It's late at night, and the characters are eating in a diner. That just happens to be on a street corner of a city. That looks EXACTLY like that one painting...
The scene has been composed as a specific reference to a 1942 painting by Edward Hopper, Nighthawks,
depicting a small group of people in a diner at night and illustrating their loneliness and despair. So famous is this exact setup that most people throughout the industrialized world will immediately recognize it, whether or not they know the name of the original painting.
Is a subtrope of Art Imitates Art.
Compare "Last Supper" Steal, Pietà Plagiarism and "The Scream" Parody. Common in Film Noir and pastiches thereof.
Incidentally, the lack of automobiles in the diner's parking lot was an accident.
Examples:
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Art
- Hergé - Hopper is a series of Hopper pastiches consisting of Tintin-themed paintings. One of them, Taxi pour noctambules (literally, Cab for Nighthawks), features a very similar dinner (renamed "Tom Hawake's Bar") with four characters in the same spots wearing different clothes. The two characters sitting behind the counter in midground are replaced by Tintin and a woman he's apparently dating. The owner is replaced by a woman wearing a cowgirl outfit. Also, there's a cab in the street.
- Gottfried Helnwein's Boulevard of Broken Dreams puts Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Humphrey Bogart in Hopper's cafe.
- At least two Christmas card designs from the early 21st century place Santa Claus in the Nighthawk Cafe, at least one of them with several reindeer sitting at the counter as well.
- At least one model railroader (the late John Armstrong) has re-created the Nighthawk Cafe as a model railroad structure, in the process working out how to make it actually work in 3D (not a trivial process). It has since been made available (with the permission of Armstrong's family) as a kit.
Comic Books
- 2000 AD:
- Judge Dredd: Evil Genius P.J. Maybe does the shout-out pose when he's waiting in a diner after he's changed his face again to win over the heart of a nonagenarian billionaire lady.
- Family: There's a send-up to the iconic shot when Talia meets with Kurt at a bar.
- Batman: Year One (and its Animated Adaptation) contains a panel which imitates the painting, featuring Lt. Gordon and Essin eating in a diner after their shift ends. In a later, daytime shot, it's even revealed that the diner is named "Hopper's".
- Unsurprisingly, Common Grounds - a comic about a coffee shop frequented by heroes and villains - did a Nighthawks homage for the cover of one issue.
- Issue 5 of Crossed: Family Values parodies the cover in true Crossed fashion, depicting a violent massacre at the diner. The woman in the red dress is now stabbing someone, while the waiter is in the same pose he is in the original painting, except now we can see his hands are now around some random guy's neck.
- Matt Fraction's 2012 The Defenders run ended with a nod to "Nighthawks," with Doctor Strange and a girl he'd wronged sitting in a diner reconciling their differences.
- It should be noted that one of the Defenders is named Nighthawk.
- The Doctor Who (Titan): Twelfth Doctor story, Tulpa ends with the unnamed protagonist going to a cafe and the final panel is from this angle.
- In issue #19 of Dylan Dog "Memories from the Invisible World" contains a part that references this painting, though unlike other homages it follows the couple sitting together leaving the pub. Initially it appears that the man could be the "Invisible Man" serial killer due to his hat and trench coat, but then the woman, named Miriam, slays his throat to steal his money, only to then be Driven to Suicide.
- The cover of Guy Gardner #29, the introduction of Guy's bar Warriors, is a Nighthawks parody with Guy as the bartender, Superman sitting on his own, and Lobo hitting on the then Wonder Woman, Artemis.
- De Kiekeboes: Fanny and Inspecteur Sapperdeboere sat in this restaurant in the album "Blond en Blauw" ("Blonde and Blue").
- Marvels features one, where Phil Sheldon and a colleague are eating at night, and chatting about the Human Torch, who is also sitting right next to them.
- Parodied in the first issue of The Tick.
- In Transmetropolitan, Spider and his assistants hang out in a diner based on Hopper's painting. It's called "Hopper's", just to drive it home.
Comic Strips
- The first Frazz Sunday strip has a parody of Nighthawks featuring kids at a cafeteria table.
- The cover of the Knights of the Dinner Table compilation "Bundle of Trouble #47" has the Black Hands sitting at the counter of the "House of Chili".
- One of the Pearls Before Swine collections is titled Nighthogs in an obvious reference. The cover is a Shout-Out to the painting as well.
- A Peanuts Sunday Strip has this in its first panel, with Woodstock and three other birds. See page 75 of Around the World in 45 Years.
Film — Live-Action
- According to The Other Wiki, this painting inspired the "future noir" look of Blade Runner.
- Dark City is heavily influenced by this trope: nearly every shot has some resonance with the Trope-Making painting, to the extent that even interior shots are defined by small pools of light against an overwhelmingly dark background. Thematically, the film echoes the painting too; the sense of isolation from others and stark artificiality isn't just a visual gimmick, but a core component of the central drama.
- Dario Argento recreated the set in his film Deep Red.
- Recreated as a set for a Film Within a Film in Wim Wenders' movie The End Of Violence.
- In Glengarry Glen Ross, two characters visit a similar-looking diner.
- Hard Candy features a scene on a "Nighthawks Diner", where a character purchases a T-shirt with Nighthawks printed on it.
- The French movie Intouchables, set in Paris, has a shot of the two main characters sitting in a restaurant at night that is framed like the painting.
- In the sequel to Night at the Museum, it is one of the paintings that come to life.
Literature
- In Sunlight or In Shadow is an anthology of stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, including Nighthawks. One of the contributors is Michael Connelly (see below).
- Apart from editing the above-mentioned anthology, Lawrence Block also had Professional Killer Keller have a poster of Nighthawks (though not mentioned by name) on his wall because it made him feel he wasn't alone in his loneliness.
- Many references to the painting "Nighthawks" in the works of mystery novelist Michael Connelly. In novel The Black Echo, Harry Bosch's girlfriend, FBI agent Eleanor Wish, has a framed print of Nighthawks. They comisserate on how they've found each other, two loners together, with Eleanor even calling the two of them "a couple of nighthawks." When Bosch meets her again after several years apart in Trunk Music, she still has the Nighthawks print, and Bosch wonders, after years of separation between them, if he is actually the man alone in the painting. And over a decade after that, in Two Kinds of Truth, Bosch's brother Mickey Haller says Harry is "like the guy sitting by himself in that Hopper painting," startling Bosch. In Connelly short story "Nighthawks", a surveillance takes Harry to the Chicago museum where "Nighthawks" hangs, and he considers it.
Live-Action TV
- CSI once used the shot as a promo for the show.
- Dead Like Me homaged the painting in an episode appropriately titled "Nighthawks".
- Promotional posters for the second season of Fresh Off the Boat inserts the family into famous American artworks, including Nighthawks.◊
- That '70s Show lampshaded this with Kitty and Red in a diner, in the roles of the woman in the red dress and the suit-clad man sitting next to her. Kitty remarks on how everything feels so familiar.
- Turner Classic Movies includes as one of the stock clips they use to introduce programs a little live-action shot staged to look exactly like "Nighthawks".
Music
- The cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's album Crush is done is in a Hopper-esque style and shows the corner on which the diner is situated, but from a different angle.
- Tom Waits' album Nighthawks at the Diner is an homage.
Video Games
- Dreamfall Chapters has a painting in The House of All Worlds, which is this with Saga's parents, Magnus and Etta as the characters. The diner is named Red Thread.
- In Kingdom of Loathing, this is one of many famous paintings you can walk through in the non-combat adventure "Louvre It or Leave It".
- You can buy a decorative painting in The Sims 2 that closely resembles it.
- In Skullgirls, this is the opening shot of Filia's story mode.
Webcomics
- Everyday Heroes has an example here.
- This Least I Could Do comic.
- This fanart◊ from a Sandra and Woo contest.
Western Animation
- Batman: The Animated Series has a very subtle one in the "Terrible Trio" episode. About halfway through the episode there's a car chase with a very brief scene of the villain's car turning a corner. The very right edge of a diner called "Joe's Eats" which looks very much like Phillies from the painting, and a red brick building in the background. You could very easily think that the painting was chopped in half and the lone man at the counter was removed.
- In the 90s, Cartoon Network aired a commercial that took place here. Johnny Bravo talks about his brief love affair with Velma from Scooby-Doo, with 2 Stupid Dogs sitting on the other side of the bar and Fred Flintstone as the bartender. The bumper begins and ends on this shot.
- Courage the Cowardly Dog:
- In an episode where all the art in a museum comes to life, Mona Lisa and The Thinker go on a date in this painting. When the stars that made them come to life disalign, The Thinker is still in Nighthawks, still dithering about what he should eat there.
- In another, a bar that Courage goes to in a shady part of town is also a reference.
- In the Family Guy episode "Dearly Deported," Stewie claims to have "worked" at the Nighthawks painting.
- In Heavy Traffic the painting is briefly used as a background for a scene.
- In an episode of Hey Arnold! titled "Helga on the Couch" the painting is seen in Helga's psychologist's office, hanging on the wall.
- The Invader Zim episode "Gaz, Taster of Pork" has one when Dib ponders how he will reverse the curse he put on Gaz.
- The Loud House: This kind of shot appears in "House Music" when Luna has trouble writing a song.
- The Patrick Star Show: When he has to hide in an art museum in "Now Museum, Now You Don't", Patrick escapes into the Nighthawks diner. The bartender impatiently asks if he's going to buy anything or just sit there.
- Rocko's Modern Life:
- "Who's For Dinner" parodies this shot when Heffer, distraught after learning he's adopted, is seen sitting in a restaurant stuffing his face with French fries.
- Also seen in "Hypno-Puppy Luv", where Heffer and Filburt drown their sorrows in soda after Rocko disappears.
- An episode of Sheep in the Big City does this during a scene involving General Specific and Private Public in a cafe, with the Plot Device as the barkeep.
- The Simpsons has parodied the shot several times, most notably in the episode "Old Money" and in "Homer vs. the 18th Amendment", featuring Officers Eddie and Lou.
- The Tick has an homage to this painting in the form of the diner frequented by the heroes.
- Nighthawks is one of countless paintings parodied in the segment "That's Art, Folks" from the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Going Places." Here, the barflies are shown madly running out of the Nighthawks painting.
- The VeggieTales sing-along video "The End of Silliness?" takes place in an ice cream parlor modeled after this painting. The actual recreation of the painting can be seen in the title shot.
- The early CG short "Night Magic" took place in this diner, and the opening shot matches the painting.
Miscellaneous
- The Deutsches Museum in Munich features the Nighthawks diner hidden within a miniature city showcase in its Kinderreich section.
- The late John Armstrong featured a model of the Nighthawks diner on his O scale model train layout.
