Beautiful movie!!!!
What's the matter? Only 6'6 over 10 and no messages about one of the most beautiful love stories ever? Robin and Marian is a great movie, and need more attention!!!
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MovieChat Forums > Robin and Marian (1976) Discussion > Beautiful movie!!!!
Maybe I'm just a dunce, but I didn't understand the ending. The great Robin Hood poisoned by his girlfriend? I was enjoying the movie until that. I would have been angry. Can anybody clarify this for me?
shareI have to say i thought it was ok up until the ending!!
shareThe point of the ending is that the old times (chivalry and adventure) are gone forever, the world has moved on and nothing can return Robin and Marian to the love of their youth. However they found each other again and re-kindled a love which could only live forever in the hereafter. Or something like that anyway!
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Yes, that's how I remember it. Wounds in those days would kill you later, usually the complications like gangrene would get you. So he was a goner, and she helped.
I didn't care for that end when I first saw it, thinking hopefully he could get better. Upon re-viewing the movie, I find it is a fitting end and mostly realistic, however sad. I haven't seen it in awhile, maybe it's time to dust it off.
In the 70's, the Goldman's screenplay for this movie was available as a paperback book. As I recall, in the introduction Goldman explained that he based much of the story on actual medieval ballads concerning the death of Robin. Usually the ballads had Robin dying because of a treacherous act by a woman. In one ballad, the woman was identified as Marion.
Goldman's task, then, was to make this ending work in the context of a romance. I think he solved his puzzle quite admirably.
"What we got here is failure to communicate."
Thanks, Sloe and 141, I couldn't make sense of it, but now I understand. I feel silly for not realizing that he wouldn't recover from those wounds. It's all clear now.
"Thank you for a lovely evening."
Wounds in those days would kill you later, usually the complications like gangrene would get you. So he was a goner, and she helped.
Exactly. Marian knew that Robin was a goner, and rather than watch him die in splitting agony, she decided that she had to make his exit pain-free. The denouement was tragic yet fatalistically appropriate at the same time.
Well, BookNut34, I don't think there is ever a good way to explain it. What I would suggest is that you watch it again and pay close attention to all the dialogues and try to feel the emotion of all the characters. Then you'll get it.
shareI thought the ending was the strongest point of the film. Robin Hood would have survived that wound, but he would have never been the same. This was the end of his adventures and they both knew it. That's why Robin agreed that it was the best way to go. He died in victory rather than as an even older man with creaky bones that wouldn't support him. And it was romantic as hell what Marian said to him, and how he shot the arrow out the window and asked to be buried where it landed. The ending MADE the movie, to me.
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Excellent movie !
The most beautifully mature examination of the Robin Hood legend ever made for film. The negative reaction to this film, especially in the way it is expressed by some of the people on these boards, seems awfully childish to me. I have noticed, though, that when some people are more affected emotionally by a film than they expect to be, they react negatively to the experience. Almost as though they are embarrassed by their reaction. Just a thought.
share Even if he had lived,he was a old man out of his time,he had just killed the sherrif of notthingham and his 2nd in command(little john did any way),he would have had little in the way of men left after the rout of his "army",the friar and will would be executed,leaving him with no friends left,his time had finished,he would be hunted down and suffer a nasty death by hanging,or beheading,she knew this and thus did what she did.
Also i loved how they showed the rabble that was his men,they would obviously have little chance in a fight,it kind of shows how the state is all powerful,and though once he had been able to rob and run those times were over now.
Thats spot on Chris. Alive, Robin was a man out of time, a relic. Dead he's a legend and legends never die.
"The hour is come but not the man"
It's my favorite entry in the Robin Hood film canon as well, and I think that the ending is perfect.
share I first saw 'Robin and Marian' a few months ago, right around a time of great personal sadness and it struck a deep chord with me. I found it very moving and wise, with its observations about the fleetingness of life and glorious deeds and yet ultimately love is what can endure.
About the ending: I for one thought it was very clear that Robin was mortally wounded, and that Marian gives him the poison as a gesture of mercy and love(and there is foreshadowing earlier, such as her line about "I'll do everything for you but mourn." She can't bear to lose him twice, and poisons herself as well). Judging from some of the other comments on these boards... I don't know. Maybe it's not clear enough. Or maybe audiences have just become less attentive.
In any event, I'm glad I'm not the only one who loves "Robin and Marian". It's become one of my favorites, and I think its a testament to its artistry that people are still discussing it.
I tried to dance to Britney Spears/I guess I'm getting on in years
It's interesting to me different people's takes on the ending. I just recently rewatched the movie. To some people it's apparently obvious that Robin was dying anyway and that Marian was providing an act of mercy. I never even knew anyone actually thought that until reading the posts here.
Every time I've watched it I always thought that he was not going to die of that wound and that Marian interceded to force the issue. She did it because she loved him so much and she knew that if he tried to continue on as he had been that there would be greater suffering and tragedy. And she wasn't able to deal with that.
Robin's behavior all through the movie was erratic. On the one hand he talked about having seen too much of war and wanting peace, and on the other he couldn't seem to settle for peace. He got all excited by the prospect of reliving his youth without accepting that he was no longer young and that things had changed.
Marian had seen all that and knew that if Robin didn't die from that wound that day then he'd die in a much messier and inglorious way not far down the road because he was incapable of changing.
I never thought about it in terms of preserving the legend, but I like what some have said on this board about the difference between dying when he did and the legend being maintained versus dying later as an old broken man.
Personally, I've always thought the ending was shocking (the first time I saw it), tragic, beautiful, and fitting. Marian's speech at the end is one of my favorites in any movie, partly due to the lines themselves, but due greatly to how Hepburn delivers them.
I saw this first in 1977, and it has remained one of my favourite movies through the years, although I find the ending so heartbreaking that it's hard to watch.
It seems Marian was always aware that Robin's hope of reliving the past was an impossible dream. Out of love and loyalty, she still follows him to his inevitable death, and lets him go out "in a blaze of glory" rather than being hunted down and executed.
Robins acceptance of his fate is perhaps the finest moment of Sean Connery's acting career, "We never would have had another day like this, would we?"
I find Goldman's letting Marian taking the place of the treacherous nun and making the poisoing an act of love ingenious.
Robins acceptance of his fate is perhaps the finest moment of Sean Connery's acting career,
That and the lines "They say I'm old. Old and grey. But I'm all I ever was" - You can see the fear in his eyes, hear the doubt in his voice. He knows he hasn't much further to run, but doesn't want to admit it. Even to himself.
That's acting.
The church may shout but Darwin roars
An excellent film indeed.
Kay people, I don't begrudge you the thread discussing the merit of the movie, its plot, or the choices of its characters. But if you're going to discuss things like major plot elements, such as HOW THE MOVIE FRIGGIN ENDS, please, please warn innocent imdb surfers like myself that you are playing with major spoilers, either by typing it in the thread heading, or by beginning your post with such!
I was looking forward to watching another Connery film, and now the story is ruined! Please warn about spoilers in the future...