Expected more

Better Late Then Never

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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.

I love Richard Lester's films - I love Audrey Hepburn - I like Sean Connery,Nicol Williamson, Ronnie Barker, Denholm Elliott, Robert Shaw and Richard Harris. However I really dislike this film - nothing about it works with the exception of the art direction. It sounds as though the actors dubbed their voices on after filming so it does not sound quite right. The story is uninteresting and the action sequences are half-hearted. I was expecting so much better after the superb Musketeers films which Lester made. There is no sexual chemistry between Connery and Hepburn and I find Connery's retread of every other character he has ever played, i.e.Sean Connery, is beginning to irritate me. We should have demanded so much more from him over the years. The most convincing actor in the whole thing is Ronnie Barker as Friar Tuck - he so much becomes his characters that Ronnie Barker disappears totally.

The original title for this movie was "The Death Of Robin Hood" but the studio wanted a more commercial title, and sent out all the wrong messages to cinema goers. Following on from what many consider to be his best role outside of James Bond, that of Daniel Dravot in "The Man Who Would Be King", Sean Connery plays Robin Hood (a balding, grey bearded, bruised, scarred and arthritic one, but still Robin Hood) opposite the still impossibly gorgeous Katherine Hepburn as Maid Marian. This is no swashbuckling agile Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn or Kevin Costner. This is a much bleaker, more realistic Robin. But still a Robin who could not resist a good fight, and was trying to regain his youth by reliving past exploits. Robert Shaw's arrogant but intelligent Sheriff of Nottingham was everything you'd expect from the hard drinking Irish man. It was a shame he would die only two years later, as for all his flaws he was one hell of an actor.The final fight between Robin and the Sheriff was brutal as two worn out old men (barely able to lift their swords towards the end) hacked away at each other. The mood of the movie is realistically bleak at times, yet since Richard Lester was director, we get some silly scenes with humour in that seem to be totally out of place and that almost belong in another movie!! I don't know why he insisted on doing this in his movies (see Superman 2, where during Superman battling the three Kriptonian Super Villains a load of awful comedy scenes (wigs flying off, ice cream hitting people in faces) are present that takes away from the intensity of it all!! Of the supporting cast Richard Harris has a cameo as Richard The Lionheart (same role Connery would cameo in Costner's "Prince Of Thieves") and Denholm Elliot is as reliable as ever.I think this movie is badly under appreciated by the critics. And maybe if they had stuck with the original title, and sold it differently it might have done differently.

Well, this is a strange and depressing entry into the post-modern 70s sweepstakes of "what can we do with iconic characters these days?", coming a few years before "Tarazan: Legend of Greystoke" and "Excalibur", and directed by the guy who made The Monkees famous, Richard Lester. What the F? Anybody who's seen the film knows how reprehensible the ending is, how out of focus and how lacking in dramatic impetus it truly is. What I want to talk about is what a wasted opportunity we have here, because Lester's comedic talent is still very strong, and there's some really great moments in the film which really kind of add up to... what? A kind of self-serious betrayal.In generic terms, not much else to comment on. The action scenes are really awful, not bad in the terms of Richard Greene era Robin Hood, but I mean the movie starts off with a scene of a guy literally throwing an arrow into King Richard's (Richard Harris) neck, felling him with a blow as ridiculous as his presence in the film. Harris hams it up, Nicholson wishes he'd got the fun and short part, Connery doesn't seem to want to support the film... yet, it all works amazingly well, up till the last reel or so of the film. A pity. Better luck next time Robin?