Filmgoers my age will have seen a good many more than that. The first is that most will by now be familiar with the story and its characters, and will probably have already watched at least one screen adaptation already. Sound familiar?ĭespite the enduring nature of this story and its continuing relevance as a revolutionary socialist parable, any new film built around these characters is going to have to deal with a couple of issues. Often, the Sheriff is shown to be oppressing the local populace and forcing them to pay ruinous taxes, not to provide decent public services or to help the less fortunate, but to line the pockets of the ruling elite. Their nemesis is the Sheriff of Nottingham, who in some versions of the story is working directly for evil Prince John, who has enlisted the Sheriff’s assistance to usurp the King. The group they form hides out in the dense woodland of Sherwood Forest and remain loyal to King Richard, who’s off fighting in the Crusades, an ignoble religious endeavour that I’d happily have seen fail. Ballads recounting their adventures will be sung by the annoyingly musical Alan-a-Dale, * and we can expect to meet a skilled swordsman named Will Scarlet and a young fighter named Much, the Miller’s Son. We know Robin will meet, verbally spar with but ultimately romance Maid Marian, and we expect him to enlist the services of a big strong fellow named Little John (because he’s big, geddit?), and that he’ll recruit a rotund monk named Friar Tuck (so named because he likes to eat – who wrote this stuff?). The story offers opportunities aplenty for combat-based action, and features characters that viewers will at the very least be aware of even before they lay down their cash to watch the movie adaptation in question. And of course, Robin Hood has the instant appeal of being an already widely recognised and thus highly commercial brand name. Instead we’ve been gifted a dopey stand-in for the Sheriff of Nottingham.įor Hollywood, the attraction of the tale was always the popular image of the little guy taking a stand against evil overlords and seemingly impossible odds, a grounded superhero story first coined long before superheroes were even a twinkle in the eye of comic book writers. If ever there was a time when a modern day Robin Hood was needed, its right bloody now, preferably running the country. As we enter a cost of living crisis that is set to plunge millions into poverty while billionaires untainted by social conscience continue to expand their wealth, whatever the human cost, I can’t help thinking that a modern-day incarnation of Robin Hood would very quickly become the folk hero of legend. It’s a timely tale for these troubled times. Hood famously stole from the rich to feed the poor, the sort of redistribution of wealth that conservatives the world over deplore and are bribed by big business to vehemently oppose. I’ve always been a bit surprised by Hollywood’s love affair with the English legend of Robin Hood, given that one of the things he is most well-known for is something that corporate America openly despises. Slarek dons his Lincoln green threads, joins the rebels and heads into the woodland… While Tuck almost always has an issue with alcohol he clashes with the corrupt and less devout clergymen who betray Robin or/and are robbed by the Merry Men.Ī Robert Stafford of Sussex is recorded in two royal writs to have used the alias Frere Tuk in 1417.The legend of Robin Hood and his Merry Men has inspired a whole slew of movies, two of which have been brought together on Blu-ray by Indicator in a richly featured 2-disc package, ROBIN HOOD AT HAMMER: TWO TALES FROM SHERWOOD FOREST. As Robin was a devout Catholic having a clergyman in the forest where he and his men were living was very handy. Like Maid Marian the crossdressing swordswoman who married Robin Friar Tuck was a character who developed separately from the Robin Hood stories and was later adapted in.Īfter Robin robbed him and forced Tuck to carry him on his back to tire out the stubborn clergyman Friar Tuck ended up serving as chaplain to Robin's band of outlaws in the greenwood.
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