Hudson Hawk [DVD]

The movie actually starts off pretty well and I must confess to be slightly surprised with Willis’s comedic capability. Then the plot begins to mold into something completely ridiculous. I suppose if one doesn’t take the plot that seriously, they would enjoy it but it was too ridiculous for my liking.

I think the biggest problem with this movie is that people think theyre supposed to take it seriously. Ummmm, no. Its satirical comedy, not straight comedy. All the indignant people who pan this movie by saying its stupid are taking it way too seriously. Of course its stupid, its satire. (warning, some minor spoilers, but they dont matter much) I mean, the love interest is a nun, he mails himself to the Vatican, he spends the whole movie trying to get a cup of capuccino and his parole officer tries to get him to commit a crime. Think The Da Vinci Code meets Laurel and Hardy.

Family loved it

One of those classic chessy movies that I always watched on cable in the 90s. Saw it again today and its still a fun film. Blu ray wise, its very bare bones. No commentary, special features, digital code or regular dvd. Plus amazon is very arrogant about the fact that dvds are collectables, so expect the slipcover to be damaged. Transfer is likely from the dvd source just upscaled. No restoring. Still lots of grain and dirt but a definite improvement over a standard dvd. Something I dont mind because it matches the look of the period without looking overly cleaned up and digital. The sound is crystal clear though. Despite how bare bones it is its nice to finally own an hd version of a classic flick.

Just a funny feel good movie. Highly recommend it.

Great cheap no frills blu ray of an absurdist classic

Hudson Hawk is movie about Eddie Hawkins, famed cat-burglar the Hudson Hawk, who after serving 10 years in prison, finds himself blackmailed into stealing the works of Leonardo Da Vinci to recreate his gold transmuting machine. Sounds like a generic action movie, until you find that Eddie and his old and fattening partner Tommy are as unconventional as thieves can be. Singing songs to time their actions, using flair and creativity and mocking the use of gadgets, like a watch. Then we find that the blackmailers include inept mobsters, sardonic and insane CIA agents, and two Billionaires that are such over-the-top lunatics that the action and dialog begin to seem like a comic book. Despite, or because, all this the story holds together and still evokes a laugh. The last action sequence does come off as somewhat silly, and a second of censor editing left in for unknown reasons that chops a wity one-liner in half(half liner?) disrupts the movie slightly. But overall the movie is fun and enjoyable. And the last line of the movie made me go back and watch it again, to see the truth for myself. The REAL plot of the movie: Eddie is trying to get a cup of coffee.

Hudson Hawk had the misfortune of being released during the heyday of the Die Hard franchise. Many viewers went to the theatres expecting to see another Die Hard type movie. Hudson Hawk isnt of that mold, with more of a slapstick and prop comedy sort of bend to it. The use of singing songs to time their capers is a great device that provides for some great moments within the movie. Without spoiling anymore of the films contents let me just say that if you go into viewing this expecting something closer akin to Bruces appearance in Moonlighting than his gritty performances in the Die Hard franchise, youll be pleasantly surprised.

Another welcome edition to the retro VHS Mill Creek series - sturdy cardboard sleeve (itll fit nicely in your bluray library) that perfectly replicates a well worn VHS tape. Good sound and HD picture. Optional English subtitles. Great price, too. Years ago, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars signed on to play the lead role in an adventure that found him running all over Europe seeking various items hidden in the work of Leonardo da Vinci, all while trying not to be murdered by members of a diabolical secret society. That scenario didn’t work out quite as well for Bruce Willis, however, as it later would for Tom Hanks. Hudson Hawk was one of the most notorious flops of the ’90s, still a bad-movie punchline over two decades later. And Willis, frankly, shoulders a lot of the blame—not just because he helped think up the crazy story, but because this movie arguably caught him at peak smugness, lazily coasting on his wised-up smirk. This was the Return of Bruno, Planet Hollywood, Demi Moore era. He belts out a few tunes, one a duet with Danny Aiello (the pizza parlor proprietor in Do the Right Thing). Also on board: the late, great James Coburn and pre - NYPD Blue/ CSI David Caruso. Not to rest on laurels, Frank Stallone co-stars. Thats entertainment! Hudson Hawk (like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and Roadhouse) demands to be seen, if only because it goes places few studio star vehicles have ever dared. The screenplay is credited to Steven E. DeSouza, who penned the first two Die Hard films, and Daniel Waters, best known for writing the black comedy Heathers (directed, like Hudson Hawk, by Michael Lehmann). As that odd combination would suggest, it plays like the most extreme parody of an action movie imaginable, with every element cranked up to 11. Heist sequences are shot as goofy musical numbers. Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernhard (The King of Comedy), as the crazed villains, engage in a film-long contest to determine who can go further over the top, with. Andie MacDowell (Groundhog Day) impersonates a dolphin at length. It’s the kind of film viewers watch with mouth agape, unable to believe that hundreds of professionals spent months (and millions) working to make it. And taken in the right mood, a lot of it is genuinely pretty funny. Anyone can throw the hero out of an ambulance and have him barrel down the highway on a gurney, but it takes a cherishably warped sensibility to have him catch another driver’s discarded cigarette butt, take a puff, and then complain that it’s menthol.

Great movie. I loved it when it first came out. Thus I thought it might be good for a family movie. My son laughed the entire time.