Cheap Robin Hood (DVD) (John Irvin) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Robin Hood

The best Robin Hood yet filmed...
Patrick Bergin is a dynamic Robin Hood, hitting the mark with the perfect mix of arrogance, compassion, charm and devil-may-care, hell-bent glory-seeking. Sure, there's a list of noble reasons why Robin Hood takes to the forest to fight Norman oppression and protect the unfortunate Saxon serfs from tyranny. But let's face it, Robin is a hero who enjoys what he does. He loves nothing more than laughing at danger and tweaking the nose of authority. It's easy to see that Bergin enjoyed the part, and his pleasure translates to the screen, making it an enjoyable romp for viewers.

Bergin shares Sherwood with a fine cast. Uma Thurman is a surprisingly strong Marian. Owen Teale is an excellent, fun-loving Will Scarlett, and David Morrissey is the best Little John I've seen yet. Jeff Nuttall is also a picture-perfect Friar Tuck. On the Norman side, Jurgen Prochnow is the malicious knight, Sir Miles Folcanet, who pursues Robin through the forest, and Jeroen Krabbe is Baron Daguerre, a greedy lord with a conscience. There's a brief, but impressive, appearance of Edward Fox as the would-be King John.

The movie boasts excellent swordplay, good costuming, authentic-sounding accents ... and some great pagan symbolism.

This film also has immense respect for the history behind the legend. While we may not know much about the real Robin Hood -- if there even was one -- we do know a lot about the time period in question, and Irvin keeps his cameras focused on the truth of feudal Britain. This is a Robin Hood I can believe in without reservation.

---

The best version of "Robin Hood"
Some people enjoy the Kevin Costner-Alan Rickman version of the Robin Hood legend, with its treehouses, American stars (faking horrendous Brit accents), Sean Connery cameo and even a wicked-witch-in-the-cellar. I am not one of those people.

This Bergin-Irving "unknown" version was released a few months before the Costner version. Sadly, it aired only on television for fear of competing with the star-filled, "event" film. And yet, this smaller film is vastly superior to the big-budget Costner "epic" on every single level.

This is a somewhat different version of the legend than what you saw with Costner and Disney. The political background to this tale matters: the uneasiness between the two peoples of England. It involves the Saxons, who had held power for centuries, and the more recent arrival and comeuppance of the French-based Normans. Basically, the Normans are now taking power in England and they're not being too nice to the displaced Saxons.

Early in the film we meet two noblemen who are friends: Baron Daguerre (played superbly by Jeroen Krabbe of "The Fugitive") as the Norman lord of the local province and Sir Robert Hode, a Saxon landowner. Soon, however, Daguerre's aide-de-camp, the brutal knight Sir Miles Falconey (Jurgen Prochnow in another great performance) gets into a tiff with Hode. Hode openly rebels against his former friend (Daguerre) and what follows is a neat retelling of the Robin Hood legend - replete with cross-dressing Uma Thurman as Maid Marian.

This film is beautifully scripted and wonderfully shot. The costumes, acting, and sets feel gritty and authentic. In other words, this is not a Hollywood production. It is simply a great film that nobody saw. I am ecstatic that is coming to DVD.

---

Far above Costners
This film is one of the best RH films done it certainly is far superior to the joke that Costner did!
I do have a correction that is pretty important, there is no Sherriff of Nottingham or Guy of Gisborne in this version. The Director chose to use the conflict of Norman Vs Saxon as the stronger plot drive and instead had two noble Normans playing the heavys. While it was a surprise to me the first time I watched the film I understood the choice. It makes it much easier for veiwers to see what was the actual conflict of Robin Hood, and not have too many people thinking of Alan Rickman or Basil Rathbone's potrayals of the heavys from the two more well known versions of RH.
Worth seeing, far more historically acurate than either of the other films and Uma's Marion could go head to head with Oliva's and totaly wipeout MEM from Prince of Thieves, or as I call it Robin Hood: Dances With Arrows.