Robin Hood (1991)

Great Film overall

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Quentin Tarantino cast Uma Thurman in his Kill Bill movies to give her the shot he thought she deserved. This was due to her getting panned for movies like this less than High School play caught on film perhaps by a proud parent and mistakenly published by ANY movie studio.This movie sucked.Uma Thurman looks ridiculous in drag while faking an English accent. But the male lead doesn't even try to fake an accent, so kudos to Uma I guess.That's just the beginning.The campy hokey music playing during every fight scene makes me believe this was intended as a comedy. But the rest of the movie is an attempt at drama, with dramatic music while horses speed by. Dramatic music while people jump in rivers. Dramatic music while plans are being made and even presented. (But not during any fight.) The Baron's court scenes include no furniture, none. No throne. (No budget, no prop master who knew how to make furniture? Both? Is the King on a budget? Allergic to wood and fabric?)Jurgen Prochnow overacts tremendously, irritatingly so. Das Boot this is not. Das Bomb? Yes.The whole movie is just, bad.Every copy should be bought up and stockpiled to become required purchase and viewing by all theater and performing arts students. A lesson in exactly how not to make a movie.That is the only thing I can think of which might redeem this drivel.

This film is not so very known as the Kevin Costner version (action- packed, overloaded with fan-service and some uncensored sex scenes). This is a more serious movie. It goes on a slower pace and has less effects (aye, less special effects as well). In spite of this, it's a good movie. Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman's acting looks quite decent (if it weren't for Costner and Mary Mastrantonio, I'd say even "defining", though that's really arguable).Baron Daguerre (Robin's main enemy in the film) is not that bad, he's just been insulted and needs to gain his former friend's trust once more. Prince John doesn't pose like a villain as well, we only have his cameo closer to the end. And -- no return of the good King Richard, the outlaws have got their victory themselves.So, as you see, the plot is not as simple as we've used to. But there are similarities to the Kostner film, nevertheless. For example, the celebration in the end (led by the Baron, not by the King!) Naked fat men in a so-called "garment" of branches and leaves -- Ah and Aw for all that Celtic stuff...The film is good to watch, and if you want to compare which of the 1991 versions was better, I think it senseless. Just watch both films, and enjoy. Each of them is interesting enough, each of them should be a treat for you.

I grew up with these old classics, when we sort of had to picture the story in our minds as we read it. This is by far the most authentic version of a Robin Hood tale I've seen. No special-effects, no magic, just real life in the woods of medieval England. The characters are believable and the casting was spot-on. The timing of the release was unfortunate due to the publicity being generated for Costner's version (which I won't even waste my time reviewing), but if you're looking for a real genuine and human rendition of this timeless classic, set a few hours aside to watch Umma Thurman set the eternal bar for Maid Marianne. Better set a few more hours aside... you might want to watch it twice!!

I've described this commentary as having a spoiler, just to be on the safe side.Having just bought the double-sided, full-screen/wide-screen version that is 103 minutes long, and being silly enough to get day-to-day inspiration from the ideal of Robin Hood, I wanted to encourage you all to try to find a copy of "Robin Hood," as it was originally broadcast on the fairandbalanced Fox network, in '91 (or was it '92?)--and see if anyone knows where to buy a copy of the longer original. When it was first shown, I video-taped the broadcast just off an antenna with crummy reception, assuming I'd be able to buy it, eventually. But, it seems the next time they broadcast it and by the time they started selling it, some nice, slightly rude, but merry, vignettes had been cut. I could see why Fox would do it with the televised versions, as a way to get more commercials into a two-hour program; but, why they did not restore the original scenes in the wide-screen version, I cannot imagine.For an archery buff, "Robin Hood" gives some glimpses of one of the few weapons that helped make the little people a force that could not be dismissed or so easily oppressed. Robin's shooting a wand is as real a portrayal of archery as it gets. There's an odd bit of archery silliness when Emlyn's bow plows an arrow through a Norman helm, i. e., I'm pretty sure the arrow tip is a game tip, rather than the "pile," three-sided wedge used to pierce armor.For the broad sword buff: "Robin Hood"'s sword play is anything but serious. Compared to, for example, the final fight in "Prince Valiant," between James Mason and Robert Wagner, no one in "Robin Hood" seems to be trying to hit each other. You might note that, as in almost every good guy vs bad guy sword-fight to the death, the good guy wins by stabbing from a low line of attack--a fairly stupid line of attack and somewhat unknightly, I suggest.Some of the archery goofs and sword-play lameness, might have dimmed the final product for me, were it not for the fulsome humanity of this "Robin Hood." The wit, the merriness, the musical score, the politics and the texture of the characters makes this film somewhat more real and warm than other versions that revolve around the more heroic Robin Hoods.Within the few extra minutes of the original broadcast, there is a surprisingly amount of the humanity that helps make Robin Hood the heroic ideal that inspires almost everyone faced by travails visited upon them by this or that sheriff-wannabe. S'il vous plait, I recommend you get your hands on the longer version; and, if you do, I very much recommend you email me with where it can be had. Thanks; and, here's to a strong draw and a fair aim.