The Robin Hood Legend

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NarniaFan95

Active member
Recently I've been exploring various film adaptations of the Robin Hood legend.

It all started when I was working my way through all of Taron Egerton's movies. (I'm sweet on him, to say the least, lol, I even run a Taron Egerton fanpage on Facebook.) Finally it was time to watch his Robin Hood from 2018. He made a great Robin, but even I can admit, while it's fairly enjoyable, it's maybe not the best Robin Hood movie ever made...Often online I hear people refer to it as the worst Robin Hood film yet made, lol. (My sister, a big Robin Hood enthusiast, had more than a few choice words about it -- as a Taron Egerton die-hard, I feel obligated to be a bit gentler with it. No harm in trying something new, just maybe didn't work as well as they'd anticipated, lol.)

Still, it got me curious about other Robin Hood films. A few weeks later, I rewatched Prince of Thieves, an old favorite. Of course I watched the Disney one several times as a child, and having recently acquired it on Blu-ray, I'll probably give that another viewing soon.
Week before last, I finally saw one Mom told me about, Robin and Marian, starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn, and I found it to be quite beautiful. And my sister is after me to rewatch the BBC television series from a few years back.

I feel like I've probably started this topic before, lol, and I apologize for repeating myself, but now that I've actually been rewatching some of them, I know more of what I'm talking about, lol...

So what is your favorite film (or television) version of Robin Hood, and why? And did you see the 2018 one? Thoughts?
 
Errol Flynn's Robin Hood remains the most fun, if you can forget what a colossally selfish, narcissistic jerk Flynn was in reality. But I also like the _silent_ version starring Douglas Fairbanks Senior.

And how's this for trivia? Alan Hale, who is well remembered as Little John in Flynn's movie, _also_ played a very young-looking Little John in the _Fairbanks_ version!
 
I have never really found a good movie on Robin Hood. Howard Pyle is the traditional book to read, but I have always liked the book written by CS Lewis' friend Roger Lancelyn Green. Stephen R. Lawhead has a good series.
 
I, too, loved "Men in Tights".

Another fun version was the Star Trek TNG version "Q-Pid" where Q puts the crew in the roles of Robin Hood (Picard) and his Merry Men with Vash, Picard's one time fling on Risa, as Maid Marian. It left us with the immortal Worf line "I must protest. I am not a merry man!"

MrBob
 
My favourite version of Robin Hood was a 1980's TV series called Robin of Sherwood. Devised by the TV writer Richard Carpenter it was a joint British/Canadian production that ran for three seasons on UK Independent Television, although I'm not sure how widely it was shown outside Britain and Canada.

Robin was actually played by two actors. In the legends Robin was sometimes a peasant and sometimes a nobleman, the Earl of Huntington. This series used both. The first Robin was the yeoman played by Michael Praed. When he decided to leave after two seasons they took the bold step of killing the original character off and introducing a nobleman as his successor in leading the outlaws, who was played by Jason Connery (son of Sean Connery.)

The series was unusual in introducing a strong undertone of mysticism into the Robin Hood legend. Robin was 'The Hooded Man,' a figure foretold by prophecy who was called into Sherwood by the forest god Herne the Hunter, to be his son and fight oppression and injustice. During the series various magical and legendary characters were encountered including witches, sorcerers, King Arthur and even Lucifer himself! Another memorable element was the haunting incidental music by the Irish folk group Clannad.

I personally still regard this series as the definitive interpretation of the legend. The only unsatisfying thing is that it ended after only three seasons and on something of a cliffhanger. This was intended to be resolved in the fourth and final season, but this was sadly never made due to the production company going bust.
 
I mostly liked that series, and I owe it thanks for introducing me to the music of Clannad. Thus, indirectly, also to my celebrity crush Enya.
 
I don't think I've mentioned one SERIOUSLY weird variation. There's a Robin Hood movie in which ZOMBIES invade Sherwood Forest and its environs. What's more, ROBIN HIMSELF gets turned into a zombie, leaving it up to Maid Marian and Little John to save England. At the end of the film, the zombies still exist, but the good guys are keeping them contained in one area.
 
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