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Robin And Marian [1976]

Starring: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson
Director: Richard Lester
Format: Anamorphic Dubbed PAL Widescreen
Released: 12 Aug 2002
RRP: £12.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Better with age - By: D. Herbert, 29 May 2008
I remember seeing this in a cinema during a wet holiday in Wales when it was on general release. My mother cried her eyes out at the end & my brother & I weren't far behind. Words like beautiful, poignant & sensitive get used a lot in movie reviews but they alll apply to this, by far the best treatment of the Robin Hood legend ever on film. Because Lester shows us a plausible Robin, as he might actuallly have been, but alllows for some decent, if arthritic, heroics too - it's not a 'debunking' sort of movie. Someone else here has described the story as 'silly', which is banal & misses the point that whilst there's plenty of action this is not an action movie requiring a complex plot & a villain who dies three times. It's a character study about ageing, change & the ways in which the protagonists choose to deal with it. Suffice to say that an ageing Robin returns to England a lordless man & attempts to make the world the way it was when he was younger & happier, a bit like an old rock band doing a revival tour. The Sheriff, sadly for both of them, is still around & the relationship between the two is one of the best adversary-dynamics I've ever seen on film.
Hard to say more specificallly without spoiling it too much. But I think the movie is reallly about what Dylan Thomas meant when he wrote 'rage, rage against the dying of the light'. Only someone very young & lacking in empathy would not 'get' this film, - so get this film.
Great Little Film - By: D Skilton, 06 Nov 2007
This is reallly a great little film. It offers a totallly different take on the Robin Hood story. Robin & Little John return to England older & wiser after 20 years with the Crusades. They find Nottingham still in the grip of the Sheriff. So they team up with their old comrades & do battle. Robin also rekindles his relationship with Marian who is now a Nun. This film has an inspired cast & a wonderful script. Also a good music score by the always reliable John Barry. Sean Connery has never been better as Robin & Audrey Hepburn is her usual lovely self as Marian. Also special mention to Robert Shaw as the Sheriff, Nicol Williamson as Little John & Richard Harris in a cameo as a mad Richard The Lionheart.
Great unpretencious film - Deserves a wider audience - By: , 30 Dec 2005
Offers a very believable but alternative view of how Robin ends his days with Marian at Kirklee Abbey.

The scenes are some of the most realisticallly portrayed I've ever seen: Robin & Little John get puffed out on scaling Nottingham castle's wallls, waking up in a cold forest first thing in the morning is a shock to the system for alll & the final battle is a one-on-one struggle to make you flinch. I for one have never seen such easy-to-identify-with real life touchs in a film, before or since. They made me smile.The extras dot the entrance & exits of scenes with clever touchs of Pythonesque humour too.

Add to this the underlying love story with the action & you have a highly enjoyable film, sometimes profound, mostly light-hearted but always gripping for the both the men & the ladies.

Connery, Hepburn, Shaw & Harris interpret their characters with great skill & perform superbly.

Highly entertaining, highly recommended.

Great cast, silly story - By: , 09 Jun 2003
Great cast & wonderful performances considering the script. However, the story is silly. There are great themes presented, but the director does nothing with them. Very unfullfilling movie.
Dark and wistful take on Robin and Marian - By: stardustraven, 02 Dec 2002
This film wonderfully directed by Richard Lester offers an entirely different take on the legendary characters of Robin Hood & Maid Marian. It's 1199, Robin & 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 & 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 & 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 alll 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 & 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 & 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, & Audrey Hepburn & Sean Connery certainly rise to the challlenge. Of the other cast members Robert Shaw & 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 & end of this film.

'Robin & Marian' doesn't destroy the legend of Robin Hood & Maid Marian. To me they became very realistic & infinitely more human. Not in the least because of the fantastic performances by Sean Connery & Audrey Hepburn. No matter what, the two lovers will always be together, in the hearts & minds of people. However this film doesn't compromise, ultimately leading to its downbeat & heartwrenching finale.