Nighthawks Makes Me a Winner!

I recently participated in a Facebook contest in which actress Catherine Mary Stewart gave away an autographed Blu-ray disc of Nighthawks (1981). I never win contests--so imagine my surprise when I was informed of my victory! The "collector's edition" of Nighthawks features lots of bonus material, including new interviews with Ms. Stewart and co-star Lindsay Wagner. But what about the movie?

Well, it starts off with Sylvester Stallone in drag. To be precise, he's dressed like a woman so he and fellow police detective Billy Dee Williams can nab a couple of street thugs. Meanwhile a terrorist-for-hire called Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer) is forced to flee Europe and relocate to New York City.

Stallone looking like Serpico.

Stallone's character, Deke DaSilva, is one of those tough cops that irritates his superiors. So, it's no surprise when he and his partner are reassigned to an anti-terrorist task force. Deke doesn't like sitting in a classroom learning about terrorists...he just wants to get out there and stop them. He gets his chance when Wulfgar starts blowing things up again. Pretty soon, it's a cat-and-mouse game between Deke and Wulfgar and the stakes are high for the denizens of NYC. (How high? In one scene, Deke recognizes Wulfgar in a crowded disco and inexplicably calls out his name--resulting in the deaths of several innocent bystanders.)

Rutger Hauer as the bad guy.

Plagued with production problems, it's almost impressive that Nighthawks is a reasonably entertaining movie. Much of the credit belongs to Rutger Hauer, who makes a strong impression in his U.S. film debut. Hauer is so good that I thought another actor was playing Wulfgar until the character had plastic surgery and transformed into a more recognizable Rutger Hauer. He also manages to make his villain charming in a creepy kind of way.

In contrast, Sylvester Stallone--decked out in Serpico-style facial hair--comes across as a one-dimensional hero. Some of his co-stars, to include Lindsay Wagner, insist that Stallone gave one of his best performances--but that his best dramatic scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

There may be some truth in that. Nighthawks was started by one director (who was fired) and finished by another. It was also heavily re-edited from 140 minutes to focus on the action elements and then trimmed to a crisp 109 minutes. The casualties include Wagner and Billy Dee Williams, who are introduced as major characters and then all but disappear. The music score by Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake & Palmer was also truncated.

Catherine Mary Stewart.

As for Catherine Mary Stewart, the 22-year-old actress appears as a sales clerk in a very brief scene with Hauer. In the interview on the Blu-ray, she reveals that her voice was dubbed, apparently because the producers didn't like her British accent. While Nighthawks may not have furthered her career, she kept auditioning for parts and became a favorite of sci fi movie fans two years later when she starred in Night of the Comet and The Last Starfighter.

Rocky: The Underdog That Won an Oscar

Sylvester Stallone in the original Rocky.

The Rocky saga continues on November 25th with the release of Creed. This latest installment in Sylvester Stallone's long-running series about a blue-collar boxer is a reboot. This time, Rocky Balboa takes a backseat in a story that focuses on Apollo Creed's son Adonis.

Creed is the first film in the series since Rocky Balboa in 2006. That year, I watched all six of the Rocky pics and was struck by the enduring popularity of the character. The credit belongs to Sylvester Stallone, whose talents as a filmmaker and actor have certainly been questioned. For every good movie he’s made (e.g., Cliffhanger), there are two or three humdrum ones (e.g., The Specialist, Judge Dredd, and Oscar). Heck, maybe the good-to-bad ratio is even higher. But Stallone’s poor career choices don’t negate the fact that the original Rocky is a remarkably entertaining and—yes—even inspirational tale of an underdog that beats all odds.

The deceptively simple plot has Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), a flamboyant heavyweight boxing champion whose popularity is waning, generating publicity by giving an unknown fighter a shot at the title. Stallone, who wrote a draft of the Rocky script in three days, derived his premise from the real-life boxing bout between heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and unknown challenger Chuck Wepner. Expected to suffer a quick defeat, Wepner went 15 rounds with Ali before losing in a technical knockout.

Adrian looked more glamorous in
later Rocky films.

In Stallone’s script, the champ Creed picks Rocky Balboa, a local Philadelphia fighter nicknamed The Italian Stallion. A has-been with a mediocre won-loss record, Rocky makes ends meet by collecting money for a loan shark. But from the moment that he accepts the challenge, Rocky’s life—and the lives of those around him—begins to change. He finds love with Adrian (Talia Shire, a wonderfully nuanced performance), the shy girl who works at the neighborhood pet store. He convinces Mickey (Burgess Meredith), the grizzled owner of a second-rate gym, that maybe they can both make something of their lives. He lifts the spirits of an entire neighborhood, as they watch him running through the streets daily as he trains for the big fight.

Rocky’s transition from “nobody” (how he defined himself) to “somebody” becomes complete at the climax of the now-famous training montage. It starts with an out-of-breath Rocky struggling to run up the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But by the time it’s complete, a jubilant Rocky races up the steps to the strains of Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” and, upon reaching the top, raises his arms in triumph. It’s certainly one of the most indelible images in 1970s cinema.

Still, despite the film’s strong performances (Stallone, Shire, Meredith, and Burt Young all received Oscar nominations), Rocky was considered a long shot for the Academy Award in 1976. Amazingly, despite stiff competition from the likes of Taxi Driver and Network, Rocky beat the odds and stunned everyone with its Oscar win—thus cementing its place in film history.


Meredith has one of the best scenes.

The rest of the story is a familiar one: Rocky propelled Stallone to superstar status and inspired five direct sequels. In Rocky II (1979), we get the Creed-Balboa rematch while Adrian gives birth to their son. Rocky III (1982), the best of the sequels, finds Rocky becoming complacent while a new ruthless challenger (Mr. T as Clubber Lang) fights his way into contention. Rocky IV (1985), the weakest series entry, pits Rocky against a Russian steroid-enhanced fighting machine. Rocky’s climatic speech, a ridiculous slice of glasnost, has to be heard to be believed. Still, the film was a bona fide hit whereas Rocky V (1990) tanked at the boxoffice.

Despite many flaws, the fifth installment at least tried for something different—it ends with a brawl in the street, not the ring. That brings us to Rocky Balboa, which was intended at the time to be the last film in the series. Perhaps, it tries too hard to tie up all the loose ends and provide a fitting bookend to the first Rocky. And yet, this quiet film manages to capture the grittiness and heart of the original. It’s a fitting tribute to a character that endured for over three decades and brought joy to millions of movie-goers.

It will be interesting to see whether Creed can reignite interest in Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed. I just hope that Stallone doesn't regret not ending his film series on a high note--as he did with Rocky Balboa.