Danny Aiello, Andie MacDowell, James Coburn, David Caruso, Lorraine Toussaint, Frank Stallone, Sandra Bernhard, and Richard E. Grant are also featured.

The plot combines material based on conspiracy theories, secret societies, and historic mysteries, as well as outlandish "clockpunk" technology à la Coburn's Our Man Flint films of the 1960s.

[4] A recurring plot device in the film has Hudson and his partner Tommy "Five-Tone" (Aiello) singing songs concurrently but separately, to time and synchronize their exploits.

Upon Hawk's release and his first day of parole, he and his former partner, Tommy "Five-Tone" Messina, seek out a good cup of cappuccino.

Hawk refuses each, despite mounting pressure and coercion, stating that his only natural desires are to remain out of prison and enjoy a good cup of cappuccino—though he is repeatedly interrupted before doing so.

Headquartered in the Esposizione Universale Roma, the company seeks to take over the world by building La Macchina dell'Oro, a machine invented by Leonardo da Vinci that converts lead into gold.

Sister Anna Baragli is an operative for a secret Vatican counter-espionage agency, working with the CIA to assist in Hawk's mission in Rome, intending to foil the robbery at St. Peter's.

Immediately afterward, Hawk meets CIA head George Kaplan and four codenamed agents (Snickers, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, and Butterfinger) who take him to the Mayflowers.

[5] Michael Lehmann, director of films such as Heathers (which had been written by Daniel Waters, who was hired to co-write the screenplay), envisioned Richard E. Grant and Sandra Bernhard as playing manic villains, with one basis of inspiration being Silver.

Grant, who spent four months on the production, wrote about his experiences making the films in his book With Nails, listing various stories such as Willis continuously watching his close-ups on the video replay monitors on takes to go with co-star Danny Aiello wanting re-writes for the climax.

The site's critics consensus: "Hudson Hawk's kitchen-sink approach to its blend of action and slapstick results in a surreal, baffling misfire.

[10] In the Chicago Tribune, Terry Clifford observed that: "The end result is being thrown up on selected screens this weekend, and the suspicion that this was a pooch turns out to be undeniably correct.

[13] Variety called the film "a relentlessly annoying clay duck that crash-lands in a sea of wretched excess and silliness.

"[15] James Brundage of AMC filmcritic said the film was "so implausible and so over the top that it lets inconsistency roll off like water on a duck's back.

"[17] Writing in The Washington Post, Joe Brown said: "To say this megamillion Bruce Willis vehicle doesn't fly is understatement in the extreme... Hudson Hawk offers a klutzy, charmless hero, and wallows dully in limp slapstick and lowest common denominator crudeness.

"[18] Chris Hicks wrote in the Salt Lake City Deseret News: "What is most amazing is the pervasive silliness that has the cast acting like fools without ever getting a laugh from the audience.

"[20] Jo Berry from Empire gave it three out of five stars, noting that it "reached UK screens with the added burden of having been slaughtered by US critics who likened it to famous big budget turkeys like Raise The Titanic and Ishtar.

In 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment released Hudson Hawk on Blu-ray for the first time; it was included in a set with Hollywood Homicide.

On his journey, Hawk must face many oddball adversaries, including dachshunds that try to throw him off the roof of the auction house, janitors, photographers, killer nuns and a tennis player (presumably Darwin Mayflower).