Nighthawks ~ Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer)

Taken from a 1984 movie compilation which devoted a segment to the main villain of Sly Stallone thriller Nighthawks. Donald Pleasance narrated this part.

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Entertainment

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• Nighthawks
• Rutger
• Hauer

[TheKenfig]

@Banner1979 Yes, good points you made there esp about him being naive and maybe a bit scared of him. Wulf doesn't care about innocents as Sly does as well and mabe wouldn't want to risk harming them. Don't get me wrong either, I am a fan of Nighthawks as you know. I think it has a similar look and feel as a movie from the same year, An American Werewolf In London even though the subject matters are quite different

[Banner1979]

@TheKenfig I was thinking about that recently too.I suppose that was done like that to make it a suspenseful face-off moment where the good guy and the bad guy stare at each other for a long time.  I also think it reflected DaSilva's naive nature. After all, he was vociferous against Interpol man Hartman's policy of shoot to kill because of the danger this would have on hostages and he must also have been scared of Wulf enough not to close in on him.That could be why he stood there and stared

[TheKenfig]

@Banner1979 The only other bit I thought was a bit daft in the story was when they were in the disco and could easily have sneaked up and busted Wulf but Sly and his men stood for what seemed like ages no too far away when he didn't know they were there, staring at him until he noticed them and they went all together really slowly in a group once he had noticed them. They could have taken him if they had rushed him without waiting for him to notice them just glaring at him

[Banner1979]

@TheKenfig No actually. There is a scene earlier on in the film where Sly and Lindsay are almost the same height with Lindsay being only an inch or two shorter. There were apparently more scenes filmed between them for the movie but the studio left them out along with more Wulfgar scenes. Yep, at the end of the day it is a movie and so we must assume Sly waited for him. Also when the bus went in the water, they should have looked harder for Wulf's body instead of leaving it like that.

[TheKenfig]

@Banner1979 Yeah and a lot taller I'm guessing !. Yes, well it's asking us for the sake of the story to believe that although he didnt know if he would arrive in another 2, 3 or more hours, that he DID just arrive conveniently after Sly dressed & took position, so I'll suspend my disbelief and assume that's what happened, Lol

[Banner1979]

@TheKenfig That's true. I get what you're saying because Sly Stallone is a bulky guy whereas Lindsay Wagner was thinner, yet I noticed in this film that Stallone was considerably slimmer than he was in the first 2 Rocky movies where he was pretty huge. In Nighthawks, his face seemed trimmer as well. I don't know, maybe before Lindsay came through the door, Sly was putting on the wig and the dressing gown before telling her to go upstairs. Would love to see the original script for this.

[TheKenfig]

@Banner1979 But I dont think that hunch he had expecting his wife to be killed was far fetched, just the thought of how long he might have to wait in virtually one position with his back to the front door in that kitchen and also his physical size fooling Wulfgar and his wife's dressing gown would not fit him

[Banner1979]

@TheKenfig After he shoots him first time, you then see another bullet hole (that other burst red squib on his other shoulder) and then when Wulf is just in front of the door, you can see more traces of blood before he lifts his knife as one last hurrah for chivalry if you know what I mean. I get what you are saying. I get the impression Sly knew he and his wife would be top of the hit list so he rushed back to the house and maybe when she came back, he must have told her to stay upstairs.

[TheKenfig]

@Banner1979 yeah that shooting just doesnt look right.Two other things I thought of being daft was that Sly 'has' to for the effectiveness of the 'trick' loiter around in his girls 'kitchen' in his her outfit for an 'unknown' amount of time without really knowing how soon Wulfgar will appear that night, AND with his BACK to him at all times as he potters around the kitchen ; NOT an easy arrangement.Secondly, Sly is a big man and we're expected to buy that Wulf buys that too,and her clothes fit ?

[Banner1979]

@TheKenfig He was a sick creep who got what he deserved. When I first saw this scene in 1996 where he tries to kill DaSilva's wife Irene, I was appalled and shocked. I honestly thought he would kill her with DaSilva (Stallone) vowing vengeance thus possibly leading to a sequel but of course he had tricked him. Stallone said in an interview that the ending of Nighthawks had been trimmed, meaning that Wulfgar was shot 6 times. They should bring out a director's cut one day, they really should