Hudson Hawk (1991)

Finally released from jail, all that Eddie wants is a cappuccino. However, cup in hand, he doesn't get the chance to drink it as the mob have other plans. They black mail him into stealing a priceless da Vinci horse statue from an auction house. After stealing the statue he takes it to the mob, but there is a higher power at work. The statue is smashed by Alfred, a mysterious Englishman, and a strange object retrieved from the wreckage. Stranger still, the paper reports that a break in was attempted but the horse was not stolen.

Eddie attends the auction and sits next to a Anna, an authenticator from the Vatican. She approves the now fake statue and allows the auction to go ahead. The rich and powerful Mayflower's gatecrash the auction and things get steadily worse for Eddie as he is kidnapped by the CIA and taken to Rome to continue with the Mayflower's plan. Eddie again encounters Anna and they attempt to reveal the Mayflower's plan, with Eddie discovering a few interesting things about Anna on the way.

It is a pity that the effort could not have been made to re-master the soundtrack as it is only in Pro-logic - there's no hope for anything special in early DVD adopter land here. Also, the image quality is only just above average and gets on by with a low bit rate. Although devoid of the normal DVD extras we've come accustomed to, there is a welcome addition of a directors commentary.

Willis stumped up a lot of his own cash on this film and it was to cost him. It was a complete and utter flop at the cinema. Flushed with success from his previous films, Willis obviously thought he'd be on to a winner with this comedy. Perhaps the public weren't ready for a Willis comedy, but they lost out big time. The film is completely and utterly stolen by the totally over the top performances of Sandra Bernhard and Richard E Grant as the mad Mayflower husband and wife team. It is worth the price of the disc just to see them strut their stuff.