I was about to say that you'd never in a million years get a Hollywood Studio today to make a movie about Robin Hood, Little John and Maid Marian in late middle age, twenty years after their youthful adventures, but then I thought, "Oh, no, you'd still sell it - it's got Sean Connery attached!" Not far short of thirty years on, he has scarcely changed in the interim and could easily take the same part at the age of 73. There'd be no place for the excellent Nicol Williamson, the reassuring Denholm Elliott or the phenomenal Robert Shaw in such a script, of course.
That said, I first fell in love with this movie when I was quite young (I'm still only 38 at the time of writing), and was amazed some years later when it was re-shown on television to see it summarised in the Radio Times as apparently a weak effort. I couldn't disagree more with that assessment; the wonderful, wonderful script by James Goldman, perfectly balancing a late blooming love story with shades of regret, humour and action, is brought to life by this cast-iron cast.
Upon re-viewing, I realise I had neglected Robert Shaw as the Sheriff of Nottingham. My favourite kind of villain is the one who regards his adversary as kind of an old friend, and Shaw pulls this off really well. In the scene when he first meets Robin after the latter's return from the wars, he makes it clear that he has to take Marian, but he says, "God go with you." Nowadays, it's almost shocking to see Robin almost casually killing the guards who have been sent to attack him, but then Shaw's Sheriff views the dead bodies and gives them their due as soldiers: "Take up their limbs and bury them." Shaw does most of his acting with his eyes, and you can see the whole life of regret, valueless death and his own lost advancement, in them.
The love story is beautifully handled, but it has to be said that the chief and most memorable relationship in the movie is that between Robin and Little John.
The opening of the movie is something else that would never survive a modern cut: an entire sequence set at the time of the crusades with an incredible cameo by Richard Harris as his namesake, the Lionheart, along with other British stalwarts like Esmond Knight, Bill Maynard and Peter Butterworth. These characters are all amazingly well fleshed out, considering they take no part in the main body of the story. This is one of the few portrayals, if not the only one, of Richard the Lionheart which clings closer to what was probably his true character - far from the heroic king, kept hostage and kept from his beloved England by the war with the Muslims, the real Richard never spent much time in England even after his return from the Crusades, preferring to prosecute a war of conquest in France (he probably only spoke French). This Richard is not driven by religious righteousness, but by the greed which was the real motivation for the wars of the day.
The main portion of the film, however, is set in a recreation of twelfth century England, in its heartland - a land of decay and poverty being overtaxed by grasping landlords - a perfect backdrop for a story of regret and opportunities missed.
