SOHO Bites Podcast: Nighthawks
It is no secret that I have deliberately stayed clear of the “LGBT+” media when publicising my book. Even a year on from publishing ‘The Lost Boys of Soho’ I have declined invitations to talk with the media or those who have an HIV platform.
So it was right up my street when Dominic Delargy of SOHO Bites Podcast a show about Soho and the films set there, got in touch. With an invitation to talk about my book, in an upcoming podcast episode he was producing on the 1978 gay film ‘Nighthawks’.
Given the film was years in the making and finally released in 1978 and I not being born until 1982. I continually questioned if I was the right person to talk about a film that was based on gay life before I was even born. So I watched both Nighthawks and the 1991 follow up Nighthawks II: Strip Jack Naked four times and took various notes.
I met Dominic in the manicured churchyard of St. Anne’s, Soho accessed via Wardour Street on a slightly overcast March [2023] morning. He had set up two microphones on the communal bench at the back of the churchyard. In the background was the morning noise of the hustle and bustle of Soho with delivery trucks clanging and banging. And behind us on the bench under the tree was a homeless man sitting slumped with a few curious pigeons cruising at his feet.
Dominic referring to his notes shared which ‘Lost Boys’ he wanted to touch on. The penny then dropped and I realised I had got the wrong end of the stick, he wanted to cover my story and that of ‘The Lost Boys of Soho’ and not Nighthawks.
Laughing I said I was relieved although had endured each film four times and had “taken notes” as I waved them before slipping them back into my bag. I hadn’t talked about the book in months and was so focused on talking about Nighthawks that I was slightly unprepared and never one to talk about myself.
Dominic shared I was scheduled for a 12-minute segment and by the end he had 48 minutes of audio of me waffling. Often unintentionally answering a question with a series of other juicy stories before answering, if at all. I recall towards the end I stuck up three fingers at Dominic, in acknowledgement he’d already asked me this question 3 times. And that I had failed to answer without going off on a tangent so would now answer without any ‘extras’.
Anyhow, with every good podcast host comes a genius on the editing board and Dominic worked his magic for my segment. And here it is, the SOHO Bites Podcast episode on the 1978 gay film Nighthawks with me talking [waffling] about ‘The Lost Boys of Soho’. And if you have an interest in Soho [London] then do check out other episodes on the SOHO Bites Podcast & don’t forget to share, like and subscribe.
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My personal recommendation would be to watch the two films in reverse from the year of release. Watch Nighthawks II: Strip Jack Naked a documentary narrated by director Ron Peck who talks about his experiences of growing up as a gay man, the attitudes to homosexuality in Britain, and his journey towards making his film Nighthawks (1978). Then watch Nighthawks.
When a friend a few years younger than me asked what I was doing, he said “that’s an iconic film” when I shared I was watching Nighthawks for the upcoming Soho Bites podcast recording. Initially, I didn’t find Nighthawks “iconic” and had to crack open a window and make several coffees to prevent myself from falling asleep, and this was 1pm in the afternoon. The soundtrack repetitive in places irritated me to the point I wanted to chuck the laptop out of my window. And that eye scene made me furious I had to get up and pace the room until it was over.
What I did recognise was that ‘cruising’ in a club setting in the 1970s had not changed much by the time I hit the Soho gay scene in the late 1990s. My first experience of “cruising” at G-A-Y Astoria on Charing Cross Road was while taking a breather from the dancefloor. Unaware I had stood at the edge of the club floor with my back against the wall [known as ‘the mirrors’] naively thinking all these other guys were also catching their breath. Then to find myself in a state of aroused shock when a guy came up to me as I stood at ‘the mirrors’ and slowly slipped his hand down the back of my jeans while introducing himself. Which was normal given the setting as I came to quickly learn. Although I giggle now, as I can picture a whole generation who were not even born at the time of that encounter screaming “consent” as they read this.
When he moved on to another guy, the guy next to me asked “are you alright dear”? Sharing what had just happened he explained “this is where guys come to cruise” to which I asked, “what do you mean ‘cruise’”? This was a time when you respected and actively sought to learn from your peers. There were some guys that had colour-coded handkerchiefs in their back pockets but they were few and far between for me to learn what all the colours meant as approaching a guy for sex didn’t need to be so ‘coded’ anymore.
And while director Ron Peck and writer Paul Hallam were naturally protective of Nighthawks and the criticism they received. There is no escaping that the way the film was shot it appears amateur, as is the acting, often woody if not cringing at times. Occasionally I was lost with the names of the men Jim, played by Ken Robertson was hooking up with. Or didn’t see the relevance of some of the scenes, especially why or how the school children Jim was teaching learned of his sexuality to take issue with it. It seemed the scene was merely thrown in at the end as an afterthought.
But I guess the viewer not being introduced to some of the men Jim met was intentional as I often didn’t bother to enquire for a guy’s name the more calculated I became when cruising. Some of the scenes in the film were long and drawn out seemingly without purpose, something Janet Maslin highlighted in the New York Times in 1979 where she stated she found parts of the film “overlong and aimless” [Click for Full Review - Opens in New Window].
But Nighthawks seemed to receive a fair amount of positive feedback in 1979 with the odd tabloid citing the film’s representation of gay life as “glum”. I asked a few of my peers who shared they saw Nighthawks in the cinema if I was perhaps a generation [born 1982] that was overstimulated by technological advances and a faster pace of life to appreciate Nighthawks. It was confirmed the slow and often dreary nature of the film was a fair reflection of life in the 1970s. But my comments should not be taken negatively as the way in which Nighthawks presents itself, raw and unpolished adds to its cultural significance today. It is almost a fly-on-the-wall documentary where the untrained and trained actors, although woody at times are not too staged and slick making it more realistic. The slight haze of the screen takes me back to the days of VHS pre-high definition and adds to the atmosphere of the smoky pubs and clubs I remember before the UK smoking ban of 2007.
Given the film was released in 1978 the underlying emotion I had when watching was all the gay men who had consented to be unpaid ‘extras’ in many, if not all the club and dancefloor scenes. Were totally unaware of what was just around the corner, AIDS. The UK’s first AIDS-related death came 2 years after Nighthawk’s release with John Eaddie on 29 October 1981. Given the years [WHO states '“usually 10-15 years”] the HIV virus needs to attack the immune system to bring about AIDS or an AIDS-related death. Meaning it could have been possible some of the men in the footage, even if it was a quick glimpse, had already acquired HIV without knowing it even existed and would later lose their lives to AIDS. But for me, I believe it is culturally significant if not a bit of a ‘gay gem’ that a film based on gay sex/cruising was captured before HIV/AIDS ensuring the film didn’t portray gay men as victims nor overdramatised life on the gay scene.
NIGHTHAWKS: Westrope & Robertson
EYE SCENE: Jim played by Ken Robertson
MORNING AFTER: Jim & Peter
Brief Encounter: Jim & “American”
NIGHTHAWKS 1978
Having watched the 1991 follow-up film Nighthawks II: Strip Jack Naked, I then truly appreciated the film Nighthawks hence why I recommend watching the 1991 documentary film first. And while I was not even born during the making of Nighthawks and its release in 1978. It had so many similarities to the London/Soho gay scene that I had experienced in the late 1990s and early 00s. And later with technological advances with the internet, mobiles, and gay sex apps, Nighthawks serves to educate new generations about what life was like as a gay man in search of love, romance, or sex. Often having to live a double life in real fear of being subjected to ’gay/queer bashing’ or on the receiving end of ‘true’ homophobic discrimination. Where “faggot” and “queer” were and still are to generations, homophobic and offensive and should never have allegedly been ‘reclaimed’ by a minority when they are still offensive to a majority!
I also witnessed working in the ‘Lost Boys Pub’ in Soho how the ‘old boys’ complained they had seen a steady decline in hook-ups through in-person cruising as fresh meat “always have their heads in their phones”. Swiping, poking or sending nudes and presenting themselves with unrealistic filtered pics on apps like Grindr amongst others. At least one thing was a guarantee when cruising, you truly got what you saw and had a split second to either take it. or leave it.
Watch Nighthawks online - BFI Player
Watch Nighthawks 2: Strip Jack Naked online - BFI Player (I recommend watching Nighthawks 2, first).
Paul Hallam reads from one of his screenplays while the various sex shops and takeaways of Soho, London, provide the imagery. Filmed on a digital video camera and from a single viewpoint in a first-floor flat on the corner of Rupert/Brewer Street.
