Hudson Hawk [DVD]

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.

I couldnt find my DVD so I had to purchase the digital version. Quirky comedy, fantastically goofy.

Sit down with popcorn and enjoy

the actors looked like they were having fun. story is full of songs and cat burgler type stuff

Why do so many people seem to expect every movie that comes out to be some sort of artistic triumph? Cant they just enjoy a movie for what it was intended to be, i.e.: just plain fun? I seriously doubt the producers of this film ever had any intentions of it being an Oscar-winner in ANY catagory. They simply wanted to make a movie that people could sit back and relax, let go, and just laugh at. Okay, so the artsy-fartsy crowd doesnt like it. Thats fine, cause I dont like them, either. Pretentious, self-serving, hideously obscure, and mind-numbingly boring this movie is NOT, but that seems to be what the critics consider a good motion picture. Sorry, folks, but I enjoy being entertained, not educated all the time. Sometimes you just want to read a comic book, not a great classic novel. Sometimes you want to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons, not 60 Minutes. Sometimes you want to watch a movie for fun, not to be elevated. THAT is what Hudson Hawk is all about!

This is one of those movies. You either love it or hate it. I heard bad things about it and wasnt expecting much when I first saw it years ago. I bought the DVD years ago and just bought the Amazon stream for my iPad. I love this movie, not for everyone but it fits my sense of humor so 5 stars from me.

Blown away by the fast service, ordered it and received it the next day. Came in perfect shape, no flaws or scratches. So happy to be able to replace my VHS with a Blu Ray of a great movie.

Great cast and good, though fanciful dialogue. We’re going to miss Bruce Willis.

Just as fun a movie today as I remembered watching it as a child. The blu-ray is a bit grainy, as you would expect, but still good quality even on 4k TVs.

A hidden gem in his fantastic career.