Matthew Broderick stars in Ladyhawke in a role with an oriental setting would have been done by Sabu. There is a lot similaritity between Ladyhawke and the Thief Of Bagdad.

Our juvenile thief is Broderick who is about to be caught by the local troops and pay for his crimes when his capture is interrupted by a strange knight and a hawk. The knight is Rutger Hauer and he's the object of the hate of the local Bishop who runs the town.

Back in the days of The Code this film could never be made. One could not show a clergyman in a bad light and John Wood as the Bishop is as bad as they come. He has an obsession with Michelle Pfeiffer who is the true love of Hauer.

Wood if he couldn't have her, summons the powers of the black arts and curses them both. They can never find happiness because at sunrise Pfeiffer turns into a hawk and Hauer at sunset turns into a wolf and vice versa. Their time together is a moment or two at sunrise and sunset.

This medieval fairy tale is well done and the main players are well cast who also include Leo McKern as a defrocked priest. The sets are outstanding and Ladyhawke got two Oscar nominations in the sound department but lost.

A nice timeless fairy tale from Hollywood.

Like so many other fantasy films of the 1980s, LADYHAWKE has dated badly since first release. The score is particularly jarring, especially when it includes some soft rock that sits oddly out of place with the pseudo-historical world of the storyline. Nevertheless, it proves to be a fairly engaging little movie that reminded me, oddly enough, of the medieval mystery yarn THE NAME OF THE ROSE mixed with WILLOW, conjuring up a dangerous world dominated by corrupt religious figures and throwing some characters and their bizarre adventures into the mix.

The central curse which propels the storyline is cleverly achieved, and the filmmakers employ some talented creatures to bring that story to life. Unable to achieve the effects via limited special effects technology, the reliance instead is on the camera and performing animals to trick the viewer, and it does that pretty well. There's at least one absolutely splendid scene – where Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer meet, just for an instant, as the sun rises – which, I would argue, makes the entire film worth sitting through, just for those spellbinding seconds.

Elsewhere, the film never slows down with a mix of tragedy, romance and knockabout comedy. As a way of introducing American children and youths into this fantasy world, Matthew Broderick is cast as a brash young thief and we see much of the storyline evolve through his eyes. This isn't great, because I've never liked Broderick and he's on particularly brattish form here, but the casting of Hauer as romantic lead more than makes up for Broderick's foibles. Watch out for a fun cameo from Leo McKern (who seems to be having a ball) and John Wood as the particularly obnoxious villain of the piece. The action is hardly spectacular, but the end result is surprisingly watchable, thanks to that inventive and well-thought-out storyline.

Philipe 'The Mouse' Gastone (Matthew Broderick) is a thief. He escapes the dungeons of Aquila through the sewer. The Bishop (John Wood) refuses to accept any escape and sends out Captain Marquet with his guards. When Marquet catches up to Gastone, Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer) comes to the rescue with his hawk. Former captain Navarre and Isabeau d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) are lovers cursed by the jealous Bishop. He turns into a wolf during the night and she turns into a hawk during the daylight. Navarre plans to kill the Bishop with help from Gastone to sneak into the castle. Monk Imperius gives him a different plan to break the curse. Meanwhile, the Bishop sends Cezar (Alfred Molina) to hunt for the wolf.

Broderick is fun. Hauer is fearsome. Pfeiffer is loverly. I love their interactions. Broderick's time with each side is great. The story is compelling and solid fun high adventure. I saw it in the theater and had fun with the adventure movie. There seems to be some complaints about the synth score in more recent reviews. It does date the movie back to the 80s. Of course, it doesn't fit the medieval time period. It didn't throw me off the story back then. Rather, it amped up the intensity and the joy in the action. It's just fun.