Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!@RUTGERS.ARPA:BARD@MIT-XX.ARPA
From: @RUTGERS.ARPA:BARD@MIT-XX.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: SF-LOVERS Digest   V10 #119
Message-ID: <1177@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 11-Apr-85 00:30:51 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.1177
Posted: Thu Apr 11 00:30:51 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Apr-85 07:31:33 EST
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 36

From: Bard Bloom <BARD@MIT-XX.ARPA>

Subject: _LadyHawke_

Beware of Otherwise Unlabled Spoilers (and other invisible bacteria)

I saw a legitimate preview of _LadyHawke_ recently.  It was as good a fantasy
film as I have seen recently, except maybe for _Wizards_.  Most of the film
was well-done but left a generic flavor in the back of the mind: most of the
characters are stock characters.  The exception (one of the main characters)
was Philippe the thief, who acted like a vanilla thief, cowardly and so forth
(the ghost of the Grey Mouser just cut my throat, but I'll deal with him later);
but Philippe got some very good lines.  (He kept talking to God -- who never
answered, directly at least -- saying things like ``I'd like to think that
there's some higher meaning to all of this.  That would reflect very well on 
you.'' 

I think that they lost a lot of good characters by accident.  The Evil Priest
was rather boring: not actively evil, not even very oily.  The worst one 
was LadyHawke herself: when she was human, she usually acted comatose.  (Once
or twice she was somewhat sensible)  Admittedly, she has an excuse: she gets
turned into a hawk all day, and if she wants to do anything she has to stay up
most of the night, so I suppose she's stupefied from lack of sleep all the time.
Still, if there were a FEMINIST-SF-LOVERS bboard, I'd flame long and loud.

The fundamental idea is interesting, even if they do pound it into you with 
several hammers.  Two lovers under a curse: she becomes a hawk in the day, he
becomes a wolf at night.  They don't retain their minds in animal form, which
would make it more endurable.  They do keep some personality, though; so the
wolf doesn't tear out his girlfriend's throat.  The movie explores this
as well as any movie can (I'm biased toward books).

It's lots of fun.  Go see it.

``The Immoral'' Bard
-------