Flesh + Blood

Orion/Riverside. Director Paul Verhoeven; Producer Gys Versluys; Screenplay Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven; Camera Jan de Bont; Editor Ine Schenkkan; Music Basil Poledouris; Art Director Felix Murcia

Rutger Hauer
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Tom Burlinson
Jack Thompson
Susan Tyrrell
Ronald Lacey

Flesh + Blood is a vivid and muscular, if less than fully startling, account of lust, savagery, revenge, betrayal and assorted other dark doings in the Middle Ages.

Drama opens with a successful siege on a castle by Lord Arnolfini (Fernando Hillbeck), who has recently been ousted from the premises. After promising them loot, Hillbeck goes back on his word and banishes the mercenaries who have helped him in his conquest.

Before long, warrior leader Martin (Rutger Hauer) and his ragtag band gets theirs back by nearly killing Hillbeck in an ambush and capturing lovely young Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the intended bride of Hillbeck's studious son Steven (Tom Burlinson).

Director Paul Verhoeven has told his tale in visceral, involving fashion and, for the amount of carnage that piles up, explicit gore is kept to a minimum.

Fine use is made of Belmonte Castle (on view in El Cid) and other Spanish locales.

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1985. Running time: 126 MIN.

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