Ladyhawke (1985)

Director: Richard Donner

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo McKern, John Wood, Alfred Molina

More info: IMDb

Tagline: CURSED FOR ETERNITY...No force in Heaven will release them. No power on Earth can save them.

Plot: Captain Etienne Navarre is a man on whose shoulders lie a cruel curse. Punished for loving each other, Navarre must become a wolf by night whilst his lover, Lady Isabeau, takes the form of a hawk by day. Together, with the thief Philippe Gaston, they must try to overthrow the corrupt Bishop and in doing so break the spell.

My rating: 9.5/10

Will I watch it again? And again and again...

I first caught this in the theater in '85, probably at least twice. I loved it then and still do 25 years (gulp) later. I'm not opposed to romance in movies but it takes something special for me to get behind them and LADYHAWKE fits the bill. I LOVE this flick. The time and place, the casting and performances, the story, the score, everything works for me. It struck a chord, so to speak, that still rings true.


Rutger Hauer is all kinds of Dutch badass and was ideal for the role. Pfeiffer is 7 ways of scrummy, Wood is nasty as hell as the number one baddie, the Bishop of Aquila and Broderick is very likable as Phillipe although he's a bit too silly from time to time. I could have done without so much of that. I was so taken by Pfeiffer and the romantic tragedy that, should I ever have children and one is a girl, I would name her Isabeau. Yeah, well that's not likely to happen. Unless I forget to pull out or something I'm probably not going to have any kids and that's probably a good thing as it would REALLY cut into my movie watching time. But the name is absolutely beautiful.


Andrew Powell's score is somewhat of a mixed bag for me. I LOVE his themes and the love theme is absolutely gorgeous...but why the orchestral/rock band groove? For the longest time I thought how much better it would be if the entire score were orchestral but time has allowed me the ability to just accept it for what it is and totally dig it. I don't know...it just seemed weird hearing a trap set behind the strings.


LADYHAWKE is a magical film and it will always remain as one of my top fantasy films. Now where's the fucking special edition Blu-ray? Donner's gonna be dead at some point and we need some commentary, mother fuckers! Hauer's not getting any younger, either. I'll pony up the 200 bucks to get this guy in a recording studio for a couple of hours. C'mon!