Watch Robin and Marian For Free

As Good As It Gets

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I discovered this absolute masterpiece several decades ago. I fell in love with it the minute I finished to watch it. So typical of the seventies and its sadness and its disenchantment. It's a true awesome poignant, moving love story, one of the best ever for me. And so millions miles away from the Hollywood films, especially the Kevin Costner's crap. But not the Errol Flynn's feature of course. This is really a sad story, especially where we see Robin Hood and his little army of rogues who train as if they prepared for the war, with straw dummies. You expect a big fight, fierce, bloody...But nothing of this kind happens. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. They are all eventually wiped out without fight. I highly recommend it. But I perfectly understand that most audiences, used to Hollywood films, don't appreciate this feature that much.

Bitter-sweet and quirkily funny.It is 20 years after Robin Hood's heroics against Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Since then Robin (played by Sean Connery) has spent all his time outside of England, fighting as Richard the Lionheart's right-hand man in the Crusades and in France. His only connection to his past life in Sherwood Forest is his faithful companion, Little John (Nicol Williamson). However, Richard the Lionheart is now dead and a war-weary, middle-aged Robin decides to return to England. His first priority: rekindle his relationship with Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn). However, if he figured on a peaceful life he didn't bargain on the machinations of the Sheriff of Nottingham and King John.Sweet, poignant yet action-filled movie. Quite an original angle to the Robin Hood story. Almost every Robin Hood movie ends with Richard the Lionheart returning to England and Robin the hero, set to live happily ever after with Maid Marian. Setting this in Robin's middle-age makes for an interesting storyline.Good action sequences and some quirky, understated humour too. Some of the comedic moments are very out-of-the-blue.Moreover, a quite emotional movie - the final few scenes especially so.Not all good. Can be a bit clumsy at times. This is sometimes the result of trying to be a comedy and a drama at the same time.Solid performances by Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn in the lead roles. Good work from a star-studded supporting cast which includes Richard Shaw, Richard Harris, Ronnie Barker, Denholm Elliott and Ian Holm.

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)

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.