Les Faucons de la nuit

This is a very good slick action thriller. Well written, well acted and very realistic to boot. It has nary a dull moment and Rutger Hauers' Wulfgar makes you shiver with fear. The international flavor of the film adds a nice quality to it and Nigel Daveports character(terrorist expert)is a treat. The pace is fantastic and even though it is an action film, we get to find out enough about the characters in it that we care about them as people. The conflict that Stallone has with his wife as well as being torn as to how to deal with a terrorist who does subscribe to the same set of rules as the ordinary New York street scum he is used to dealing with is genuinely affecting. The chase scene in the subway is thrilling, well shot and engrossing. This film, as far as I am concerned also benefits immeasurably from its New York location. It really could not have been shot anywhere else in the US except maybe Chicago. I am a native New Yorker so I am obviously partial to New York, but after you see enough movies, you arrive at the conclusion that New York is the best place to shoot a film, generally speaking and depending on what kind of film is being made. Thinking about this movie being shot in L.A. for example makes me cringe.

This film stays faithful to itself, and it's premise. It aims to be good entertainment and not much else, and succeeds commendably. Besides a bit too much stress on how great Stallone's character is at the beginning of the film the film flows rather nicely. There is a terrorist, who is a very bad man, which will do anything just to prove himself to everyone else. And there is a cop who likes to do his job clean. But with terrorism it doesn't always work that way, and that is the films meaningful angle. Although it seems like the director realized that entertainment was number one, and nothing should get in its way, therefore the film never stops to ponder too much over the police/baddie similarities, and usually after brief atmospheric tense character scenes it goes back to the action.

The action takes most of the film up, although it's not overdone too much, sometimes you do wonder if they could have run around for a bit less time. The script is the only thing that lets this down, with some of the events being a bit dubious. You do get the feeling from time to time that the scriptwriter wasn't quite sure how to chain some events so they seem a bit forced. But other ideas are kind of cute to make up for it.

Although it is full of cliches, this is not really a downside to the film, which seems to be shouting out that cliches aren't that bad. And being from the early eighties you could always argue that it was actually laying the ground for cliches to become such.

Acting is good, even from Sly, this really is the role he was born to play. He is the Rocky of the NY street undercover police. Hauer rocks in no small way, and Nigel Davenport shouts like no one (you'll see what I mean).

Watch and enjoy. That's all folks.

...Something that I've heard again and again throughout the eighties and nineties. It's only Stallone 's and Hauer's best performances in any movie that I've seen them in. I read a positive comment (which encouraged me to write this) about this film. I was 9 years old when this movie came out: tried to sneak into it when it played in the theaters (failed), saw it a year later on cable, and I LOVED IT! I resembled a little Rutger Hauer and lived in Los Angeles at the time, so I found myself almost relating to this film. But I was so impressed that it wasn't like all of the other dreck that came out that year, too.Now international terrorism is simply a satire in today's films until 9/11. However, I think that "Die Hard" changed the industry forever in a bad way. To them more is better- to me, more is more. This movie does not glamorize violence (like the before mentioned) and shows how serious it is when it hits home. This movie did not play very long in theaters (in 1981), and hardly anyone can recollect it. It was made on a modest budget, and so many films have surpassed it since, it is now been archived.

I wish Stallone returned to this kind of role: he's so enamoured with John Rambo, Rocky Balboa, every other action-hero-cardboard role that he lost credibility. Hauer went down a separate but equal path in demonstrating his difficulties with other directors, he's a strait-to-video icon.

To this day, I still remember the lines "...I do not enjoy killing-- but it's my job!" and "...now this is for the press...Now you may drop the child, but don't drop this..."

Why can't people watch this instead of Steven Segal movies? I guess Serpico's out, Marky-Mark's in...

Exciting picture with plenty of action about two-fisted police detectives hunting a brutal , ruthless terrorist . The meaning and relevance of the title is that 'Nighthawks' refer to the men and women street cops of the New York City Crime Unit who patrol the city at night-time . Intriguing story of two N.Y.C. (Sylvester Stallone sports a beard throughout the whole of this picture and African-American Billy Dee Williams) street cops reassigned to chase Wulfgar (Dutchman Rutger Hauer's first American feature film) , an international terrorist holds the City of New York hostage, but Deke DaSilva (Stallone did all his stunts on this movie) , the most dangerous cop known to man, can take him down . But DaSilva's "at-home" tactics are very much put to the challenge , as he is assigned to special unit led by the British Peter Hartman (Nigel Davenport) that's tracking a psychopath as well as wily killer .

The film is combined of unstopped action ,shootouts , violence , fighting , adequate characterization and breathtakingly suspenseful denouement .It's a run-of-the-mill action movie because from start with its explosive first scene to finish the action packed is continued ,in fact ,the final confrontation is impressive and extremely violent , including plot twists . Prior to it's theatrical release, Nighthawks was severely cut for violence by both Universal studio and MPAA. Amongst the scenes that were cut are disco shootout which originally had Wufgar shooting and killing more people, and Wufgar's death scene in the ending which was almost completely cut out . Amongst the scenes which were deleted from original cut of the movie are almost all scenes between Sylvester Stallone and Lindsey Wagner, Rutger Hauer and Persis Khambatta, more scenes explaining the plot better, and many other scenes because Universal wanted fast paced action movie . They also cut most of the graphic and gory scenes due to the concern that movie will get X rating . In preparation for their roles as New York street cops, actors Billy Dee Williams and Sylvester Stallone spent a number of weeks working at night with the New York Street Crime Unit . Nice acting by Sylvester Stallone as conservative street cop DaSilva reluctantly agrees to terminate an international terrorist who has demanded media attention , but is Rutger Hauer who steals the show as a cruel terrorist . The film is from Sylvester's first period after his secondary interpretations in Mandingo , Bananas , Farewell my lovely , Capone, Death race 2000 , and during his successful Rocky I , II , Paradise alley and Fist acting.

This supercharged action motion picture was well directed by Bruce Malmuth , including hair-raising moments along the way . When the original director, Gary Nelson, left the project, Bruce Malmuth took over production. When he couldn't make it on his first day to shoot the train chase, Sylvester Stallone directed the chase himself to not miss a day of shooting. Malmuth made his film directorial debut with Sylvester Stallone in this classic thriller Nighthawks (1981), followed by Mary Higgins Clark's best seller, Where Are the Children? (1986) with Jill Clayburgh, and the popular action film dealing with political corruption, Hard to kill (1990) with Steven Seagal and Pentathlon (1994) with Dolph Lundgren, as well a number of other feature films and documentaries until his early death.

Long before terrorism was on the minds of most Americans, NIGHTHAWKS tackled the thorny topic. Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams are decoy cops -- that is, they venture into rough neighborhoods to bait muggers and other forms of scum -- assigned to track down the cold and calculating Rutger Hauer. It seems the devious mastermind has landed in the media capital of the world, New York City, to try and regain his place among the terrorist elite.

Although it's a fairly decent action/suspense effort, NIGHTHAWKS is difficult to recommend unconditionally. The performances are certainly solid; in fact, it's hard to remember Stallone, here sporting a thin beard, being so effective outside of boxing trunks. The action is crisp and exhilarating, with one pursuit through subterranean New York deserving of a place in the Chase Hall of Fame. The story is original and much of the plot intriguing. And Hauer, in his American film debut, is a suitably hateful villain, with his motives all to familiar to contemporary audiences.

Yet NIGHTHAWKS is not quite as good as the sum of its parts. Even though the film starts out with a bang -- literally -- there's somehow too much build-up and not enough execution. The movie has not aged particularly well, and despite its 1981 release date has the feel of a '70s period piece. And as good as Hauer is, his character is a little too incredible to believe as he pulls off massive acts of terror with little or no sponsorship; what should take a team of experts is accomplished by one man wanted by countless law enforcement agencies.

In the end, NIGHTHAWKS is a movie you're bound to like -- either a little bit or a lot. Considering the high ratio of garbage that has and will continue to spew out of Hollywood, I guess that's not such a bad thing.