Rob Astyk Several reviewers have noted the superb cast all of whom were working at top form in this film. Robin and Marian is, in my opinion, the best Robin Hood film ever made or that ever will be made. I would refute the criticism that it is for an older audience. When I saw it first I was 27 tears old and working as a projectionist in a theatre that ran the film shortly after release. Forty years later the sublimity of its vision has only deepened though it was apparent right from the firs. Let us now, however, consider its director, Richard Lester. No director has ever had a career of perfect films but Lester's has a few more than many.Starting with The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film that showcased the antics of the Goons (yes, folks, there was a predecessor to Monty Python) and The Beatles' two movies, Lester built a style and competence in storytelling with a mix of humor, drama and great humanity. His The Three and Four Musketeers remain the best Musketeers movies ever made and Juggernaut is the sole disaster movie made in the late 1960s and 1970s that remains worth watching decades later. Add to those Petulia, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, How I Won the War, The Knack and The Ritz and you have a body of work of which any director could be proud. We may love Errol Flynn's Robin Hood or Alan Rickamn's Sheriff of Nottingham but no prior or subsequent film is anything like as beautiful as this film. The whole film is worth watching for the scene between Connery and Hepburn when she discovers the battle scars on his body or for Robert Shaw's disdain of the ignorant noblemen who've come to him from Ian Holm's sniveling King John. Like the arrow shot from Nicole Williamson's bow in the final scene this film rises up into the sky and simply never comes down. I don't care how old you are or at what stage your love for another has reached you do yourself and your lover a disservice if you do not sit down and watch this along with what I consider the rest of the eight most romantic films of all time: City Lights (1931) It Happened One Night (1934) The Philadelphia Story (1940) The Princess Bride (1987) Moonstruck (1987) Il Postino (1994) Afterglow (1997)

Leofwine_draca ROBIN AND MARIAN is another comedy adventure from director Richard Lester, the man who brought us THE THREE MUSKETEERS and its sequel. As ever, the goofy direction is the worst thing about this, an otherwise engaging version of the Robin Hood story with a neat twist: all of the characters are now middle aged and suffering from the weight of the years upon them.That twist is the best thing about an otherwise bog-standard adventure which otherwise isn't all that funny; that, and that the producers have assembled an eclectic cast for this one. Sean Connery makes for a fine, gruff Hood, and it's nice to see Audrey Hepburn come out of retirement to play an ever-graceful Marian. And the supporting cast are particularly fine: Robert Shaw is the Sheriff, battling Connery again years on from From Russia with Love; Nicol Williamson is an imposing Little John; Denholm Elliott and Ronnie Barker make up the Merry Men; Richard Harris is Richard the Lionheart; Ian Holm Prince John, and there's a brief but wonderful cameo from Peter Butterworth in the opening scenes.The action scenes are over the top and rather silly, as in THE THREE MUSKETEERS, but the script is better. Scenes of the characters reminiscing about times past feel wistful and nostalgic, and the cinematography captures the autumnal landscapes very well. The twist ending is a choice reminder of just how dark and downbeat cinema in the 1970s really was.

funkyfry 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?

JasparLamarCrabb No swashbuckler to be sure. This is a deliberately paced revisionist take on the Robin Hood legend. Robin returns from the Crusades to find Marian now a nun, Richard the Lionhearted ready to expire and the sheriff of Nottingham still power mad. Directed with surprising restraint by the great Richard Lester, this film is nothing at all like his MUSKETEER films. Sean Connery is an aging Robin and Audrey Hepburn is Marian...now an Abbess! They have great chemistry and Nicol Williamson is a big plus as "little" John. Robert Shaw is the Sheriff of Nottingham and it's fun to see him dueling with Connery (they last met in FROM Russia WITH LOVE!). Richard Harris is very good in a cameo as Richard the Lionhearted and Ian Holm is Prince/King John. The excellent cinematography is by David Watkin and there's a lovely score by John Barry.