Hudson Hawk

Hudson Hawk has the dubious distinction of being the final film produced by TriStar Pictures prior to their being bought out by the Sony Corporation and merged with Columbia Pictures.

Plot In A Paragraph: Hudson Hawk, the worlds greatest cat burglar, has just been released from prison in New York. He is immediately blackmailed in to stealing some of Da Vinci's finest work in order to aid a world domination plot.

Bruce Willis gives one of his worst performances as Eddie Hawkins/Hudson Hawk, likewise Danny Aiello is not up to his usual standard as Tommy Hawks best mate, Andie MacDowell is very blah as Anna, Hawks love interest. David Caruso and Frank Stallone are both fine in their supporting roles. However Sandra Bernhard and Richard E. Grant are simply awful. Cringeworthy bad. They ruin EVERY scene they are in.

The movie doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, a slapstick comedy or an action adventure, and sadly ends up being neither.

One thing I did like was a running joke in the movie that has Hudson and his partner Tommy (Aiello) singing songs concurrently but separately, to time and synchronize their exploits. Willis-Aiello duets of Bing Crosby's "Swinging on a Star" and Paul Anka's "Side by Side" are a bit of fun in an otherwise mixed bag.

Hudson Hawk has cult movie written all over it. Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello have a blast making robberies while singing show tunes. It put me in the spirit of the movie and I enjoyed myself. Everybody in the cast overacts but that didn't bother me at all. This is the kind of movie that after years pass will be considered a cult classic. Check out Hudson Hawk if you want to have a good time. Because like all the best films, you have to suspend your belief in reality to make it work and this movie is fantasy on a whole new level.

This movie was on my list of movies generated by actors as personal projects. That's because you really get to know these guys when you see what they really want to do. Bruce worked on this for a very long time.

If you check out Willis' acting stuff, it is a particular style, very much like Mel Gibson's. The idea is to focus on the character in a serious way, but always let the audience know that there is a carefree guy doing it. The formula is subtle and depends on the genuine take on life that the actor has.

If you allow for the incompetent editing and execrable score, this is a very clever movie. In particular, it is a very clever placement of a movie about other movies. It walks through the various motions of a real movie, with lots of references to remind you. But it is really a bunch of jokes that make the broadest fun of movies. The position and distance that this film has to real movies is precisely the same as Bruce's acting stance to the job he does in portraying the character.

Check it out. It's got some problems, but it tells you a lot about Bruce in whatever of his other films you like, and will likely enhance that film.

Is this a great movie? Not really. Will I absolutely stop and watch it if I happen to see it's on? Yes, I will. It's truly an oddball comedy, most definitely not every joke works, but its manic energy and silliness still manage to crack me up.

The real credit, for me, goes to the movie's two ridiculous scene-chewing villains, Minerva and Darwin Mayflower who pretty well have to be seen to be believed. If you looked up over the top in a dictionary I think you could possibly see a picture of them, and yet they're played with such conviction and flair that I love every scene they're in. For me, without them, the movie wouldn't be anywhere near as fun.

...no, don't take it seriously, as the movie doesn't take seriously itself. It's as funny as it's silly, and that's what makes it enjoyable. Characters are all dumb, the good guys are no saner than the cartoon-looking bad guys, the story is just the basement for a set of somehow childish jokes that, even being a grown up, I really enjoyed when I watched it a couple of decades ago. I decided to watch it again today, to find that it's still funny enough to have a nice time in the couch.