Robin Hood * (1991, Patrick Bergin, Uma Thurman, Jürgen Prochnow, Edward Fox, Jeroen Krabbé, Owen Teale) – Classic Movie Review 9867

Director John Irvin’s 1991 Robin Hood is a bleak-toned, extremely gloomy version of the tale, with dour, lacklustre performances from an interesting cast and dark-hued visuals in Jason Lehel’s cinematography.

Saddled with a poor script without much of a new idea or original point of view, director Irving tries for freshness by casting rugged, wild-eyed Irishman Patrick Bergin as Robin and tall, boyish Boston-born Uma Thurman as Marian.

They struggle along with feisty playing, but comic villains Jürgen Prochnow (as Sir Miles Folcanet, aka Sir Guy of Gisbourne), Jeroen Krabbe (as Baron Roger Daguerre, aka the Sheriff of Nottingham) and Edward Fox (as Prince John) vie for the year’s worst performance with silly accents.

The cinema version runs 104 minutes and the TV mini-series version runs 150 minutes. The competition from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves led it to debut on cable in the US despite cinema releases elsewhere.

Also in the cast are Owen Teale (Will Scarlett), David Morrissey (Little John), Danny Webb (Much the Miller), Caspar De La Mare (Sam Timmons the Carpenter), Alex Norton and Gabrielle Reidy.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9867

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