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Robin Hood (1973 film)

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Robin Hood
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWolfgang Reitherman
Written byLarry Clemmons
Ken Anderson
Produced byWolfgang Reitherman
StarringBrian Bedford
Peter Ustinov
Phil Harris
Pat Buttram
Music byRoger Miller
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release dates
November 8, 1973
Running time
83 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,500,000
Box office$9,500,000

Robin Hood is an animated film produced by the Walt Disney Studios, first released in the United States on November 8, 1973. It is the twenty-first animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.

Plot summary

King Richard of England departs for the Holy Land to take part in The Crusades, but during his absence his greedy and treacherous brother Prince John attempts to usurp the throne. He abuses the king's power in order to steal treasure from the peasants, who are left impoverished and losing hope. It is at this time that Robin Hood, along with his best friend and sidekick Little John, take up the mantle of assisting the oppressed population by taking back the riches the Prince stole and returning it to the poor. The peasants hail Robin as a hero, while a bounty is put on his head by Prince John who declares them both outlaws.

The story begins as Robin Hood and Little John run from the Sheriff of Nottingham, who has ambushed them with a team of archers. After narrowly escaping, Robin Hood and Little John happen upon the royal entourage which is taking Prince John and his counsellor, Sir Hiss, to Nottingham in order to tax the people there. Disguised as female fortune-tellers, Robin and Little John effectively steal all the gold they can carry and run off into the forest, leaving Prince John sucking his thumb in humiliation.

In Nottingham, Robin uses Friar Tuck to smuggle the stolen gold back to the peasants. Disguised as a blind beggar, Robin visits a poor rabbit family in the middle of a birthday celebration and gives a boy named Skippy a bow and arrow as a birthday present. Skippy runs outside to try it out, but points it too high and accidentally shoots the arrow over the castle wall. He sneaks in to retrieve it and meets Maid Marian. She reveals that she and Robin had once been childhood friends, but were forced to part ways when she moved to London. Now that she is back, she is worried that Robin has forgotten all about her.

But she is mistaken: Robin can't stop thinking about her. Little John doesn't see why Robin can't just "sweep her off her feet" and marry her, but Robin doesn't believe it will work so long as he is an outlaw. They are interrupted by Friar Tuck who brings word of an archery tournament Prince John is holding the next day. When Robin hears that the winner will receive a kiss from Maid Marian, he takes off in spirals of happiness to prepare for the tournament.

The next day, Robin enters the tournament disguised as a stork from Devonshire and takes his place among the archers, while Little John scopes out the crowd by getting a place next to Prince John's seat, disguised as a duke. Robin Hood manages to narrowly win the tournament, but unwittingly gives himself away to Prince John with his unorthodox skills. When Robin approaches the Prince to receive his prize, he is seized and tied up by the guards as Prince John orders him to be executed. Marian pleads for Robin's life, but it is only after Little John sneaks up behind the Prince and threatens him with a dagger that Robin is ordered to be set free. The Sheriff, sensing trouble afoot, discovers Little John. A huge fight breaks out, and in the confusion Robin Hood escapes with Marian into the forest. That night, they enjoy a sweet romantic moment and return to Robin's camp, where Robin proposes to Marian and she accepts. The villagers, Little John and Friar Tuck find them at the camp and assemble to celebrate their victory at the tournament. In a wild party, the villagers sing a fun song about how much they despise Prince John.

This leads to trouble later on, as the insulting lyrics eventually reach Prince John via the Sheriff and Sir Hiss (who also laugh their heads off about it until Prince John himself emerges). Seething with rage, John triples the taxes, making the bleak situation in Nottingham even worse. Things come to a head one night when the Sheriff steals money from the church and Friar Tuck attacks him in a righteous outrage. The Sheriff arrests him. Prince John plans to hang the friar, knowing that this will lure Robin into the castle to try and rescue him. Indeed, Robin Hood, disguised again as the beggar, learns of Tuck's fate and decides that a jail break is the only chance he will have to escape the gallows.

Later that night, Robin and Little John infiltrate the castle and manage to free not only Tuck but all the other villagers as well who were imprisoned. As Little John leads them out of the castle, Robin slips into the treasury--Prince John's bedroom--and makes off with all the bags of gold. Prince John and Sir Hiss catch him in the act, and Robin is pursued all through the castle by the guards and the Sheriff, wielding a torch. In the ensuing chaos, the castle bursts into flames and Robin is trapped on the roof of one of the towers. He dives into the moat, followed closely by a volley of arrows. Little John and Skippy believe Robin to be dead, but then Robin emerges from the water, greatly upsetting Prince John. Later, one bright sunny day, King Richard returns and “straightens everything out.” Robin and Marian are finally married, while Prince John, Sir Hiss, and the Sheriff are sentenced to hard labor in the royal rock pile.

Production

As the film allotted a small budget, the artists referenced footage from previous animated features. A dance sequence in the film was traced from a sequence originally produced for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.[1] This is most noticeable during the song-and-dance number, "The Phony King of England"; the characters' movements strongly resemble those from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A notable example is that the section where Little John and Lady Cluck dance together mirrors part of the song "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book with Baloo and King Louie respectively. Other examples include Robin Hood and Maid Marian mirroring the dancing movements of Thomas O'Malley and Duchess during the song "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" from The Aristocats and Maid Marian mirroring the dancing movements of Snow White during the song "The Silly Song" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The animation of Little John, the bear in Robin Hood, is nearly identical to that of Baloo in The Jungle Book. However, Little John more closely resembles a brown or grizzly bear, and Baloo was based on an Indian Sloth Bear. Both characters were voiced by actor Phil Harris, and have similar personalities, though Little John seems a far more responsible character than the "jungle bum" Baloo. Because Maid Marian dances the same moves that Snow White does, she was animated to wear a petticoat instead of bloomers. The robe that Prince John wears, and the crown worn by the puppet version of himself, are the same robe and crown the king wears in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. In addition, Robin Hood's costume (green tunic and feathered cap) is similar to that of 1953's Peter Pan, sometimes leading to confusion between the two characters. At the end of the movie, a sound clip of the church bells ringing in Cinderella was used for the wedding church bells. During the beginning of the film, Sir Hiss mesmerizes Prince John with his eyes. This was the same type of ability Kaa the Indian Python had in Disney's 1967 film, The Jungle Book. This short scene may be another re-use of older animation; Hiss looks similar to Kaa.

At one point, one of the elephants who act as heralds for Prince John attempts to trumpet a warning. Lady Kluck grabs the trunk, preventing the trumpeting and leaving the elephant flapping his ears ineffectually. The same joke was used in The Jungle Book, with identical sound. The vultures in the movie are identical to the ones in The Jungle Book. The movie also reuses the same animated shots several times, including those of the rhinos walking and running and those of Sis and Tagalong Rabbit (Skippy's siblings) and Toby Turtle (his friend, a turtle) laughing. Several animated clips of the Sheriff of Nottingham are also recycled at different points in the film.

Initially, the studio considered a movie about Reynard the Fox. However, due to Walt Disney's concern that Reynard was an unsuitable choice for a hero, Ken Anderson used many elements from it in Robin Hood.

Peter Ustinov grew famous playing over-the-top villains. His campy, spoiled, and thoroughly weak-willed portrayal of Prince John is an effective caricature of his own performance as the Roman emperor Nero in the epic film Quo Vadis (1951). John endlessly sulks over his mother's preference for his brother, a grudge marked by thumb-sucking and the reversion to an infantile state. At one point the behavior culminates in the complaint "Mother always did like Richard best". This is an overt reference to a classic comedy routine by the Smothers Brothers, in which Tom Smothers would bewail the maternal favoritism shown to Dick Smothers. In the historical play and film "The Lion in Winter," Richard is indeed shown as being the favorite of their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, while John is the favored son of their father, King Henry II. The music piece during which the rabbit children run outside to play with the bow and arrow Robin Hood gave them is identical to the scene in Bambi in which Faline chases Bambi up the hill to their mothers after seeing each other for the first time.

Peter Ustinov lent his voice to both the original English-speaking Prince John and the Prince John in the German dubbed version of the movie. Phil Harris's voice as Little John is virtually identical to the voice he used for the character Baloo in Disney's The Jungle Book. Both characters were bears and looked generally similar except for their heads and coloring.

Phil Harris and Andy Devine had both appeared on The Jack Benny Program.

The alternate ending (included in the "Most Wanted Edition" DVD) is a short retelling of the story's conclusion, primarily utilizing still images from Ken Anderson's original storyboard drawings of the sequence. As Robin Hood leaps off of the castle and into the moat, he is wounded (presumably from one of the arrows shot into the water after him) and carried away to the church for safety. Prince John, enraged that he has once again been outwitted by Robin Hood, finds Little John leaving the church, and suspects the outlaw to be there as well. He finds Maid Marian tending to an unconscious Robin Hood, and draws a sword to kill them both. Before Prince John can strike, however, he is stopped by his brother, King Richard, having returned from the Crusades, is appalled to find that Prince John has left his kingdom bleak and oppressed. Abiding his mother's wishes, King Richard decides he cannot banish Prince John from the kingdom, but does grant him severe punishment. King Richard returns Nottingham to its former glory (before leaving for the Third Crusade), and orders Friar Tuck to marry Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

A short finished scene from the planned original ending, featuring King Richard and revealing himself to vulture henchmen Nutsy and Trigger, appeared in the Ken Anderson episode of the 1980s Disney Channel documentary series "Disney Family Album." This scene, at least in animated form, does not appear on the "Most Wanted Edition" DVD.

Characters

Voices

A few of the voice-actors utilized in this production are English. However, the creators of the film made the decision to cast quite a number of American character actors in the traditional medieval roles. Many of these individuals were veteran performers from Western-themed movies and television programs, which meant that characters like Friar Tuck and the Sheriff of Nottingham have accents and mannerisms more associated with the rural southeastern United States than with England. This effect was further reinforced by the choice of country singer Roger Miller as the movie's songwriter and narrator.

Music

  1. "Whistle-Stop" written and sung by Roger Miller
  2. "Oo De Lally" written and sung by Roger Miller as Alan-a-Dale the rooster.
  3. "Love" written by Floyd Huddleston and George Bruns Sung by Nancy Adams.
  4. "The Phony King of England" written by Johnny Mercer sung by Phil Harris, featuring dance chorography from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  5. "The Phony King of England Reprise" sung by Terry-Thomas
  6. "Not In Nottingham" written and sung by Roger Miller
  7. "Oo-De-Lally Reprise" Sung by chorus.

On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes "Oo De Lally" on the green disc and "Love" on the purple disc.

The music played in the background while Lady Kluck fights off Prince John's goons in an American football style manner is better known as Fight On, the fight song of the University of Southern California and On, Wisconsin, the fight song of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Although a full soundtrack to Robin Hood has never been released on Compact Disc in the US, a record of the film was made at the time of the film's release in 1973, which included the film's songs, score, narration, and dialogue.

Release

The movie was originally released in 1973, followed by a re-release in 1982. The film was released to videocassette in 1984, 1991 (the first two being in the Walt Disney Classics video line), 1994 and 1999 (these two were in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video line), staying in general release since 1991. In 2000, it was released on DVD in the Gold Classic Collection. On November 28, 2006, the movie was remastered as the "Most Wanted Edition" featuring a deleted scene/alternate ending, as well as a 16:9 matted transfer.

As one of the earliest Disney animated features to be released on home video, it is also one of the few to have been released on every home video format except the new Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, and UMD formats (Disney does not support HD DVD, but does support Blu-ray Disc). It is available on laserdisc, VHS, Beta, CED, and DVD. Portions of the film have also been sold on Super 8 reels, and the full feature film was available for rental on 16 mm film. It has also been shown many times on The Disney Channel during the 80's and 90's.

International release dates

Reception

At the time leading up to its release, Robin Hood had a bit of a burden to carry — many observers were treating it as a benchmark to determine whether or not the studio could carry on without the late Walt Disney, since this was the studio's first animated feature produced without his involvement. Since Disney had attached his name to all his previous films, it rightfully gave the impression that he was the studio's driving force. Robin Hood was very successful upon its initial release, garnering around $9.5 million, the biggest box office total of all the Disney films at the time. Its 1982 re-release brought in even more income.

Critical response was (and remains) somewhat mixed, with some complaining that the film lacked the grandeur, scope or passion of Disney's earlier efforts. Others commended it for its lively characters, witty dialogue, catchy songs, and overall fun atmosphere. At Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 57% "rotten" rating among critics, but a 90% "fresh" rating among users.

Awards

This film received an Academy Award nomination in 1973[2]:´

References

  1. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New American Library. p. 76. ISBN 0-452-25993-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ [1]
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