| Robin Hood | |
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Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | John Irvin |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan Sarah Radclyffe |
| Written by | Sam Resnick John McGrath |
| Starring | Patrick Bergin Uma Thurman Jürgen Prochnow Edward Fox Jeroen Krabbé[1] |
| Music by | Geoffrey Burgon |
| Cinematography | Jason Lehel |
| Editing by | Peter Tanner |
| Studio | Working Title Films |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox[2] |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Robin Hood is a 1991 film starring Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. In the US, the film appeared as a TV movie on the Fox network, the first made for television movie by the network. It was released in cinemas in several countries in Europe and elsewhere, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan[3].
Another film using the well-known Robin Hood story was released theatrically the same year. The film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was a Hollywood blockbuster with a much bigger budget and high-profile stars such as Kevin Costner.
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The film shares some of its underlying plot with the famous 1938 swashbuckler, The Adventures of Robin Hood, concentrating on the struggle between Normans and Saxons. Details of the storyline and the identities of the characters differ widely, however, between the two versions.
The 1991 version begins when a miller, who is poaching deer on lands belonging to the King of England, is detected by a hunting party led by the evil knight Sir Miles Folcanet (Jürgen Prochnow). The miller flees the hunting party until he runs into a Saxon earl, Robert Hode (Patrick Bergin), and his friend, Will. The miller pleads for help as the Normans arrive and threaten to poke the miller's eyes out. Before they can carry out the punishment, Hode (urged by Will) stops them. Folcanet is enraged and demands that Hode be punished by the local Baron, Roger Daguerre (Jeroen Krabbé).
Daguerre is Robert's friend and initially orders a light punishment, but Hode feels betrayed, insults Daguerre, and is outlawed as a result. He flees into Sherwood Forest, meets John Little and the usual cast of Merry Men, and under the name "Robin Hood" takes up arms and fights against the Norman nobility. Robin also falls for Daguerre's niece, Mariane (Uma Thurman), who is promised to Folcanet, and the climax of the film is an attack on Nottingham Castle to stop the wedding. Unlike many modern versions of the story, King Richard does not appear at the end, and instead Daguerre is reconciled with Hode and promises a future where Saxons and Normans are treated equally.
Although the familiar characters Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and Much the Miller's Son appear in this version, the traditional Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisbourne have been replaced by original antagonists. The Baron Daguerre takes the Sheriff's place as the scheming, greedy tax collector (though in this version, he is originally Robin's friend), and Folcanet stands in for Guy as the violent, vindictive knight after Robin's head (and Marian's maidenhead).[5]
While still a medieval fantasy, the filmmakers clearly intended this version of Robin Hood's tale to be a more gritty, realistic and historically accurate retelling of the famous legend than is found in the typically glossy and romanticized Hollywood treatment of 'Olde England'. The medieval world shown here is dark, dirty and dangerous.
It was filmed on location at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, a medieval-style Victorian-era edifice built between 1842 and 1851. Some filming was also done in Frodsham in Cheshire, on hill and woodland locations.
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