Nightwing (1979) Columbia/Horror RT: 105 minutes Rated PG (violence, bloody images, language) Director: Arthur Hiller Screenplay: Martin Cruz Smith, Steve Shagan and Bud Shrake Music: Henry Mancini Cinematography: Charles Rosher Jr. Release date: June 22, 1979 (US) Cast: Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, Stephen Macht, Ben Piazza, Strother Martin, George Clutesi, Donald Hotton, Charles Hallahan, Alice Hirson, Judith Novgrod, Pat Corley, Peter Prouse. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Sometimes I like to imagine the conversation between the director and studio executives during the pitch meeting. I’d give anything within reason to be a fly on the wall for some of them. The following is an imagining of what went down when director Arthur Hiller pitched Nightwing to a fictional Columbia exec I’ll name “Sam”.
Sam: “So, what have you got, Arthur? Is it another comedy? You’ve got a good track record with those. I just know The In-Laws will be boffo at the box office.”
Arthur: “Actually, it’s a horror movie. It’s called Nightwing.”
Sam: “Nightwing, eh? Tell me more.”
Arthur: “It’s like Jaws, but with bats.”
Sam: “But haven’t there been enough Jaws knock-offs these last few years? Don’t you think audiences have had enough?”
Arthur: “This one’s different. The terror comes from the sky not the water.”
Sam: “Okay, fair enough. But what makes you think it’ll hit?”
Arthur: “Because it’s going to be great. Bats are scary. Plus, we’ve got an edge over the others.”
Sam: “Oh, what’s that?”
Arthur: “Remember how the author of Jaws Peter Benchley helped adapt his own novel for the big screen?”
Sam: “Yes.”
Arthur: “We’re doing the same with Martin Cruz Smith. He wrote the novel Nightwing.”
Sam: “Did people read it?”
Arthur: “Oh, I’m sure they did.”
Sam: “So based on that, you think we’ll have a blockbuster on our hands?”
Arthur: “Absolutely! I guarantee it.”
Sam: “But you’ve never done horror before.”
Arthur: “How hard could it be?”
Sam: “Okay, we’re in.”
This, of course, is pure speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it really did go down this way. In any event, why don’t we get down to business?
Nightwing is more than a mere Jaws rip-off. Hiller throws a lot of Native American spiritual mumbo-jumbo into the mix with the idea of Indians being the official protectors of Mother Nature and advocates for a simpler way of life. These ideas are represented by Abner Tasupi (Clutesi, Prophecy), the medicine man who raised the hero of the story after his parents died. He’s a crazy old man, this Abner. He prays to a malevolent god named “Yehwah”. When we first meet him, he’s casting a spell to bring about the end of the world. Why an apocalypse, you ask? Old Abner wants to save his people from the evils of the white man’s world, that’s why. I’m going to circle back to this.
The aforementioned hero of Nightwing is Deputy Youngman Duran (Mancuso, Under Siege 1 & 2), the keeper of law and order on the Masaki Indian reservation in the New Mexico desert. You say you never heard of the Masaki? There’s a reason for that. They DON’T exist. Cruz and his co-writers swapped it out with the Hopis for the purposes of the film. He’s investigating a series of mysterious animal mutilations that couldn’t possibly be the result of coyotes.
Whatever the cause, it’s got neighboring Pahana tribe council chairman Walker Chee (Macht, Galaxina) worried. It could negatively affect the deal he has going with oil tycoon Roger Piggott (Piazza, The Blues Brothers). It seems that oil shales have been discovered in Masaki Canyon, the tribe’s most sacred ground. Walker stands to make a lot of money from selling the mining rights. He doesn’t want anything getting in his way. BTW, these are the evils that had Abner praying for a cataclysmic event.
The violent attacks, which include a group of missionaries camping in the desert, turn out to be the work of vampire bats. A huge colony has taken up residence in a cave in…. you guessed it, Masaki Canyon. Walker brings in bat exterminator Phillip Payne (Warner, The Omen) to deal with the problem. This Phillip is a bit of a whack job himself. When Duran asks why he does what he does, he replies, “I kill them because they’re the quintessence of evil.” This conversation takes place when the two men team up to locate Duran’s girlfriend and reservation doctor Anne Dillon (Harrold, The Sender) somewhere in the desert. She’s the one who took the missionaries on the ill-fated camping trip. Now they’re all dead and she’s all alone in the blistering heat.
It all comes down to Duran and Phillip (along with Anne) taking on the vicious little sharp-toothed mammals. Thanks to the magic of datura root, a hallucinogenic used by Native Americans, comes to believe Abner’s spell worked. He has visions of Abner taunting him and warning him there’s no stopping what’s meant to happen. That may be true, but what about the ticket buyers who paid good money for a satisfactory conclusion? Team Duran has to at least try.
I didn’t see Nightwing when it first came out in summer ’79. It opened a week after the season’s other PG eco-horror movie Prophecy (didn’t see that one at the cinema either). I read Smith’s novel a couple of years later and liked it, but it didn’t take much to please 13YO Movie Guy who triumphantly found a way around the parental horror movie block. I read Prophecy, The Shining and the Omen books around the same time. I finally saw the movie on cable in ’85 and wasn’t impressed. I did something I rarely did; I stopped watching. I didn’t see the full movie until the late 90s. I still wasn’t impressed. I decided to give it a rewatch this past weekend as part of my Jaws knock-off project. I liked it this time. It’s hardly fine cinema, but it’s fun in a “no high expectations” way.
It turns out horror isn’t Arthur Hiller’s forte. Nightwing isn’t scary; it’s ridiculous. More accurately, it gets ridiculous after a slow start. It takes a little while for it to take flight. The greedy oil company subplot is standard-issue stuff. Everybody knows they’re only out to make money by decimating the environment. Honestly, Piazza doesn’t make enough of an impression to be an effective villain. He’s simply the token Greedy White Guy. Macht fares a little better as the Native American claiming to be acting in the best financial interests of his people. But is he really? It doesn’t really matter though because this plot thread is dropped once the good guys go to war with the flying pests. That’s when Hiller turns the spiritual BS up to 11.
The only performance of note in Nightwing comes from Warner who clearly looked to Donald Pleasence in Halloween for inspiration. He overacts nice as the batty bat expert who looks at vampire bats the same way Mr. Loomis looks at Michael Myers. It’s Clutesi, however, who gets off the battiest line when he says, “The winged animals are Yehwah’s messengers.” You have to love dialogue like that. That and the repeated explanation that bats drink a lot of blood and piss ammonia.
The special effects are about what you’d expect. The rubber bats don’t look too bad. Oh, they’re fake alright, but the FX does try to make them look real. The attack scene at the desert campsite looks cool with the victims trying to fight off the flying baddies. The climax in the cave is just kooky with Duran taking his time (A LOT of time!) completing an Indian ritual before getting his comrades to safety outside the cave.
Nightwing is extremely silly. It bombed with critics and audiences alike. Me, I kind of like it. It’s the kind of stupid summer horror movie I wish I had been able to see with an audience. It’s enjoyable as long as you set your expectations on the lowest temperature.
