Flesh+Blood (1985) on Netflix
Cheated of their payment by the nobleman Arnolfini, the mercenary Martin and his band rob a caravan and seize Agnes. She is betrothed to Arnolfini's son Steven.
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- IMDb6.7/1022,579 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1501 Italy, a coup takes the city of the nobleman Arnolfini while he is away, and he promises a band of mercenaries twenty-four hours of looting if they retake it. They do, and he then wants them gone. Their commander Hawkwood, who wounded a young nun during the siege, is promised medical care for her and leads Arnolfini's cavalry, which drives the band out without its loot. After a buried statue of Saint Martin is read as a sign, Martin takes charge of the outlaws. Arnolfini's son Steven is betrothed to Agnes, and when their caravan is attacked by Martin's band, Arnolfini is badly hurt and Agnes is carried off among her dowry. Martin takes her for himself and keeps the other men away from her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Flesh+Blood (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Paul Verhoeven and star Rutger Hauer developed a bitter rift during filming because Hauer wanted heroic roles like the one he'd played in Blade Runner while Verhoeven insisted on morally ambiguous characters in a grim, 'stinking' Middle Ages; the two never worked together again.
- The studio pushed for Nastassja Kinski or Rebecca de Mornay to play Agnes, but de Mornay would only sign on if her boyfriend Tom Cruise were cast as Steven; Verhoeven instead cast Jennifer Jason Leigh, whom he'd noticed in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
- Distributors censored parts of the film, including the rape sequence, which upset star Jennifer Jason Leigh; she opposed the cuts, saying the scene was hard to watch but calling the uncut film 'extraordinary.'
- The film influenced manga creator Kentaro Miura, who said in a 2003 interview that he based the design of his famous Berserk protagonist Guts on Rutger Hauer's mercenary character Martin from this movie.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger admired the film, and it was one of the reasons - alongside RoboCop - that he sought out Verhoeven to direct him in Total Recall.
- The film was such a box-office bomb that it earned back only $100,000 of its $6.5 million budget when it opened in August 1985.
