{"id":43064,"date":"2026-10-26T07:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=43064"},"modified":"2026-10-23T16:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:05:10","slug":"43064","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/?p=43064","title":{"rendered":"“Nighthawks” (1981) starring Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams & Rutgar Hauer \/ Z-View"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nighthawks <\/i>(1981)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director: Bruce Malmuth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Screenplay: \u00a0David Shaber; <\/strong>story by David Shaber, Paul Sylbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stars:\u00a0 Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta, Nigel Davenport, Joe Spinell, Tony Munafo, Catherine Mary Stewart <\/strong>and Rutger Hauer<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tagline: One man can bring the world to its knees and only one man can stop him.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Plot…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Terrorist attacks across Europe are on the rise.\u00a0 In response, the United States created the Anti-Terrorist Action Command (ATAC).\u00a0 Under the direction of British Police Inspector Peter Hartman, the ATAC squad is made up of the best of the best.\u00a0 Detectives Deke DaSilva and Matthew Fox of the Street Crimes Unit are transferred to ATAC.<\/p>\n

When Wulfgar, an international terrorist, claims responsibility for a New York bombing, the ATAC squad knows they must find and end Wulfgar by whatever means necessary.<\/p>\n

Soon DaSilva and Fox will get the chance.<\/p>\n

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Shaber’s original script was meant to become French Connection 3<\/em>.\u00a0 Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) would be teamed with a wisecracking partner.\u00a0 Hackman didn’t want to return, so 20th Century Fox sold the script to Universal where it was reworked into Nighthawks<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nighthawks<\/em> features the American debut of Rutgar Hauer.\u00a0 Hauer was offered a role in the big budget film Sphinx\u00a0<\/em>at the same time as Nighthawks<\/em>.\u00a0 His salary for Sphinx<\/em> would have been much more, but he opted to co-star in Nighthawks<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The original director, Gary Nelson (best known as the director of Freaky Friday<\/em> and The Black Hole<\/em>) was the original director.\u00a0 Nelson was fired after a week of filming.\u00a0 Bruce Malmuth was Nelson’s replacement.\u00a0 Since Malmuth couldn’t make the next scheduled day of shooting, Stallone directed the subway chase scene.<\/p>\n

Legendary stuntman Dar Robinson was the stunt coordinator on Nighthawks<\/em>.\u00a0 Sylvester Stallone did most of his own stunts including hanging from the Roosevelt Island Tramway 250 feet over the East River.<\/p>\n

At the time of Nighthawks<\/em>‘ release many people believed that a terrorist attack on American soil was unrealistic.\u00a0 Then came the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing and 2001 World Trade Center attack (to name a few).<\/p>\n

Nighthawks<\/em> original cut was much longer (reportedly 2 1\/2 hours vs the 99 minute theaterical version) and more violent.\u00a0 Scenes with\u00a0Lindsay Wagner, Rutger Hauer and Persis Khambatta were removed to streamline the film.\u00a0 To reduce violence, an extended shootout in the disco was cut and the final standoff between Stallone and Hauer was cut.\u00a0 I would love to see Stallone get a chance to create a new cut of Nighthawks<\/em> (like he did for Rocky IV<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Some Nighthawks<\/em> lobby cards\/promotional photos show scenes deleted from the film. These include (Think what Stallone could do with these!):<\/p>\n