I've described this commentary as having a spoiler, just to be on the safe side.
Having just bought the double-sided, full-screen/wide-screen version that is 103 minutes long, and being silly enough to get day-to-day inspiration from the ideal of Robin Hood, I wanted to encourage you all to try to find a copy of "Robin Hood," as it was originally broadcast on the fairandbalanced Fox network, in '91 (or was it '92?)--and see if anyone knows where to buy a copy of the longer original. When it was first shown, I video-taped the broadcast just off an antenna with crummy reception, assuming I'd be able to buy it, eventually. But, it seems the next time they broadcast it and by the time they started selling it, some nice, slightly rude, but merry, vignettes had been cut. I could see why Fox would do it with the televised versions, as a way to get more commercials into a two-hour program; but, why they did not restore the original scenes in the wide-screen version, I cannot imagine.
For an archery buff, "Robin Hood" gives some glimpses of one of the few weapons that helped make the little people a force that could not be dismissed or so easily oppressed. Robin's shooting a wand is as real a portrayal of archery as it gets. There's an odd bit of archery silliness when Emlyn's bow plows an arrow through a Norman helm, i. e., I'm pretty sure the arrow tip is a game tip, rather than the "pile," three-sided wedge used to pierce armor.
For the broad sword buff: "Robin Hood"'s sword play is anything but serious. Compared to, for example, the final fight in "Prince Valiant," between James Mason and Robert Wagner, no one in "Robin Hood" seems to be trying to hit each other. You might note that, as in almost every good guy vs bad guy sword-fight to the death, the good guy wins by stabbing from a low line of attack--a fairly stupid line of attack and somewhat unknightly, I suggest.
Some of the archery goofs and sword-play lameness, might have dimmed the final product for me, were it not for the fulsome humanity of this "Robin Hood." The wit, the merriness, the musical score, the politics and the texture of the characters makes this film somewhat more real and warm than other versions that revolve around the more heroic Robin Hoods.
Within the few extra minutes of the original broadcast, there is a surprisingly amount of the humanity that helps make Robin Hood the heroic ideal that inspires almost everyone faced by travails visited upon them by this or that sheriff-wannabe. S'il vous plait, I recommend you get your hands on the longer version; and, if you do, I very much recommend you email me with where it can be had. Thanks; and, here's to a strong draw and a fair aim.
Having just bought the double-sided, full-screen/wide-screen version that is 103 minutes long, and being silly enough to get day-to-day inspiration from the ideal of Robin Hood, I wanted to encourage you all to try to find a copy of "Robin Hood," as it was originally broadcast on the fairandbalanced Fox network, in '91 (or was it '92?)--and see if anyone knows where to buy a copy of the longer original. When it was first shown, I video-taped the broadcast just off an antenna with crummy reception, assuming I'd be able to buy it, eventually. But, it seems the next time they broadcast it and by the time they started selling it, some nice, slightly rude, but merry, vignettes had been cut. I could see why Fox would do it with the televised versions, as a way to get more commercials into a two-hour program; but, why they did not restore the original scenes in the wide-screen version, I cannot imagine.
For an archery buff, "Robin Hood" gives some glimpses of one of the few weapons that helped make the little people a force that could not be dismissed or so easily oppressed. Robin's shooting a wand is as real a portrayal of archery as it gets. There's an odd bit of archery silliness when Emlyn's bow plows an arrow through a Norman helm, i. e., I'm pretty sure the arrow tip is a game tip, rather than the "pile," three-sided wedge used to pierce armor.
For the broad sword buff: "Robin Hood"'s sword play is anything but serious. Compared to, for example, the final fight in "Prince Valiant," between James Mason and Robert Wagner, no one in "Robin Hood" seems to be trying to hit each other. You might note that, as in almost every good guy vs bad guy sword-fight to the death, the good guy wins by stabbing from a low line of attack--a fairly stupid line of attack and somewhat unknightly, I suggest.
Some of the archery goofs and sword-play lameness, might have dimmed the final product for me, were it not for the fulsome humanity of this "Robin Hood." The wit, the merriness, the musical score, the politics and the texture of the characters makes this film somewhat more real and warm than other versions that revolve around the more heroic Robin Hoods.
Within the few extra minutes of the original broadcast, there is a surprisingly amount of the humanity that helps make Robin Hood the heroic ideal that inspires almost everyone faced by travails visited upon them by this or that sheriff-wannabe. S'il vous plait, I recommend you get your hands on the longer version; and, if you do, I very much recommend you email me with where it can be had. Thanks; and, here's to a strong draw and a fair aim.