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Nighthawks (1981)

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Nighthawks, US lobby card #5 (Spanish Market). 1981

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Movie Review | Hard to Kill (Malmuth, 1990)

This opens on the night of the 1983 Oscars, for which Steven Seagal is unusually excited, perhaps to fool you into thinking that he’s a better actor than he is. Gee, all these actors winning Oscars… You know who else might win an Oscar someday? Anyway, the clerk at the convenience store does not share his enthusiasm.

“I mean, who needs the goddamn movies anyway? I got a show in here every single night.”

“Yeah?”

“You've got horror, sex, freaks, violence. I don't got to pay no four bucks either.”

Seagal’s movies at the time distinguished themselves from his contemporaries with their more pronounced left wing politics. This one has a political corruption plot featuring a senator played by William Sadler inspired by George H. W. Bush. Why this character would use his catch phrase in his illegal dealings with the mob I do not know, but it does lead to this immortal line spoken by Seagal alone while watching TV. “I'm gonna take you to the bank, Senator Trent. To the blood bank!”

This is wrapped around Seagal’s aura of bullshit a bit more than some of his other early efforts. Specifically, this has him Asian coded, with his upbringing in the Far East and his recovery through Chinese herbs and acupuncture, which we see in action in a memorable montage, as well as an action scene in LA’s Chinatown. You also get some of Seagal’s personal philosophy. “We're outgunned, and undermanned. But you know something? We're gonna win. You know why? Superior attitude. Superior state of mind.” And of course there is his distinct sense of style, although one should note that his baggy fits offer some advantages in his fight scenes.

Like pretty much all of his movies, Seagal refuses to be humbled in the action scenes, and this emphasizes that dynamic by having him performatively give up any obvious advantage when facing off against his opponents, before proceeding to open a can of whoopass on them. This also has him using psychological warfare in the climax, through a number of threatening notes scrawled in lipstick.

Anyway, Seagal is no more graceful in his movements or his line readings than he is elsewhere, but this puts him in a junky enough package with enough bloodthirsty violence that you should have a good time.

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