Son of Robin Hood (1959)

Pretty Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This lovely little Saturday full-length feature was filmed during the heyday of Robin Hood spin-offs, and it was apparent that the producers and directors spared almost every expense to maximize what little profit their copy-cat production was likely to make. The acting was wooden and artificial, the stunts (fights, etc.) appeared as though the actors had only received their choreo the day before filming. The casting was obscure, with only David Hedison (who has no command of the English accent whatsoever) and George Coulouris being the only familiar names in the cast. It was difficult to identify the direction, too. Other than those items, the film was a bit like a train wreck -- difficult to tear one's eyes away from. It's very unfortunate that the cast and the director played the entire film straight and took themselves seriously. This could have been a delightful comedy had there been the knowing look, the wink, the nudge, the glance toward the 4th wall from time to time to keep the audience engaged. I rated this one 4 stars b/c of the train-wreck nature of the film ... I just couldn't look away for fear I'd miss something positive.

Back when I was a lad the Son Of Robin Hood played as the second feature to some other Fox film on a double bill. Occasionally those second features were something worthwhile even better than the A film they accompanied. This film was definitely not in that category.It's been some 20 years since the Merry Men got disbanded and they're now middle-aged and somewhat gone to seed. But with the death of King John there's a plot afoot to steal the throne by an evil duke played by David Farrar. The rightful heir Marius Goring has been imprisoned by Farrar, but Goring has a brother in David Hedison who will set things right in the Douglas Fairbanks/Errol Flynn tradition, not.You have to have a certain elan to do swashbucklers. Either you have it or you don't. David Hedison best known for being the Captain of the Seaview on the TV series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea just ain't got it. Also his American speech pattern with the British cast sounds jarringly out of place. What worked for Clark Gable in Mutiny On The Bounty doesn't work for Hedison. Then again Mutiny On The Bounty was a much better film, like light years better.Added to that none of the historical characters vying for the throne ever existed. Including Robin Hood or in this case the late Robin Hood. Turns out he died some ten years than the events of this film and he left a daughter June Laverick. She does fill out that Lincoln green suit all right. But she's a girl and those aged Merry Men ain't about to come out of retirement for her.They do for Hedison though as the faux son of Robin Hood and of course the inevitable does happen.Maybe the worst Robin Hood film ever done.

And neither is the beginning or the middle as the story of Robin Hood gets the AT SWORDS' POINT treatment, with a bunch of little-known actors -- except for George Couloris, David Farrar and Marius Goring -- under the direction of George Sherman, who spent most of his career, properly, directing B westerns.June Laverick, a pretty young blonde, plays the daughter of Robin Hood, who spends most of her time hiding behind David 'Al' Hedison, who pretends to be her -- him -- that is, Robin Hood's son, leading Robin's old and graying Merry Men. The whole thing is directed with little of the silliness that attended AT SWORDS' POINT, but the whole thing is handsomely shot in wide screen. Unhappily, the prints were definitely not Technicolor, but have aged poorly, casting a gloomy and pink sheen over the entire proceedings. The score is also a nice variation on Korngold's score for the Errol Flynn version. You can skip this one.

Absolutely, ridiculous tale of Robin Hood's alleged son who is really a girl....don't get too confused.....it confused me at first....tale concerns Robin Hood's offspring who was expected to be a man, who comes back to England to fight, not the Sheriff of Nottingham, but a bird named "DeRoche"......Al Hedison inherits the role of Robin Hood's son as it appears RH did not have a true son.....ridiculous acting, poorly staged action battles and acting worse than "Plan Nine from Outer Space".....in one instance a group of Deroche's men try to corner the men of Sherwood and Robin Hood's daughter shoots an arrow in a man in a tree who was a spotter for DeRoche.....man falls out of tree and no where are the 25 men of DeRoche after the shooting!!!! Cardboard castle walls among the other ditties....want more - son of Robin Hood gets invited to DeRoche's castle and soon starts bedding DaRoche's girlfriend!!!! Whew!!! No recognizable actors of any renown.....Robin Hood's men (25 years older!!!!) wipe out the bad guys along with Hedison......this total production by 1959 standards could not have cost more than $100,000 to make.....where was Peter Cushing in this film???? Go figure.......