Sylvester Stallone’s First R-Rated Leading Role Was in This Urban Thriller That Kicked Off His Epic Action Hero Career
Sylvester Stallone will go down as one of the greatest action stars in Hollywood history. Yet, the legendary star’s path to escaping being a one-hit wonder with Rocky was not an easy one. Stallone was still a work in progress in 1981 when he traded the boxing gloves for an NYPD badge in Nighthawks.
Under the direction of Bruce Malmuth (Hard to Kill), the urban action-thriller with the vibe of The French Connection predated the events of 9/11 when the idea of a terrorist attack on a major American city seemed unlikely. It was Stallone’s first R-rated action picture as a leading man where his conservative New York City detective gets forced to put his institutional values aside to stop Rutger Hauer’s Aryan terrorist from bringing mass destruction to his streets. Though the actor plays his role restrained by the badge before the final act, Stallone’s performance in Nighthawks was the prototype for the kinds of action heroes he would define in the years to come.
Rutger Hauer Steals the Show From Sylvester Stallone in ‘Nighthawks’
Following a bomb attack in a London department store resulting in the death of some children, international terrorist Heymar “Wulfgar” Reinhardt (Hauer) gets exiled from his underground network. He undergoes plastic surgery, gets a forged passport, and travels stateside to continue his sinister activities in the Big Apple alongside his accomplice Shakka (Persis Kambatta). Little does he know that his long-time pursuer in Interpol, cop Hartman (Nigel Davenport), gets hip to his whereabouts.
In New York, decoy cops Deke DaSilva (Stallone) and partner Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are involuntarily recruited into the newly formed Anti-Terrorist Action Command (A.T.A.C.) led by Hartman to combat Wulfgar’s plot. DaSilva does not fully grasp the extent of the threat, conflicting with Hartman’s view that the police cannot simply bust the terrorist, but eliminate him. As the level of violence by Wulfgar’s hands increases, DaSilva must come to terms with his internal killer instinct, even if it means saving someone close to him.
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Upon release in 1981, Hauer came out as the breakthrough star in Nighthawks. Janet Maslin of The New York Times called Hauer’s charismatic performance “the driving force” instead of Stallone. Though Hauer’s Wulfgar engages in horrific acts of violence ranging from killing a live-in girlfriend to holding hostages on the Roosevelt Island tram, he gets to engage in the kind of gunplay and use of explosives that Stallone would adopt in his future action films. Hauer’s critical praise would be his stepping stone to his most memorable role the following year as Roy Batty in Blade Runner.
‘Nighthawks’ Paved the Way for Sylvester Stallone’s Action Star Future
Despite the competitive nature between him and Hauer on screen, Stallone’s subdued detective role complements the vicious nature of the villain, akin to the cat-and-mouse game between Batman and the Joker. Much like his next iconic role as John Rambo in First Blood, Stallone’s DaSilva is a Vietnam veteran with multiple registered kills on record. But unlike the PTSD-ridden war hero who loses control against law enforcement, DaSilva has more of a pacifist streak due to his exposure to the horrors of innocents being slain during the war. It explains him stopping Williams’ Fox from blasting a foul-mouthed drug dealer with a shotgun as well as his hesitation to shoot Wulfgar while holding a subway rider hostage. In essence, DaSilva and Wulfgar are two sides of the same coin, with one using violence to make a statement while the other is capable of violence but holds back.
Like First Blood, Nighthawks is a slow burn for Stallone’s character before he comes around to a dark place with the shocking conclusion when he can no longer treat the evil terrorist as just another perp. Unfortunately, the film was the subject of studio meddling during post-production, as explained in Stallone: A Rocky Life by Frank Sanello. Many of the scenes that gave DaSilva more depth, including his estranged relationship with his ex-wife (Lindsay Wagner), were left on the cutting room floor. Of Stallone’s past work, Nighthawks is allegedly going to become a miniseries starring Frank Grillo, with Stallone set to direct and appear.
Though Nighthawks spends more time for Stallone to play procedural before unleashing his mean streak, his first taste of the action genre scratched the surface of the kind of superstar he would evolve into. Unforgettable performances in the Rambo franchise as well as Cobra and The Specialist took what he tried to do with DaSilva and ushered in his new phase: playing the strong, silent hero with exotic weapons and plenty of muscle.
