हडसन हॉक

...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.

A movie that I've never understood the critics' response against. Yes, it's primarily a Bruce Willis ego-trip. Who cares? It's a _fun_ Bruce Willis ego-trip. He smirks, smartmouths, struts, sings, and strides through every scene. But he still doesn't manage to steal the thunder of Danny Aiello, James Coburn and his band of covert agents, and Sandra Bernhard and Richard Grant in a truly bizarre series of sequences as eccentric (to put it mildly) billionaires. Andie MacDowell doesn't make much of a romantic lead, but even she gets a goofball sequence when she starts speaking in Dolphin-ish.

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.

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.

This movie has no logic to it, it's as ridiculous as many Hong Kong action are and just as much fun! The audience I saw it with liked it a lot. This is not great art, but it is great B movie escapism at its finest. Richard E. Grant does a great job of chewing up the scenery as the over the top bad guy, I even liked the "Swingin' On A Star" duet between Bruce and Danny. Bruce Willis is also ultra cool as the wisecracking master thief, Hudson Hawk. And hey, how can you not love a movie with lines like, "Slurp my butt"? Anh? Ciao!