Hearts and Armour
Hearts and Armour
R | 21 September 1983 (USA)
Hearts and Armour Trailers

Love during wartime blossoms between crusader Bradamante—a female knight wearing an invincible suit of armor—and Moorish prince Ruggero. A sorceress predicts to Bradamante that her beloved will die in battle at the hand of a fellow Christian paladin, Rolando, whom in turn is in love with Isabella, Ruggero's sister.

Reviews
Diagonaldi Very well executed
Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Blueghost Most likely this film was thrown together to ride the coat tails of John Boorman's "Excalibur." There's much in the way of imitation or homage paid to Boorman in terms of feel, and of course the knights.The problems with this film are various. One of the things that leaps out is the mediocre cinematography. Again, there's a whole hearted attempt to "pay homage" to Boorman, but the long shots are either misplaced or not set far enough away. There're some interesting scenes of bleak forests and wastelands, again like Boorman's work, but the shots are ill conceived with little in the way of thoughtful composition. I'll also add that there's an excessive number of slow motion shots.The story was a little difficult to follow, and the fact that the Moors in the film are depicted as caucasian (men with 1980's shoulder length feathered hair no less) doesn't help either visual or story aspect. And therein lies a tale because the acting is below average, hammy, boring and otherwise nearly talentless. Slow motion can only cover up so many sins. Sub par talent isn't one of them.One of the real drawbacks is a lack of cast. By that I mean warm bodys or extras. There're precious few people inhabiting this world, and it seems as though all the fighting is done by a little over half dozen folks (the main characters). There's money in the budget to build a Moor encampment, but no money hire the extras to bring it to life.Still, for all it's flaws, and even though I laughed out loud at a number of the more ridiculous parts (mostly the actors), I could appreciate it for what it is (that, and my buddy loaned me his copy, and I'd hate to tell him I disliked a film he really likes :)). It's a B-movie striving for an A. But striving for an A on money that's little more than a shoestring budget.Some nudity, a good amount of violence, the film was meant for an adult crowd, but if you took away the bare breasts and blood you'd have a film fit for kids. As it is it's designed for adult consumption, but unless you're a fan of the knight genre (by that I mean you really go overboard for all medieval themed films) I wouldn't recommend it.Fun but flawed. Don't bother unless you need some sword play on your TV screen, because it truly is a stupid film.*EDIT* The man who loaned me his tape is actually a private security type as well as an investigator for the Department of Justice. A real jerk.
Kastore Most impressive and engrossing Italian sword-and-sorcery film from the early 80s. "Hearts and Armour" has it all. Christian and Moorish warriors who travel the countryside in a valiant quest to kill each other. Barbara De Rossi as the central heroine who inherits an impenetrable suit of armor from a magical spirit. She then grapples with her internal conflict to either kill or fall in love with her enemy, in the traditional romantic tragedy premise. This short wizard guy with an annoying voice and a suit of feathers who tries to warn the star-crossed lovers of their inevitable doom together. Tanya Roberts looking hotter than ever, especially in that blue dress. No wonder even the staunchest celibacy-sworn men fall from honor at the sight of her. Invisibility stones, dirty sexual references, even dirtier fighting tricks. Oh, and about the fights. The fights in this movie are some of the best I've seen. Blood, bodies, and dismemberments abound, and a variety of unique weapons are presented in the final confrontation between the four best warriors of each side. I've especially always sort of wanted to see two men in full medieval armor have a straight fistfight with each other, and thanks to this movie I finally have.This is again a case where I'm surprised I had never heard of this movie before watching it. It's unfortunately a bit hard to find, and due to the story's Crusade-based action, a DVD release is not likely in the near future. But if you're one who enjoys movies loaded with ye olde chivalrous characters and dialogue (as I do), peppered with the occasional violent swordfight (as I also do), then this is worth tracking down.
davidikeda This movie is really cheesy. It seems to even sort of aim for comedy value with the slightly excessive gore scenes. There's a girl in the movie that keeps getting her dress torn more and more and practically everyone tries to rape her, even a priest and one of her own soldiers along with a group of bandits. In the beginning, the group of bandits try to rape another girl, and a knight comes in and chops off some of their limbs and cripples most of them and rescues the girl. It seems the bandits never learn, because they try again, in their crippled state with missing limbs to try to rape a girl again, and then again they are scared off by a knight. It was hilarious.Still, the movie had some great fantasy elements. The wacky and bizarre costumes I really liked, even though they weren't realistic at all and kind of cheesy. Reminded me more of superhero knights.I like the story - sort of a Romeo & Juliet set in the medieval ages.The music was great. It's one of my favorite soundtracks besides the Neverending Story - very "80s"-like. The scenes and music combined sort of reminded me of video games.I think it's a very fun movie, even though it's cheesy and doesn't fit out standards or expectations of a good movie at all. It's actually one of my favorites. However, I don't expect too many others to like it. I would recommend giving this a try, however, if you're like me and want to watch all the medieval/medieval fantasy movies you can get your hands on.
Brett-9 This is the classic B film with bad acting, no story, no accuracy. All I saw was weak attempts at a love story in tin foil costumes and gratuitous nudity attempts. Not for those interested in good film.