ROBIN AND MARIAN

US, 1976, 107 minutes, Colour.
Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson, Ronnie Barker.
Directed by Richard Lester.

Robin and Marian is a very melancholic film, from the bleak opening of the cruel caprices of Richard Lionheart through the memory of twenty years of wandering, crusades and massacres, by Robin and Little John to the sad realisation of lost possibilities in the re-uniting of Robin and Marian. They had changed. But England had not. The Sheriff was still there, social oppression and King John's regime. Battles to the death had still to be fought. It is beautifully photographed and well acted, particularly by Sean Connery as the ageing Robin and Robert Shaw as the vindictive, though less bitter Sheriff. Audrey Hepburn is charming. A rueful, sad and pessimistic film.

1. The overall impact of this film? For what audience was it made in the 70s?

2. The legend of Robin Hood and audience expectations? Familiarity with the story and characters? The atmosphere and the values? How were these expectations used and fulfilled? How well?

3. The importance of the legend being taken on twenty years? The challenge to audience imagination? The visual presentation of realism?

4. The colour and atmosphere of the film, the forest. the symbols, such as apples at the beginning and the end. the arrow at the end? The importance of these for meaning?

5. How well did the film set its mood? The initial picture of war. the siege of the town. the plea of the people,, Richard the Lionheart's cruelty. the massacre? How did this set a tone for the rest of the film?

6. How did the film treat the legend? Its homage to heroism? Its presentation of age and ageing? The ludicrous aspects of the legend, the enthusiasm of youth? The mellowing and the cynicism of growing older?

7. Sean Connery as Robin Hood? His impact? His personality and style? How convincing? The talk and the revisiting of Sherwood Forest to make the old days credible? Robin's participation in the Crusades and their effect on him? His speeches about the cruelty and the wars. their uselessness? Robin as a loner? His leaving Marian and then rediscovering her? The comradeship of Little John? The encounter with Richard. being imprisoned by Richard, being present at his death and the impact of this? The importance of the return to England? Trying to recapture the past. the success and the futility? His emphasis~on 'a good day's living'? What insight into Robin Hood. what insight into the legend. what insight into a hero and his recollections of his energetic past?

8. What motivated Robin: as a man, as a soldier. as loyal to the King, antagonism to John, protection of people like Marian, protection of the ordinary people,, social motivation? How well were these illustrated?

9. Robin and his relationship to Marian? How credible was it that he left her? His remembering her again after the years? The nature of their new friendship? Growing into love? The effect on each of them?

10. What kind of person was Marian? The memories of her as a heroine in the older days? Her disappointment in Robin's leaving,, her lack of awareness of what motivated him? The fact that she had attempted suicide. that she had retired to a convent? Her vigorous work as Abbess? Her defiance of the sheriff? The anti-war theme in her personality? Her capacity for anger and love?

11. Audience response to the death? The melancholy of the final futility and failure? The fact that Marian poisoned them both? Robin's unwillingness to die, then accepting it with Marian? Her declaration of loving him beyond everything else? The significance of the arrow. the apples?

12. The importance of the sheriff in this film? The memories of the past, his staying in the one place? His capacity for waiting, for fighting? The fact that he was vindictive but not bitter? His despising of the nobility? Allowing the knight to do the fighting for him until the end?

13. The picture of Richard the Lionheart and the criticism of his image? His cruelty at the massacre, his attitude towards his family and towards John? Imprisoning Robin and John? The significance of his death and the way that it was filmed?

14. The picture of England and the insight into the Mediaeval period? The glamour of the wars and their bitterness? The Crusades? John and the pomp of his court? The sheriff and the Norman knights and their pomposity? The ugly way of life for the ordinary people? Their being pressurized and taxed? Their fleeing into Sherwood Forest and fighting?

15. The importance of the characterization of Little John and his continued companionship? His support of Robin? His memories of the forest? His memories of his family and discovery of their death? His growing old? His final talk with Marian? The characterization of Tuck and Will Scarlett? Their memories and revisiting old scenes? The ordinary people and their admiration for Robin, the way of life in the forest? The nuns and their loyalty to Robin and Marian?

16. The importance of Sir Ranulf and the Norman-Saxon? conflict? His defiance of Robin? His death?

17. The importance of the final battle between Robin and the sheriff? The heaviness of the broadswords and the armour, older men fighting?

18. How important for an exploration of age-old legends is this kind of film? The values that it presents and explores? How much of an entertainment?