ma-cortes
Sherwood forest 20 years later , Robin Hood (Sean Connery , he was the oldest actor to play him up to that point) along with Little John (Nicol Williamson) , aging none too gracefully , return exhausted from the Crusades , a land of mud and grime . After a long separation , Robin is reunited with Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn , she took the role , in part, from the insistence of her sons) who is now a nun . Robin attempts to woo and win Maid Marian one last time . Love is the greatest adventure of all , as their dormant feelings for each other reawakened ; then , Robin spirits her to Sherwood forest . But the wicked sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw) is still in there kidnapping nuns , and oppressing peasants . Credit this retelling of the Sherwood legend with attempting to be something different , including elderly Robin and Marian as well as a veteran collection of Merrie men . The movie has adventure , romance , great action sequences well staged with stylish and vitality , grueling as well as pulsating combats , blood stuff , and results to be pretty entertaining . Although is a little revisionist and twilight about characters , history and time when is developed the action in a dirty , gritty Middle Age ; as a lot of spectators disapproved the changes of Robin Hood's classic canon . Too long in places doesn't hurt an otherwise enjoyable film . The action is reasonable well staged though of it is so unlikely as not be thrilling . Interesting and inspired script by James Goldman , he had already written The lion in Winter (1968), which included the characters of Richard and John Plantagenet in their younger years , besides : Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine .Connnery is nice as exhausted Robin ; however , the producers originally wanted Albert Finney to play Robin and Sean to play Little John . This was Audrey Hepburn's first film in nine years after she had taken a break to raise her family , here she gives a marvellous acting . Richard Harris agreed to play the cameo role of King Richard the Lionheart as a favor to Sean Connery, whom he had befriended while filming Molly McGuire (1970) . Connery himself later made a cameo appearance as Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood , prince of thieves (1991) . Excellent support cast such Ronnie Barker as Friar Tuck , Kenneth Haigh , Kenneth Cranham , Ian Holm as King John and brief acting by Victoria Abril as Queen Isabella . In addition , including four Oscar nominees : Richard Harris, Denholm Elliott, Ian Holm and Robert Shaw . Being this one of three movies starring Sean Connery and Denholm Elliott , being the other two Cuba (1979) and Indiana Jones and the last Crusade (1989). Sean Connery and Robert Shaw previously played adversaries in Fron Russia with love (1963) . Sensitive and thrilling musical score by the classic composer John Barry . Colorful cinematography with breathtaking scenarios by magnificent cameraman David Watkin , shot in Spain : Pamplona, Navarra, and Villalonso, (Castle) Zamora . The motion picture was well directed by Richard Lester providing attractive images in its own right , being filmed in his peculiar style coupled with typical surrealist comic touches . At the beginning Lester directed various Beatles vehicles and subsequently made known comedies : ¨The knack¨ , a satire : ¨The bed sitting room¨ and a drama : ¨Petulia¨ . He got a big success with ¨The Three Musketeers¨ (1973), which he shot simultaneously with ¨The Four musketeers¨ (1974) for producer Ilya Salkind , resurrected his career . When the Salkinds (Ilya and his father Alexander Salkind) were in the midst of filming ¨Superman¨ (1978) simultaneously with its sequel, Lester was hired as a supervising producer, then took over the filming of the sequel, ¨Superman II¨ (1980), when original director Richard Donner was fired . The sequel was a financial and critical success , and he was hired to direct the far-less successful ¨Superman III¨ (1983). At the end of the 1980s, Lester returned to the storyline that had revitalized his career back in the early 1970s, filming a second sequel to "The Three Musketeers" titled : ¨The return of the musketeers¨ . However, after his close friend, actor Roy Kinnear died during the shooting , Lester seemed to lose heart with the movie-making business , he has not directed another film.Other versions about this famous personage are the followings : ¨Robin Hood price of thieves (1991) ¨ by Kevin Reynolds with Kevin Costner , Alan Rickman and Morgan Freenan , the same year was exhibited ¨Robin Hood¨ by John Irvin with Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman but was a flop though the critics considered best adaptation . Plus , ¨Robin Hood¨ (2010) by Ridley Scott with Russell Crowe , Cate Blanchett , Mark Addy , Kevin Durand . The classic rendition is ¨The adventures of Robin Hood¨ by Michael Curtiz with Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland.
stevezodiacxl5
A clever allegory about people dealing with their own deaths. The legendary figures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, typically depicted as archetypal storybook characters in the flower of their eternal youth, are real, all-too-mortal people here. Robin is watching himself grow old and (ever the outlaw) is rebelling against it, Marian has a death wish associated with lost love and trying to hold on to the Robin of her youth.There's layer upon layer of legend-twisting here: In the fables about the death of Robin Hood, the evil Prioress of Kirkley Abbey poisons him on behalf of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Here, his death becomes a gift of mercy bestowed by love.Reality contrasts fantasy in the treatment of the historical Richard the Lionheart. His death is portrayed almost precisely as it actually happened, but to an audience conditioned to see him as a legendary hero (who doesn't associate him with Sean Connery?) it's a shock to see him as the tyrannical and capricious murderer he really was. Meanwhile the fictional characters of Robin and Marian are fleshed out with fully human flaws and frailties.James Goldman (who wrote the story and screenplay and is best known for "The Lion in Winter", his delightfully literate soap-opera about those wacky Plantagenets) effectively plays with our perceptions of heroic legend and our own inevitable demise.
shinock
Is this Sean Connery's best performance?...well it's certainly up there among his best and it has always struck me as something of a pity that this movie was virtually ignored on it's release, it deserved better. Made in Spain with wonderful photography and with a quite haunting music score it seemed to have everything going for it, but alas it was a failure at the box office and even now it's rarely shown on T.V. Perhaps it was a little too radical and while Robin was still a hero, Marian was now not only older but far wiser than her former lover. The evil sheriff had finally been defeated and Robin was once again the victor, but while he was high on the strength of his win, Marion knew his race was won and there would be no more days like these. Although she had been in a convent for many years her love for Robin was as strong as ever and rather than watch him decline and either end his life in chains or at the point of the sword of some inferior warrior she eased his way from this world to the next and made sure he died as he had lived as a hero. A haunting movie beautifully shot with and outstanding score and also notable as Audrey Hepurn's final movie appearance. Maybe in years to come it might well be appreciated more than it is now...it deserves to be!
