In early 1990s Bruce Willis reached the status of Hollywood superstar thanks to his role in action classic Die Hard and its hit sequel. Although perceived as mainly an action star at that particular moment, Willis had previously established himself in lightly humorous television series Moonlighting and even dabbled in music. He also tried his hand in scriptwriting, but this effort resulted in Hudson Hawk, 1991 action comedy directed by Michael Lehmann which ended as one of the more notorious flops of 1990s Hollywood.
Willis stars in the film as Eddie “Hudson Hawk” Hawkins, world’s top cat burglar who made a professional mistake and had to spend a decade in Sing Sing prison. Plot begins when he is released and greeted by his old colleague and best friend Tony “Five-Tonne” Messina (played by Danny Aiello). Hawkins is determined to leave the world of crime behind him and go straight, but he and Messina are blackmailed by Mafia bosses Cesar (played by Frank Stallone) and Anthony Mario (played by Carmine Zozzora) into stealing priceless Leonardo Da Vinci’s sculpture from auction house in New York City. Hawkins and Five-Tonne steal it only to discover that it is all part of more elaborate international intrigue that involves team of CIA agents led by ruthless Roger Caplan (played by James Coburn) and flamboyant billionaire Darwin Mayflower (played by Richard E. Grant) and his wife Minerva (played by Sandra Bernhard). Hawkins must steal heavily guarded artefacts from Vatican and Louvre in order to get pieces of a machine Leonardo Da Vinci has built five centuries and which could transform lead into gold, allowing its owner to gain world domination. While in Rome, Hawkins meets Anna Baragli (played by Andie MacDowell), attractive art expert who is not what she claims to be.
Hudson Hawk, based on the story Willis co-wrote with his friend Jonathan Kraft, is one of those Hollywood projects that looked good on paper. Willis, fearing that he would be stuck in the world of action spectacle, wanted to bring back his career towards comedy. Michael Lehmann, who had made a hit with his subversive comedy Heathers few years earlier, seemed like a good choice for director. On the other hand, Hudson Hawk was produced by Joel Silver, legendary producer specialised in big action spectacle. Silver has pumped enormous amounts of money, making this film one of the most expensive Hollywood projects of its time. On the other hand, Silver didn’t pay much attention to the script written by Steven E. De Souza and Daniel Waters, which had been unfinished before start of production and was later constantly changed through Willis’ production during complicated and messy shoot. Although all participants later claimed that they had good time at the set, chaos reflected itself in what audience ultimately saw at the screen. Hudson Hawk was misunderstood by audience and ravaged by critics. It failed at US box office, and although it recouped its losses at international markets and home video, ultimately gained reputation of an embarrassing failure, cemented by Razzie.
Hudson Hawk has few bright spots, but its reputation is justified. The most promising aspects of the film, like with so many Hollywood fiascos, could be found in the beginning. Willis is good in establishing his character and the script even finds ingenious way to employ his singing talent, as well as singing talent of formidable character actor Danny Aiello. Hawkins and Five-Tone memorise the running times of various pop songs and hum those songs during their capers in order to synchronise their activities. This could have made Hudson Hawk into entertaining musical. Silver, however, opted for more generic comedy, which is undermined by script that simply lacks humour. Jokes are very weak or completely unfunny, while all the villains are played over the top. Willis, Lehmann and Silver probably had an idea to give some sort of homage to silly spy comedies of 1960s like Our Man Flint (starring James Coburn who here parodies his iconic character). In reality, this concept could have appealed mostly to nostalgic Boomers, while the younger audience would miss all the references. Silver tried to appeal to the latter with excessive violence and massive use of profanities among characters, but this only added problems with tonal shift in the film. Hudson Hawk in the end became and remained an embarrassing failure, which would later become even more embarrassing in comparison with Austin Powers films that had used some of its ideas more successfully.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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