Robin and Marian (1976) Richard Lester   The Robin Hood myth traditionally centers on the young Robin's fight against the Normans. But what of his later years? James Goldman's screenplay Robin and Marian speculates on this question. Directed by Richard Lester (The Three Musketeers), the film features Sean Connery as the aging Robin Hood and Audrey Hepburn in the role of Marian. After years of fighting in the Crusades, Robin and Little John (Nicol Williamson) witness the mental breakdown and ultimate death of Richard the Lionheart (Richard Harris), whom they followed to war in their youth and have seen degenerate into a deranged, merciless ogre. Disillusioned and robbed of purpose, Robin elects that they return home to Sherwood. Once back home, Robin has a brief, bemused meeting with the Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw) and is soon horrified to discover that Marian has become a nun! Despite her protests, Robin "rescues" her, carrying her off to Sherwood. In time, however, the love of their youth blossoms once more, but the shadow of Norman tyranny looms darkly over the characters' fate as the Sheriff's forces surround Sherwood forest in hopes of smoking Robin out for one last confrontation. The film Robin and Marian works wonderfully as either a comedy, a bittersweet love story, or a tragedy as Robin is confronted by the myth which has grown up in the wake of his youthful heroic deeds (which, it is suggested, were not all that impressive to begin with). It is both funny and sad when Robin and Little John attempt to escape the sheriff's castle, the traditional acrobatics of Errol Flynn replaced by the painful reality of two old men who simply cannot move very fast. Robert Shaw's performance as the aging Sheriff is both brooding and sympathetic, a character who is not so much a malicious villain but a man just trying to do his job. The rest of the cast is equally excellent, with Denholm Elliot as Will Scarlet and a cameo by Ian Holm as King John. Of all the Robin Hood films, this movie depicts 13th-century life the most realistically. The splashy color and velvety texture of earlier films are replaced with earthy, realistic sets and rude costumes. Not only that, but the photography by David Watkin (Out of Africa) bathes the film in a pastoral glow and convincingly makes the Spanish locations, which were chosen for budgetary reasons, actually resemble the English countryside. Shying away from brassy Hollywood fanfares, Barry's music is also lyrical and rife with tender passion, reserving most of its commentary for the plight of the two lovers. Although I did not like the ending of the film, this is a wonderful story, and an honest look at a larger-than-life-yet in the end, all too human-hero. —Paul Andrew MacLean

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