Robin Hood (1991 TV movie)
Encyclopedia
Robin Hood is a 1991 film starring Patrick Bergin
and Uma Thurman
. In the US, the film appeared as a TV movie on the Fox network, the first made for television movie by the network. It was released in cinemas in several countries in Europe
and elsewhere, including Australia
, New Zealand
and Japan
.
Another film using the well-known Robin Hood
story was released theatrically the same year. The film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
, was a Hollywood blockbuster
with a much bigger budget and high-profile stars such as Kevin Costner
.
, concentrating on the struggle between Normans
and Saxons
. Details of the storyline and the identities of the characters differ widely, however, between the two versions.
The 1991 version begins when a miller, who is poaching deer on lands belonging to the King of England
, is detected by a hunting party led by the evil knight
Sir Miles Folcanet (Jürgen Prochnow
). The miller flees the hunting party until he runs into a Saxon earl
, Robert Hode (Patrick Bergin
), and his friend, Will. The miller pleads for help as the Normans arrive and threaten to poke the miller's eyes out. Before they can carry out the punishment, Hode (urged by Will) stops them. Folcanet is enraged and demands that Hode be punished by the local Baron, Roger Daguerre (Jeroen Krabbé
).
Daguerre is Robert's friend and initially orders a light punishment, but Hode feels betrayed, insults Daguerre, and is outlawed as a result. He flees into Sherwood Forest
, meets John Little and the usual cast of Merry Men
, and under the name "Robin Hood" takes up arms and fights against the Norman nobility. Robin also falls for Daguerre's niece, Mariane
(Uma Thurman
), who is promised to Folcanet, and the climax of the film is an attack on Nottingham Castle
to stop the wedding. Unlike many modern versions of the story, King Richard
does not appear at the end, and instead Daguerre is reconciled with Hode and promises a future where Saxons and Normans are treated equally.
, Friar Tuck
, Will Scarlet
and Much the Miller's Son
appear in this version, the traditional Sheriff of Nottingham
and Guy of Gisbourne
have been replaced by original antagonists. The Baron Daguerre takes the Sheriff's place as the scheming, greedy tax collector (though in this version, he is originally Robin's friend), and Folcanet stands in for Guy as the violent, vindictive knight after Robin's head (and Marian's maidenhead
).
It was filmed on location at Peckforton Castle
in Cheshire
, a medieval-style Victorian-era edifice built between 1842 and 1851. Some filming was also done in Frodsham
in Cheshire
, on hill and woodland locations.
Patrick Bergin
Patrick Connolly Bergin is an Irish actor and singer. He may be best-known internationally for playing the menacing husband of Julia Roberts' character in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy and is also known for his role as Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the film adaption of Patriot Games....
and Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
. In the US, the film appeared as a TV movie on the Fox network, the first made for television movie by the network. It was released in cinemas in several countries in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and elsewhere, including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Another film using the well-known Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
story was released theatrically the same year. The film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
, was a Hollywood blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
with a much bigger budget and high-profile stars such as Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
.
Plot
The film shares some of its underlying plot with the famous 1938 swashbuckler, The Adventures of Robin HoodThe Adventures of Robin Hood (film)
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American swashbuckler film directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Filmed in Technicolor, the picture stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Rains.-Plot:...
, concentrating on the struggle between Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
and Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
. Details of the storyline and the identities of the characters differ widely, however, between the two versions.
The 1991 version begins when a miller, who is poaching deer on lands belonging to the King of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, is detected by a hunting party led by the evil knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
Sir Miles Folcanet (Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...
). The miller flees the hunting party until he runs into a Saxon earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
, Robert Hode (Patrick Bergin
Patrick Bergin
Patrick Connolly Bergin is an Irish actor and singer. He may be best-known internationally for playing the menacing husband of Julia Roberts' character in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy and is also known for his role as Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the film adaption of Patriot Games....
), and his friend, Will. The miller pleads for help as the Normans arrive and threaten to poke the miller's eyes out. Before they can carry out the punishment, Hode (urged by Will) stops them. Folcanet is enraged and demands that Hode be punished by the local Baron, Roger Daguerre (Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
).
Daguerre is Robert's friend and initially orders a light punishment, but Hode feels betrayed, insults Daguerre, and is outlawed as a result. He flees into Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest is a Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, that is famous through its historical association with the legend of Robin Hood. Continuously forested since the end of the Ice Age, Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve today encompasses 423 hectares surrounding the village of...
, meets John Little and the usual cast of Merry Men
Merry Men
The Merry Men are the group of outlaws who followed Robin Hood, according to English folklore. An early use of the phrase "merry men" occurs in the oldest known Robin Hood ballad, "Robin Hood and the Monk", which survives in a manuscript completed around 1450. The word "merry" in this and other...
, and under the name "Robin Hood" takes up arms and fights against the Norman nobility. Robin also falls for Daguerre's niece, Mariane
Maid Marian
Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...
(Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
), who is promised to Folcanet, and the climax of the film is an attack on Nottingham Castle
Nottingham Castle
Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham, England. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "'Castle Rock'", with cliffs high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence...
to stop the wedding. Unlike many modern versions of the story, King Richard
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
does not appear at the end, and instead Daguerre is reconciled with Hode and promises a future where Saxons and Normans are treated equally.
Cast
- Patrick BerginPatrick BerginPatrick Connolly Bergin is an Irish actor and singer. He may be best-known internationally for playing the menacing husband of Julia Roberts' character in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy and is also known for his role as Irish terrorist Kevin O'Donnell in the film adaption of Patriot Games....
as Sir Robert Hode / Robin Hood - Uma ThurmanUma ThurmanUma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
as Maid Marian - Jürgen ProchnowJürgen ProchnowJürgen Prochnow is a German actor. His most well-known roles internationally have been as the sympathetic submarine captain in Das Boot , Duke Leto Atreides I in Dune , the minor, but important role of Neo-Stalinist dictator General Ivan Radek in Air Force One and the villain Maxwell Dent in...
as Sir Miles Folcanet - Edward FoxEdward Fox (actor)Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
as Prince JohnJohn of EnglandJohn , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death... - Jeroen KrabbéJeroen KrabbéJeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
as Baron Roger Daguerre - Owen TealeOwen TealeOwen Teale is a Welsh actor.Trained at the Guildford School of Acting, Teale made his television debut in The Mimosa Boys in 1984. He later appeared in Knights of God , Great Expectations , Waterfront Beat and Boon before being cast as Will Scarlet in the 1991 TV movie Robin Hood...
as Will Scarlett - David MorrisseyDavid MorrisseyDavid Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
as Little John - Jeff NuttallJeff NuttallJeff Nuttall was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist sympathiser and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of literary critic A. D. Nuttall.-Life and work:Jeff Nuttall was born in Clitheroe,...
as Friar Tuck - Danny WebbDanny Webb (actor)Danny Webb is a British television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as the prisoner Morse in Alien 3. He has appeared in many famous British television programmes including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Emmerdale Farm, Our Friends in the North, A Touch of Frost, Agatha...
as Much the Miller - Carolyn Backhouse as Nicole, Roger's Mistress
- Barry Stanton as Miter
- Conrad Asquith as Lodwick
- Phelim McDermott as Jester
- Caspar De La Mare as Sam Timmons the Carpenter
- Cecily Hobbs as Mabel
- Gabrielle Reidy as Lily
- Stephen Pallister as Jack Runnel
Characterisation
Although the familiar characters Little JohnLittle John
Little John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
, Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men. The figure of Tuck was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th...
, Will Scarlet
Will Scarlet
Will Scarlet was a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He was present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son....
and Much the Miller's Son
Much the Miller's Son
Much the Miller's Son was, in the tales of Robin Hood, one of his Merry Men. He appears in some of the oldest ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode and Robin Hood and the Monk, as one of the company.Generally he becomes an outlaw when he is caught poaching...
appear in this version, the traditional Sheriff of Nottingham
Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
and Guy of Gisbourne
Guy of Gisbourne
Sir Guy of Gisbourne is a character from the Robin Hood legends of English folklore. In The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne , he hunts Robin for the Sheriff of Nottingham, but Robin kills him and cuts off his head...
have been replaced by original antagonists. The Baron Daguerre takes the Sheriff's place as the scheming, greedy tax collector (though in this version, he is originally Robin's friend), and Folcanet stands in for Guy as the violent, vindictive knight after Robin's head (and Marian's maidenhead
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
).
Historical realism
While still a medieval fantasy, the filmmakers clearly intended this version of Robin Hood's tale to be a more gritty, realistic and historically accurate retelling of the famous legend than is found in the typically glossy and romanticized Hollywood treatment of 'Olde England'. The medieval world shown here is dark, dirty and dangerous.It was filmed on location at Peckforton Castle
Peckforton Castle
Peckforton Castle is a country house built in the style of a medieval castle. It stands in woodland at the north end of Peckforton Hills northwest of the village of Peckforton, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, a medieval-style Victorian-era edifice built between 1842 and 1851. Some filming was also done in Frodsham
Frodsham
Frodsham is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population is 8,982. It is approximately south of Runcorn, 16 miles south of Liverpool, and approximately south-west of Manchester...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, on hill and woodland locations.