Catch the Hawk!
Upcoming Spy Screenings: Hudson Hawk in Los Angeles

I saw Bruce Willis's notorious bomb Hudson Hawk in the theater on opening night when I was in middle school. I liked it. I liked it then, and I still like it now, but given its reputation, I certainly never thought I'd ever see it in a theater again. But it turns out I can, and so can anyone else in the LA area on Thursday, July 14, when it will play at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. At a 20th Anniversary screening, no less! (I can't believe it's been twenty years... but I guess it does seem a long time ago that I remember my friend Jim eloquently explaining the movie to our French teacher the following Monday with a summary so succinct they should use it in the TV guide: "It's the guy from Die Hard, but he's going bald.") Director Michael Lehman and writer Daniel Waters will be on hand for a discussion following the screening. Sadly, there's no mention of Willis in attendance, who co-concocted the story about a cat burglar caught between the mob and the CIA as he goes after incredible inventions of Leonardo DaVinci in a comically unhinged tale of espionage and alchemy. Derek Flint himself, the great James Coburn, out-grins and out-swaggers even Willis as the Panama hat-wearing leader of a team of CIA agents code-named after candy bars. There's even a very direct Flint reference more than half a decade before Austin Powers. Really, what's not to love?  Showtime is 7:30, and tickets are available through Fandango or at the theater box office. As usual with American Cinematheque events, I recommend the box office, because I can never make Fandango work for their movies; it's always saying shows are sold out when they're not.