Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Robin Hood, maybe not such a good guy after all?

User avatar
Leo62
Bibliophile
Posts: 1027
Joined: December 2008
Location: London
Contact:

Post by Leo62 » Thu March 26th, 2009, 12:30 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]
Enjoyed Troy too, lots of buff guys..... although Orlando Bloom was too lightweight to make a convincing hero, he was better in Kingdom.[/quote]

I enjoyed Troy too - acceptable as a popcorn movie, as you say. Though it bugged me that they totally cut out the gods and completely changed the end of the story - not for the better IMO :mad:

I guess the debate about authenticity will run and run. I don't mind corners cut and compression of events in order to tell the story - it's not possible to make a film without that. However, on these big-budget movies when gazillions is being spent on sets and costume and effects, you think at least they could get things like clothes, weapons & buildings right!

User avatar
Christina
Reader
Posts: 167
Joined: November 2008
Location: Yorkshire, England
Contact:

Post by Christina » Sat March 28th, 2009, 10:56 pm

To add to the controversy around Robin Hood (and at risk of sounding like a Philistine :-) ), I love the BBC version, the latest series of which began tonight. Originally, I thought it was a lot of slapdash nonsense - with lots of anachronistic language etc. - but, as it has gone on, I think it really captures the essence of the myth of Robin Hood as the symbol of the English rebel standing up for real values. The purists are, apparently, most distressed by the introduction of the (fabulously attractive :-) ) black actor David Harewood as Friar Tuck.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 989329.ece

However, apart from Robin having a northern accent (which I appreciate :-) ) and the new Brother Tuck being a martial arts expert (okay, it doesn't fit historically) I love the underlying message of the programme about all England once stood for and how excessive taxation has brought the country to its knees. The whole interpretation makes the series relevant and -beyond the glib lines and slapdash stuff - seems to speak to something in the English psyche about this long-awaited/lomg-lost hero (be it Herne the Hunter or Arthur or Robin Hood) who will somehow come back and restore everything. I think it speaks to that little Arthur/Robin/Herne in all of us. And I really like this altogether different Friar Tuck!

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Sun March 29th, 2009, 2:59 am

It was that atavistic and mystic Herne/forest spirit thing which appealed to me about "Robin of Sherwood", helped along by Clannad's plangent Celtic music.

As far as medieval realism goes, I think that it's hard to beat my copy of the "Brother Cadfael series based on the books by Ellis Peters, and starring Derek Jacobi. It's always wet and muddy, life is short and often brutal, and many of the characters are authentically snaggle-toothed and suffering skin complaints!

User avatar
Margaret
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 2440
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
Contact:

Post by Margaret » Sun March 29th, 2009, 4:21 am

The Brother Cadfael TV series was superb. Filmed in Hungary, I believe. The sets were terrific. And so was the sheriff. And of course Derek Jacobi is incapable of doing anything less than a stellar acting job.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

User avatar
Madeleine
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Sun March 29th, 2009, 11:31 am

I watched one of the Cadfaels the other day, The Holy Thief, it was OK but not one of the best stories.

User avatar
Christina
Reader
Posts: 167
Joined: November 2008
Location: Yorkshire, England
Contact:

Post by Christina » Sun March 29th, 2009, 10:56 pm

Cadfael was brilliant, wasn't it? You could almost smell the herbs and potions! Derek Jacobi's performance was, of course, brilliant! There was a lot to learn, too, about those old remedies :-) .

User avatar
SarahWoodbury
Avid Reader
Posts: 496
Joined: March 2009
Location: Pendleton, Oregon
Contact:

Post by SarahWoodbury » Mon April 6th, 2009, 3:34 pm

My mother makes a joke (okay, and we're American for all the British on this board), that there are about 12 great British actors and they go from movie to movie. Let's see: Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson . . .

We homeschool and at one point watched Sense and Sensibility, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice, and the hilariously campy Kevin Costner Robin Hood, just to see Alan Rickman play the Sheriff (see back on topic!).

I liked Kingdom of Heaven--but the director's cut makes SO much more sense than the cinema version, which you kind of have to watch through half-slitted eyes.

User avatar
Lauryn
Reader
Posts: 175
Joined: April 2009
Location: Vancouver, CA

Post by Lauryn » Tue April 21st, 2009, 7:30 am

I loved Alan Rickman's Sheriff: "You. My room. 10:30 tonight. <points to next girl> You. 10:45... And bring a friend." He was so manic in that moment, I was certain he'd be too drunk by then to remember why the parade of women had suddenly started! :D
Even the mighty oak was once just a nut that held its ground.

Post Reply

Return to “Chat”