Robin Hood (1973)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Wolfgang Reitherman

Writers:

Larry Clemmons (story)
Ken Anderson (character and story conceptions)

Release Date:

8 November 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Meet Robin Hood and his MERRY MENagerie!

Plot:

The story of the legendary outlaw is portrayed with the characters as humanoid animals.

Plot Keywords:

Robin Hood | Forest | Sherwood Forest | Animal | Outlaw

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Brian Bedford	...	Robin Hood (voice)
Phil Harris	...	Little John (voice)
Andy Devine	...	Friar Tuck (voice)
Monica Evans	...	Maid Marian (voice)
Carole Shelley	...	Lady Cluck (voice)
Peter Ustinov	...	Prince John / King Richard (voice)
Terry-Thomas	...	Sir Hiss (voice)
Pat Buttram	...	The Sheriff of Nottingham (voice)
Roger Miller	...	Alan-a-Dale (voice)
George Lindsey	...	Trigger (voice)
Ken Curtis	...	Nutsy (voice)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone Sound Recording)

Certification:

Peru:PT | West Germany:o.Al. (w) | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:All | South Africa:A | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G | Canada:G

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The University of Southern California fight song, "Fight On," is played during the chase scene after the archery contest. "On Wisconsin," the fight song of the University of Wisconsin is also used during the "football" sequence of this scene.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the 'fortune telling' scenes in the beginning of the film, Prince John's crown changes from having all red jewels to having red and green jewels numerous times.

Quotes:

Alan-A-Dale: Well, even though, Prince John offered a huge reward for the capture of Robin Hood, that elusive Rob kept on robbing the rich to feed the poor, and believe me, it's a good thing he did, because what with taxes and all, the poor folks Nottingham were starving to death.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (1990) (V)

Soundtrack:

Love

Disney's Red Headed Step-child

I loved this movie as a kid, as did just about every person I know. So it works for the youngins. As an adult, and an animation fan, I was surprised to learn that this movie is sort of the Disney studio's secret shame. I had nothing but fond memories of it, after all. And I could name at least a dozen Disney films that I would have put ahead of it on my Most Crappy list. I very recently watched it on television after many years, and yes, it is definitely flawed. The quality of the animation is terrible, and the lack of an over arching story makes the whole thing seem frivolous, like it was made for TV and not for a big studio release. There are holes in the narrative, scenes that should exist that don't, and scenes that have no reason to exist that do. And I think the somewhat random decision to cast the film with animals lends to the Saturday morning vibe as well.

But there's enough cool things peaking out from under all the half-assery that rescues the film just enough for it to be enjoyable. Peter Ustinov turns in an excellent, excellent performance as Prince John, at turns hysterical and genuinely nasty. Brian Bedford oozes easy going charm as Robin. He's probably turned in the second most likable performance of the character captured on film. He's just unfortunately delivering it through the poorly animated mouth of a cartoon fox. And though the actual quality of the animation is poor, some of the character animation is pretty clever and expressive. And I have to applaud the choice to add Roger Miller to the mix as a folkie, possibly pot-smoking minstrel rooster. His character adds a cool, Earthy vibe to the proceedings and as others have mentioned, his song, Not in Nottingham, actually sort of works as a blues song. Weird.

So Robin Hood is definitely not the epic tale Disney was capable of churning out in its hey days, but I dug it as a kid, and I still dig it today. You know, looking back at all my reviews on this site, it seems I mostly leap to the defense of classically bad films that I like anyway. That's OK, I guess. Someone has to.