2019-10-16 The Hollywood Reporter

Memorable moments

from a storied history

90 Years of THR

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 104 OCTOBER 16, 2019

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Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed a fairy-tale beauty who transforms into a hawk by night in Ladyhawke. Above right: THR’s review was published April 2, 1985.

The Hollywood Reporter described
1985’s Ladyhawke as “a mythopo-
etic fairy tale.” With Maleficent:
Mistress of Evil out Oct. 19, Michelle
Pfeiffer makes her second visit
to that Euro-medieval-ish land-
scape. In Ladyhawke, Pfeiffer
plays a beauty who’s been cursed
into separation from her shining
knight (Rutger Hauer). A priest
character explains the lovers’
situation this way: “She was to be a
hawk by day and he a wolf at night.
Only for a split-second at sunrise
and sunset could they almost
touch.” Cinematographer Vittorio
Storaro says the film is about “the
liberation of two beings, forced by
an obligatory destiny to separa-
tion. They live in the same world
but in two different time slots

of the Earth’s revolutions.” The

plot centers on resolving these

relationship issues, mostly with

sword fights. But all that battling

tends to overshadow the romance.

When Hauer finally reunites with

Pfeiffer after many escapes, horse

jumps and crossbow wounds,

the best he can come up with is:

“You cut your hair. Love you.” If

there were three things all critics

agreed upon, it was that Pfeiffer,

then 26, was incandescent;

Hauer, then 41 and still in Blade

Runner afterglow, was a hunk;

and Matthew Broderick, then 22,

playing the knight’s reluctant aide,

got all the best lines. Besides the

stars, Ladyhawke boasted major

names in its production. Director

Richard Donner had seen big hits

with 1976’s The Omen and 1978’s

Superman, and Storaro had earned

Oscars for 1979’s Apocalypse

Now and 1981’s Reds and would

win another for 1987’s The Last

Emperor. Despite all the assembled

talent, THR said the film “glori-

ously captures the look and even

the feel of a great fairy tale, but

it somehow lacks the resonance

to become a classic.” It didn’t

resound too well with audiences,

either. The $20 million produc-

tion ($48 million today) brought

in just $18 million domestically.

— BILL HIGGINS

Michelle Pfeiffer’s First Fairy Tale Was Ladyhawke

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