violence and remains focused on the contrasts between the two main characters.

The movie is set in the seamy dark urban environs of NYC with a lot of junk and litter around similar to The French Connection or Blade Runner.

The movie has a slow development but eventually gets exciting as they begin to close in on the terrorist.  Stallone learns to think like the terrorist and anticipate his moves. I won’t give you the ending but he does prove to be the smarter man of the two and you’ll get a kick out of seeing what he does.

Rock fans will like the Keith Emerson (EL&P) score.

The Universal DVD is presented in color, in 1.85:1 theatrical format with a 99 minute running time.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV