Hudson Hawk

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.

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.

As the title of my review suggests, this movie got better with age. Don't believe me, check out the reviews. Check out the score timeline. The more time expires, the higher the ratings. That's because when this came out it was panned as a vanity piece - a work of Bruce's ego. But it really wasn't. It was a bunch of mostly A list actors at the time having fun with the script and in general, over acting every scene. When I first saw it, I laughed the entire movie and then the hate started. This was pre-internet so it was mostly movies reviews in magazines or TV like Siskel and Ebert. I began to wonder if there was something wrong with my humor. Was it me? What did I miss? Or was it simply some people just didn't get it. I think it was the latter and with the internet to quickly overrule the critics, this movie went down the tubes.

So it depends on how you approach it. If you look at it as a serious "Cat Burglar" or "Heist" movie, you're going to say, "WTF did I just watch?" If you watch with a big bowl of popcorn and want to se some actors having fun with a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, you'll like it. Bruce said him self in several interviews that Hudson Hawk was intended as a satire of the genre. He insisted the absurdity was supposed to be part of the charm. Meant to be a joke, but few at the time saw the funny side. If it had been made, just a few years later, maybe after Pulp Fiction, it could have been viewed differently. Don't panic - I am not comparing Pulp Fiction with Hudson Hawk. Where Pulp Fiction sewed comedy and drama perfectly, Hudson Hawk was ham-fisted and comically awkward. Both were ahead of their time with it's mixture of genres: the movie spoof and a violent action film common of the time. Audiences and critics weren't ready for Hudson Hawk's sometimes shaky deliver and thus, by and large generally misunderstood since it fit into neither category neatly.

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 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.