Rating: 
Summary: A good ending
Review: Other reviewers have taken issue with the ending of "Robin and Marian," calling it a "downer," etc. Although the end is not conventionally happy (a la Hollywood), it is perfectly consistent with the story line. In fact, to end any other way would have been to dilute the dramatic force of Marian's love for Robin. Although in this film the settings and music are a lovely bonus, it's obvious the script was written by a playwright who first uses plot, characterization and dialogue to provide the story's emotional impact. It also, by the way, depicts (albeit with a new twist) a scene from the Robin Hood storybook I read as a youngster; in it, Robin shoots an arrow into the air telling his friend to bury him where it lands. I don't remember thinking of that as a "downer" then; nor do I now.
Rating: 
Summary: The movie that made "Men In Tights" look good...
Review: Pompous. Boring. Contrived. This movie is not at all what it promised. If you want to see an over-the-hill rebel fight "city hall" and try to romance a post-menopausal woman, go for Bridges of Madison County This is the movie that enabled that ghastly Kevin Costner film. For Robin Hood, stick with Errol Flynn or the BBC. Connery doesn't do well in sword movies...
Rating:
Summary: The movie that made "Men In Tights" look good...
Review: Pompous. Boring. Contrived. This movie is not at all what it promised. If you want to see an over-the-hill rebel fight "city hall" and try to romance a post-menopausal woman, go for Bridges of Madison County This is the movie that enabled that ghastly Kevin Costner film. For Robin Hood, stick with Errol Flynn or the BBC. Connery doesn't do well in sword movies...
Rating: 
Summary: An unusual approach to a famous legend.
Review: Robin Hood! The name invokes images of Errol Flynn in green tights. Lighing sword fights. Deeds of daring in Sherwood Forest. Cunning villians. And romance between a handsome young couple. "Robin and Marian" approaches that subject from a completly different angle. Here Robin is middle-aged and balding. The Sheriff of Nottingham is cynical and tired. And Marian is an experienced nun! It truly is different- Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest twenty years AFTER his glory days. It is also very well-done. The cast is indeed fantastic. Imagine if this cast had been assembled to make a Robin Hood film twenty years earlier. Young Sean would provided a grittier alternative to Flynn's performance. And who would have made a more beautiful Maid Marian than Audrey Hepburn in 1956? The most interesting aspect of "Robin and Marian" is Connery's Robin Hood. Everyone has aged twenty years. Yet with the exception of Robin, they have all gained from wisdom and experience. Robin, although jaded by the Crusades and Richard the Lionheart's cruelty bordering on madness, is renewed in spirits by his return to Sherwood. There he is still thought of and worshipped as the young hero he was twenty years earlier. The worse thing is he believes it himself. Everyone close to him knows the glory days are gone- even his closest and most loyal companion- Little John. Yet everyone loves and worships Robin too much to tell him the truth. Even his adversary, the Sheriff of Nottingham, had grown wise in his years. He now knows how to deal with Robin and will no longer make the errors of his youth when opposed by him. The ending is truly poignant with Robin the legend being unmasked by the Sheriff as Robin the tired middle aged man. It is an unbearable sight to Little John, Marian, and all his followers. Marian decides that the legend, whom she loved, will never be besmirched again.
Rating:
Summary: Everything except merry
Review: Sean Connery is perfect as Robin Hood, and that is this film's main redeeming value. The ending is a huge downer, and seems weird in a Robin Hood movie. Still, there is a lot to like, such as the opening crusades sequence and King Richard's interesting demise.
Rating: 
Summary: On Golden Pond In Sherwood Forrest
Review: Strange plot and theme for a medieval hero such as Robin Hood. Heroic effort at coming up with such as story but it just falls flat.
In this rendition of the legendary fable, Robin Hood (Connery) returns to England to meet with Marion (Hepburn) and soon realizes that he's just out of tune with the times; Marion is the cataclysm that makes him accept the final conclusion that he's all washed up, old, and without much fighting left in him: just enough breath for one final effort. The ending is ludicrous for a period obsessed with Christian values; their actions amounting to a cardinal sin with no offer of salvation.
The script is unimpressive and the dialogue is slow. The music seems to add to the slumber. Two old geezers reminiscing about the good old days; a real yawner. I find it doubtful that peoples of the 12th Century had even time to contemplate getting old; life back then being so nasty, brutish, and short, they usually died before thoughts of age ever crossed their minds.
I wouldn't recommend owning this one. Rent it to satiate your curiosity and then,if you're still awake at the end, decide if it's worth owning.
Rating: 
Summary: On Golden Pond in Sherwood Forest?
Review: Strange plot and theme for a medieval hero such as Robin Hood. Heroic effort at coming up with such as story but it just falls flat. In this rendition of the legendary fable, Robin Hood (Connery) returns to England to meet with Marion (Hepburn) and soon realizes that he's just out of tune with the times; Marion is the cataclysm that makes him accept the final conclusion that he's all washed up, old, and without much fighting left in him: just enough breath for one final effort. The ending is ludicrous for a period obsessed with Christian values; their actions amounting to a cardinal sin with no offer of salvation. The script is unimpressive and the dialogue is slow. The music seems to add to the slumber. Two old geezers reminiscing about the good old days; a real yawner. I find it doubtful that peoples of the 12th Century had even time to contemplate getting old; life back then being so nasty, brutish, and short, they usually died before thoughts of age ever crossed their minds. I wouldn't recommend owning this one. Rent it to satiate your curiosity and then,if you're still awake at the end, decide if it's worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: Truly....
Review: There is very little wrong with this movie, but what IS wrong is horrific. How CAN you go wrong with a cast that includes Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, (it was her last top notch movie, too, btw,) Nicol Williamson, Ian Holm, (guy gets around, doesn't he?) Richard Harris, Denholm Elliot and Robert Shaw? To top it all off, this was Richard Lester's last substantial film as well, done right after his masterpieces The Three and Four Musketeers. Richard Lester stopped being "Richard Lester" after this, and directed pretty much pedestrian movies like Superman(s) II, (enh!,) and III, (a disaster!) and "Juggernaut", a complete mediocrity. But this was one heck of a swan song!
The story starts out with Robin, played by Connery, and Little John, played by Williamson, who are inseparable throughout the film, scouting a potential battle scene for King Richard. The bastion they are met with has but one old blind man and a few women and children, and no sign of the treasure Richard thinks should be there. They tell Richard this when he arrives, but he still itches for battle and lays waste to the bastion anyway! After this, he goes mad, dying from an infection caused by an arrow wound received in the battle. Richard's death makes the universally disliked Prince John king, hence, Robin and John officially return to Sherwood Forest to look up their old mates after 20 years of following Richard all over the middle east to fight the Crusades. Will Scarlett, Alan-A-Dale and Friar Tuck are still around, but Marian has become a nun, pretty much leaving her old life behind.
Robin will have none of it, and the twenty years they have been apart start to tell...on their affections for one another, on their adroitness and on how their values have changed and/or stayed the same. They flirt, they love, they argue, and it's obvious that there is still a spark between them. There's a very tragic aspect to the ending of the story where Hepburn's character, Marian, tries to cancel out a masochistic line she spoke earlier in the film, that will have you scratching your head for a while. The "reasoning" Marian uses for it is completely delusional, even sick. This was a heavy film, in many ways, but I'm PRETTY sure it shouldn't have ended the way it did.
There is still a spark of hostility left between Robin, Little John and the remains of the band and the Sheriff of Nottingham and his henchemen, who has had the edge taken off of him for this film's handling of the character. He isn't quite so evil as he's been portrayed in other films here.... that is, until the end, when he and Robin confront each other for one last time!
Connery falls into his part like a foot into a comfortable old sock...he seems a perfect natural to play this Robin of Locksley, and Hepburn is a delicate, but dangerously unpredictable, presence as Marian. Few actresses could project such exquisite innocence or pureheartedness as Audrey Hepburn, and this movie showcases that beautifully. The gritty, dirt-under-the-fingernails look of the film once again lends authenticity to the period the story is set in. The ability to meld this sort of down-to-earth, genuine-looking aesthetic with the contemporary psychology of the character interpretations without having them seem out of synch is a gold star for the screenwriter and director, not to mention the actors!
There is the use of symbolism utilizing three golden apples in the beginning and end of the film, showing them fresh, and then half-decayed, commenting on the effects of aging as it pertains to the characters. The gruesomer aspects of this film may explain why Lester, if he is still with us, hasn't directed a "Richard Lester" movie in ages.
A heavy one, as stated before.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and wistful take on Robin and Marian
Review: This film wonderfully directed by Richard Lester offers an entirely different take on the legendary characters of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. It's 1199, Robin and Little John, return to England, after King Richard the Lionheart's death during the siege of Chal^us. Marian, now an abbess is taken from Kirklees Abbey. Robin and his followers once more prepare to fight against the Sheriff of Nottingham, their old foe. As for the story I'll refrain from saying anything more. 'Robin and Marian' is about ageing, accepting life as it is. It's a far cry from the non-stop swashbuckling of 'The adventures of Robin Hood' with Erroll Flynn, this movie presents all of the famous characters in their old age. It shows how everyone deals with the progress of time, but offers no judgement. Sean Connery is splendid as the aged Robin. With insight and passion he portrays a man who doesn't take well to the passage of time. Which is sometimes painful to behold. Audrey Hepburn shines, in what I think is certainly one of her most interesting performances. Her excellent Marian has wisdom, intelligence, spunk and a wistful touch. Her chemistry with Connery's Robin is brilliant. Their rekindled love is shown with a bittersweet, poignant tenderness. Which one doesn't see often on the screen, and Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery certainly rise to the challenge. Of the other cast members Robert Shaw and Nicol Williamson stood out for me. Shaw's Sheriff is cunning but also fatherly (he has moved on but is still a match for Robin). And Williamson's Little John although staunchly loyal to Robin knows very well that things are over. This film has a gritty, authentic medieval look. But there are the lovely locations of the forest to enjoy. A great soundtrack by John Barry heightens also the wistful mood. But the viewer gets a rather stereotypical portrayal of King John. The usual evil John of the legends. Also interesting is the poignant symbolism of the three apples at the beginning and end of this film. 'Robin and Marian' doesn't destroy the legend of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. To me they became very realistic and infinitely more human. Not in the least because of the fantastic performances by Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. No matter what, the two lovers will always be together, in the hearts and minds of people. However this film doesn't compromise, ultimately leading to its downbeat and heartwrenching finale.
Rating:
Summary: A Legend Comes to Life
Review: This gorgeous film features an outstanding score, perfect casting, an unbeatable story, and as a bonus it has the most authentic "feel." I am a longtime scholar of all things Robin Hood and while the storyline strays a bit from tradition, the essence of the original has never been more beautifully or poignantly portrayed. This is a film for anyone who has ever been charmed or moved by the old legend... and for anyone who has ever dreamed.
|
