Product Description

WILLIS IS TOP CAT BURGLAR WHO WANTS TO GO STRAIGHT IN THIS ACTION-PACKED COMEDY ADEVENTURE.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24838 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 1999-03-30
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Bruce Willis's awful, 1991 vanity piece is an abuse of audience goodwill and a waste of a good cast and director (Michael Lehmann of Heathers). The story, cowritten by Willis, concerns a cat burglar pressured into stealing precious art, including some from the Vatican. But the script is just a convenience upon which Willis piles his vaguely boorish brand of hip irony, assuming his audience will stay with him every step of the way. Certain, self-congratulatory scenes induce cringing--Willis and Danny Aiello, for instance, sing "Side by Side" (to brassy accompaniment on the soundtrack) every time they're working a job--but the overall effect is more irritating and baffling. Keep a good thought for Willis (an underrated actor better than the summer junk we usually see him in) by checking out his superior work in Pulp Fiction and his small but memorable role in Billy Bathgate. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Classic film like no other!!!!
I remember really diggin the hell out of this at the theatre, despite the fact that it tanked and I was all of 12. What gets me is that- I understand why your average brainwashed zombified office drone wouldn't like this but the critics panned it too. Actually, that doesn't surprise me, given the heidi fleiss treatment they've lavished on the wretched 'Troy.' Anyway, Glad to see there's a little amazon cult of like-minded souls who appreciate the hilarious absurdity, one-off jokes, great performances, neat ideas and all around craziness this movie delivers.

Yeah, there are some plot problems and pacing is off-kilter, but heck, this film is so much fun from the first second til the end when Eddie finally gets his- no I won't ruin it... Give it a chance. I haven't perused the DVD but doubt it has much extra stuff. This isn't the kind of film the gets the redux.

If the thought of Danny Aiello, Bruce Willis, James Coburn, Sandra Bernhardt, Andie McDowell (no relation to Malcolm), a young David Caruso, and a handful of other dynamic character actors doesn't appeal to you then stop reading now. Moreover, if the thought of the world's greatest jewel thief stealing Da Vinci treasures, a Vatican spy agency, an over-the-top madman entrepreneur and his depraved wife aimed at destroying the world's economy, a corrupt CIA covert ops team called "The Candybars," doesn't pique your interest then go back to bed.

Some of the best one liners I've ever heard. They never get old. "I must speak with the dolphins now." "Just kill her- Darwin! This is supposed to be torture, not therapy." "Bettie Jo Baijarsky? I can get you an address on that." "Bunny?!? Ball Ball!!!"

If you like Bill Murray's everyman attitude in ghostbusters then this film's humor will appeal.

In summation- If you dug 'Ice Pirates,' "The Princess Bride," or any Terry Gilliam film you will probably dig this one.

ciao.

WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME!
Which is why many people never got it. They were probably expecting DIE HARD or a hard action film but this is delightfully lighthearted and funny in a silly kind of way. NO WAY is it meant to be taken seriously. Like a film where thieves time their robberies to songs is supposed to be real?

Eddie Hawkins (Willis) is the Hudson Hawk, the greatest catburglar who ever lived and he has been blackmailed by the CIA and an OTT camp villian couple called The Mayflowers (Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernhard). Against his will he is shipped off to Rome (literally) to steal some of DaVinci's greatest works. His friend Tommy (Danny Aiello) and an undercover nun (Andie MacDowell) assist him as he robs the Vatican and tries to shake off a bunch of MTV-generation CIA agents called the Candy Bars (Kit-Kat, Butterfinger, Snickers and Almond Joy). Much adventure and comedy follows.

It's got lots of silly humor and cool stunts and is richly bizzare too. Quite refreshing really. Don't watch this expecting anything else than deliberate silliness. It's a film I can watch when I'm in any mood as it is major fun.

The DVD is in pretty plain Dolby 2.0 surround and is anamorphically enhanced at 1.85:1

"Veja Du" - something you wish never did happen!
I recently met a couple of friends for dinner and somehow we all found ourselves discussing movies. Best movie of all times, worst movie of all times and so on and so forth. Then I said: "here's the most misunderstood movie of all times: Hudson Hawk". One of the other guys immediately replied with: "Yeah! You definitely misunderstood it if you still call it a movie" and then continued to mention that it was, in his opinion, one of the worst movies ever made.

Well, I think it is a great movie. It is one of the best action-adventure spoofs ever made, parodying and messing up virtually every convention ever established in this genre... or story telling in general. The relatively insignificant mess of a plot is only a place-holder for the incredibly witty script and slapstic comedy. If you look at it for what it is, there's really not a lot to dislike about Hudson Hawk. It's a very funny, superbly directed and very well acted piece of... well... nonsense.

The DVD contains a very nice, tounge in cheek, commentary track by director Michael Lehman who seems to have handled all the criticism and bad publicitly rather well. He definitely acknowledges the fact that this movie was a badly marketed and grossly misunderstood joke... yet "it was very successful in Europe" (what can I say, the Europeans obviously know better).

The bottom line is this: if you like action scenes, witty dialogs and cool special effects all wrapped up in a completely non-sensical plot, this movie is definitely for you!