Hudson Hawk Was Released 30 Years Ago Today

Thirty years ago today, on May 24, 1991, Hudson Hawk hit theaters. The film stars Bruce Willis, Danny Aiello, Sandra Bernhard, Richard E. Grant, and Andie MacDowell, and centers on Eddie Hawkins, nicknamed the "Hudson Hawk." The world's greatest cat burglar, Hawk and his right-hand man Tommy "Five-Tone" perform their crimes while singing, using the duration of the song to help them time their activities down to the second. Immediately after getting out of prison, Hawk is pulled back into the world of high stakes crime against his will, where he ends up caught between the Vatican and a group of fanatics set on destroying the world economy.

Bernhard and Grant play Minerva and Darwin Mayflower, who hope to assemble a transmutaiton machine supposedly created by Leonardo da Vinci in order to flood the world markets with gold and completely devalue the global currency standards. MacDowell plays Sister Anna Baragli, a nun with a secret Vatican counter-espionage group that works in concert with the CIA, represented in the film a delightfully over-the-top James Coburn. His agents, all named for candy bars, include Snickers (Don Harvey), Kit Kat (a pre-CSI David Caruso), Almond Joy (Lorraine Toussaint), and Butterfinger (Andrew Bryniarski).

The movie was one of Willis's first projects following his departure from the TV series Moonlighting, which was responsible for making him a household name. Its director, Michael Lehmann, made the career-defining film Heathers just two years prior. Together in 1991, they teamed on a $60 million-budgeted heist movie, which ultimately grossed less than $100 million at the worldwide box office, $80 million of that overseas, and earned scathing reviews from critics and audiences alike. It would "win" three 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director (Lehmann), Screenplay and Picture with additional nominations for Actor (Willis), Supporting Actor (Grant) and Supporting Actress (Bernhard). Audiences gave the movie, which was really an absurdist comedy but was marketed as a straightforward action film following the success of Die Hard 2 the year prior.

Hudson Hawk would go on to become a cult classic on home video and has since found its audience, coming up frequently alongside movies like Josie and the Pussycats and Halloween III: Season of the Witch as underrated gems that would only connect with an audiences years after their initial release, when they were given an opportunity to find the audience they had been made for in the first place.

You can stream Hudson Hawk on Hulu or Starz.