You might think me a “bold rascal” or a “saucy fellow” or perhaps even a “Saxon cockerel” this week on “Picture Perfect,” as I offer my highly-opinionated assessments of four screen adaptations of the Robin Hood legends.
We’ll begin with “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938), directed by Michael Curtiz, taking over from William Keighley. One of the all-time Technicolor classics, its stellar cast includes Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Alan Hale, Eugene Pallette, Melville Cooper, and many, many others – a veritable who’s who of classic movie actors. Everything about it – the screenplay, the production design, the buoyant tone, the stylish choreography – is as a Robin Hood film should be. That includes, not least of all, its Academy Award-winning music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
While Flynn will always be the definitive Robin Hood, we’ll consider another very interesting take on the character, which in my opinion doesn’t quite come off, in Richard Lester’s revisionist meditation, “Robin and Marian” (1976). Sean Connery plays a middle-aged Robin who returns from the crusades to rekindle his romance with Maid Marian, played by Audrey Hepburn, and to settle his account, once and for all, with the Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Robert Shaw. Again, you can’t beat the cast, which also includes Nichol Williamson, Richard Harris, and Denholm Elliot.
The elegiac tone is precisely what Lester was aiming for. The story is both a meditation on the beloved Robin Hood characters in middle age AND a melancholy reflection on the passage of time. However, the screenplay, by James Goldman, of “The Lion in Winter” fame, probably could have been a little more inventive, despite an ending that hues closer to the actual legends. It’s undoubtedly a moving film, but somehow it leaves one feeling rather grim.
There was some tension between the director and producer, Ray Stark, as to whether the film should be an artistic statement or hew more closely to the mainstream. Initially composer Michel Legrand was engaged to write the music. Lester found the results agreeable, but Stark did not. At the very least, Stark wanted a more insinuating love theme, as a concession to the audience. So John Barry was brought on board to write a replacement score. Out of necessity, Barry had to do so very quickly. But Barry being Barry, he was able to fulfill Stark’s objective and infuse the story with some memorable musical heartache.
At least there was some attempt at poignancy and philosophical provocation in “Robin and Marian.” By contrast, there was little reason to resurrect the legends for “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991). Little reason, that is, unless they were going to make it GOOD.
The project seemed doomed from the start, with Kevin Costner cast as the lead. I have nothing against Costner, who made a string of very fine movies in the 1980s, culminating in his multiple Oscar-winner, “Dances with Wolves,” in 1990. But by no stretch of the imagination is he a believable Englishman. Pile on the grit and ramp up the violence, add a superfluous witch, forget to put in the FUN, and what’s left is a soul-numbing experience.
Alan Rickman brings the film sporadically to life with his lunatic update of Basil Rathbone. But the salt-and-pepper buddy approach, Morgan Freeman as Robin’s sidekick, and a battle-hardened Maid Marian, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, don’t really ring true for the 12th century, although I suppose they are pretty characteristic of the 1990s – and the 2020s, now that I think about it. This Robin Hood truly was a prince of thieves. I certainly wished I had my two-and-a-half hours back.
I thought the score was pretty lackluster too, but having endured another 30 years of modern movies since then, the music for “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” has come to sound like a veritable classic. The score is credited to composer Michael Kamen, who had the assistance of no less than 15 orchestrators. There’s no question the theme is rousing. Like most of the elements of the film, however, I found myself questioning whether it is really appropriate. Judge for yourself.
We’ll wrap things up on firmer ground with an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s classic novel “Ivanhoe” (1952), in which Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, and of course Richard the Lionheart play important supporting roles. The film stars Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor (no relation), Joan Fontaine, and the usually supercilious, but here somewhat sympathetic, George Sanders. The fine score is by three-time Academy Award-winner Miklós Rózsa, who of course is best remembered for having composed the music for such epic films as “Quo Vadis,” “Ben-Hur,” and “King of Kings.”
May I obey all your commands with equal pleasure, sire! We’ll make it our mission to fight for the rich and deprecate the poor (movies, that is), as we plunder the legends of Robin Hood, on “Picture Perfect,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EASTERN)
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EASTERN)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EASTERN)
Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!
Robin is a bold rascal: