April is a Movie Matinee month and our selection is Ladyhawke!
Ladyhawke is a fantasy adventure movie with a romance and a young Matthew Broderick. If you’ve never seen it, here’s the description:
Upon breaking out of a dungeon, youthful thief Phillipe Gaston (Matthew Broderick) befriends Capt. Navarre (Rutger Hauer), a man with a strange secret. Navarre and his lover Lady Isabeau d’Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) were cursed by the wicked Bishop of Aquila (John Wood), who desires Lady Isabeau for himself.
His dark magic prevents the pair from ever being in each other’s presence except at twilight, so they enlist Gaston in a dangerous plot to overthrow the Bishop and break his evil enchantment.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you’re in for a treat. There’s a lot of very familiar tropes at work here, plus comedy. And if you have and it’s been awhile, I hope you got that same, Ooooooooh yeah! feeling of nostalgia I did when Amanda suggested this film.
Ladyhawke is available to rent for around $3 and $10-13 to buy digitally on iTunes, Google:Play, and Amazon, and the DVD can be found at your local library, or cheaply online in new and used condition from Amazon or Alibris.
We’ll be hosting a group chat on the site on Sunday, 22 April, at 8:00pm ET! You can watch on your own schedule, then hang out with us to talk about the film.
Much like the book club chats, we’ll be here at SBTB in a text-based chat (so no need to worry about video or audio) discussing the movie and our reactions.
I love this movie and haven’t watched it in a long time, and I’m very much looking forward to discussing it with you!
This is a favorite movie!
This movie is so good, I can almost forgive the horrible synthesizer soundtrack.
I saw this movie in the theater when I was 11 and I loved it for life! I’ve adored Rutger Hauer ever since.
Love this movie! I lost my copy when I mistakenly left it in my VCR when I gave it to a friend to try and fix. When he couldn’t I told him he could get rid of it. Made for a sad realization one rainy Saturday.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I only wish they would replace the whole soundtrack because it dates the whole movie so very badly. Otherwise, it stands up gloriously.
Sigh… this movie has it all, I even like the music 🙂
Yes! Love this movie (although the soundtrack now kinda makes me cringe). Also I just read Ready Player One before we go see the movie and Ladyhawke gets a shout out in the story as a favorite of some of the gamers.
Definitely a favorite.
We still have a VHS copy.
And yes, we still have a VHS player to play it on.
Looks like I know what I’m doing this evening : )
And if you’re into old school s&s fantasy like this, give “Willow” a try.
I love this movie so much! It was one of the very first things I bought on DVD.
This was the number one family movie growing up. We *all* loved it. The running commentary from Phillipe Gaston (Matthew Broderick) is pure gold.
Evidently there is a BluRay version of this movie that is brightened up and looks much, much better than the old DVD version. Try to get your hands on that if you can because this movie is a lot about the look.
Definitely not historically accurate I loved this fairy tale like movie, and Matthew Broderick is funny/silly as the sidekick. Could Michelle Pfeiffer look more beautiful and romantic with her hair chopped off and every-which-way and a scratchy looking robe? Sigh!
Always makes me think of Julia Ecklar’s song “Ladyhawke!”
Oh, yes, what Joy said about Michelle Pfeiffer! *sigh*
I loved this movie so much as a kid. In fact, I wrote my first fan fiction (which I didn’t know was I thing at the time) in reaction to it. Because Ladyhawke’s only flaw, in my young romance loving eyes, was that Phillipe didn’t get a romance, too. So I had to write him one with a girl who was, in retrospect, a complete self-insert.
Really wish that I hadn’t destroyed all my old notebooks in a fit of self-consciousness. I wrote all sorts of ridiculous things as an angsty teenager.
A perfect blend of action, romance, and comedy. We need more of these!
So love this movie. The ending. Bwahaha……
I remember seeing it in the 80s.
One of my all-time favorite movies. Especially love the monk Imperius.
Yes, I love this movie. And I too lost my VHS copy of it years ago. I so want to watch it again now.
Oh god the 1980s soundtrack.
Also, you know you’re getting old when Matthew Broderick is no longer your heartthrob in this movie – Rutger Hauer is pretty ok, but OMG John Wood any day … that voice …
Ahem. Expect me on the day.
Have loved this film for ever. I went out and hunted down the soundtrack album because I love that too (big Alan Parsons fan).
Love this movie with all my heart and watch it regularly. I remember reading a review when it came out, and I instantly knew this was the best thing ever. Sadly I was too young at the time to actually go see it. But I later saw it at an arthouse cinema in Paris. And it was all I had hoped for, and more.
And you know what? I think Rutger Hauer can actually ride! This is one of my pet peeves with Fantasy and costume movies – riding IS hard to learn, and no longer a necessity in our daily lifes. So I do understand that most actors can’t do it. But it does have a certain cringe factor when the heroes so obviously are mal a l‘aise in the saddle.
I love both the movie, and the book. Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy of the movie which will play on U.S. DVD players . . . sigh.
Between the sunrise scene in the snow, and the ending (“…your hair…”), this movie never fails to reduce me to smiling tears.
I LOVE this movie!!
Omg my favorite movie!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey everyone! I wanted to remind y’all that we will be discussing Ladyhawke on Sunday, 22 April at 8pm ET! It’s a text chat (i.e. no video just typing) and the window will be here on the site Sunday morning. Bring your finest swords and period-accurate clothing and we’ll see you Sunday at 8pm!