Robin and Marian (1976) 106m.
Director Richard Lester has worked with several icons in his career (Superman, Butch Cassidy, the Beatles, and the Three Musketeers are among the more memorable) and this time around he turns his attention to Robin Hood. As would be expected from Lester, it is not a traditional portrayal. In essence, ROBIN AND MARIAN provides all previous Robin Hood films with a final chapter. Lester and screenwriter James Goldman replace images of young heroes galloping through the sward with middle-aged not-so-merry men eking out an existence in near-primitive conditions. Story begins with a disillusioned Robin renouncing his service to King Richard and returning to Sherwood after many years abroad. After losing his love for king and country he is now free to rekindle his desire for Marian. Ironically, it means he must once again become an outlaw, thus also renewing old ties with his former enemy the Sheriff of Nottingham.
It's bold of the film to avoid all previous representations of Robin and Marian: Robin (Sean Connery) is bearded, has thinning hair, wields a longsword more often than a bow, and dresses in shabby, practical clothes rather than his more customary Lincoln green. Likewise, Marian (Audrey Hepburn) is not a blushing maiden but a nun, trussed up so tightly in habit and wimple that for the first half of the film we see only her face. The younger Hepburn would have made a great Marian earlier in the heyday of Hollywood costumers, and it makes sense to presume this is why she was chosen for this role (her ten-year absence from the screen also suits the 'return' theme essential to the film). Yet she is required to play against type, which makes her casting confusing. It's not only Hepburn - all of the characters play against type: Marian is shown to be suicidal, the Sheriff is sympathetic, and Richard is psychotic. The only traditional element seen to remain steadfast is the romance between Robin and Marian.
Despite John Barry's suggestively romantic score (which Lester wasn't happy with) and the prevailing love interest of the leads, Lester's film still has that neutral quality found elsewhere in his work - neither too grim/realistic, or stylized/lavish. His trademark humor is also downplayed here. He and Goldman work with their material intelligently (although it's too easy to label a film 'revisionist' merely by subverting the identities of historical personages), but their film's success inevitably boils down to the connection between Connery and Hepburn. As in other Robin Hood stories, they get little screen time together, but in this instance it counts: their final scene is entirely memorable. It also brings home one of the primary intentions of the film - to break their characters out of archetypes perpetuated by myth (not to mention films and books) and present them as real people. Film's ending, which would have been unimaginable in the days of Errol Flynn, will be offputting to many viewers. Connery would return as King Richard in Kevin Costner's popular 1991 version. Also with: Robert Shaw (the Sheriff), Richard Harris (Richard), Nicol Williamson (Little John).
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews