MovieChat Forums > Robin and Marian (1976) Discussion > The Ending

The Ending

posted 20 years ago by dadoo4050
21 replies | jump to latest

Some have expressed dismay over the ending of this movie. I placed this comment in a different post, but thought I would repeat it here.

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 Marian.

Goldman's task, then, was to make this ending work in the context of a romance. I think he solved his puzzle quite admirably.

[–] persistenceofvision 20 years ago

I cry like a baby every time I see the end of this movie. Nothing to be proud of, but there it is. Got to be one of Connery's best performances ever.

[–] frankrodgers-1 20 years ago

do you have what marion says to robin at the end (word for word)?

[–] dadoo4050 20 years ago

MARION: I love you more than you know.

I love you more than children, more than fields I've planted with my hands.

I love you more than morning prayers, or peace, or food to eat.

I love you more than sunlight, more than flesh or joy, or one more day.

I love you more than God.

ROBIN: I'll never have a day like this again--will I?

MARION: (Shakes head)

JOHN BURSTS THROUGH DOOR

[–] Tanu Tuva 20 years ago

I think the first part is "I love you more than watching children play".

And then just before John comes in:

ROBIN: Oh, it's better this way.

MARION: (nods)

ROBIN: Marion! (reaches for her hand, and she reaches back)

Then John comes in and sits on the bed and says, "No! No!". Remember what he said to Marion the night before, when she asked him to stop Robin from fighting? "Me, say no to Rob?" Nice touch.

[–] josta59 19 years ago

I just saw this for the first time, and I don't understand this ending. Did Robin's men make it? I guess one must assume they did. I wish I had some idea of why Marian would decide to poison them both. She seemed sane to me until then. She loved him so much that she couldn't bear to go on living, or let him live, either? I'm one of the most romantic people I know (I cried when their romance began anew because it made me want to see my true love that I had to move away from), but I can't understand this at all. Any ideas?

"Thank you for a lovely evening."

[–] spam-268 19 years ago

> Did Robin's men make it?

Uh, I don't think so. The ending is a tragedy, all around.

[–] bullit2513 19 years ago

I was completely taken by surprise when Marian poisoned Robin. I really didn't see it coming at all. At first, I didn't like this ending but after thinking about it, I guess it fits.

As for the "Merry Men," I don't think they made it. The last we see of Friar Tuck and Will Scarlett is the duo back-to-back with two soldiers guarding them with swords. Who knows, maybe Will played them a song and they let them go? Wishful thinking.

"I don't mean to be a sore loser, but if when it's over, I'm dead, kill him." Butch Cassidy

[–] markcwilliamson 19 years ago

You just don't get the ending. Basically it's a bit like the view expressed at seeing james dean's funeral: "good career move". In short going out in a blaze of glory rather than being hunted down and executed. Though it's not made clear the extent of robin's wounds though, perhaps they're more severe than we know and that a lingering death awaits.He goes out at the height of his success. Glad to see that the ending has the same effect on you, the tears pour out every time I see the film. I also think that the director started out to make a spoof of the legend, but the strength of the myth ensured that by the end its heroic status triumphed over cheap comedy.

[–] bballamanda 19 years ago

at first i was pissed at the end. then it seemed like a romeon and juliete story. it was sooooo sad. but really, it all made sense.

[–] sakman1220 19 years ago

At the beginning, I thought it was a disappointing ending. I thought it didn't make sense and was kind of lame, but when Robin says "Take us were the bow falls" or something like that, those words just sounded so right and besides there are so many things that are left unsaid like: what happens to robin?? will marian die after drinking the poison?? what happened to robin's men?? etc. so it makes you think about the movie over and over again...

[–] msmaggie007 19 years ago

Both the tragic ending and Robin's last, defiant arrow shot are drawn directly from authentic Robin Hood ballads of the 14th and 15th centuries.

Just thought you'd all like to know that THIS is how they say he died.

I too cry and cry at the end. It is so beautiful. *sniff*

[–] jholtgym 19 years ago

the ending is perfect.....if you recall, the arrow just goes up and up and up into the sky.....fadeout.....the lovers pass from life to legend....just as it was and should be......lovely

[–] joekiddlouischama 19 years ago

The tragic ending was fatalistically appropriate and a brave move in the face of commerical pressures.

[–] nqa1972 19 years ago

Perhaps its just me, but I have a different take on the poisoning and why she did it.

All through the film Robin may talk of how he's tired of fighting and killing, but in reality he still seems to be on a quest for justice and honour. That's great, but in reality he's on a quest which is always going to be lost, John is king and there is no Richard on the horizon who is about to return and free the Saxons.

All Robin does is is encourgae impressionable people to follow him into battles that are always going to be lost and his followers killed. Not only can he not win, but in loosing he's continually going to cause great suffering.

Marion realises that. The only way to stop Robin and save the lives of those who'd follow his crusades is ultimately to kill him. But she still loves him and cannot live with his death, so she committs suicide (a mortal sin) and explains she 'loves him more than God' as her defence for suicide.

[–] dadoo4050 19 years ago

In the larger context, John turns out to be such a rotten King that his own lords force him to sign the Magna Carta, giving some rights to the landed gentry that had been solely the King's during those good old days of "Divine Right of Kings."

This didn't really help the peasants that the film has Robin fighting for at the time, but it was among the first steps toward recognizing basic rights for all people.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bloopville 18 years ago

One of the things that most people clearly seem to be missing is the "Tom Horn" element. That is when a former hero becomes not just aged and past his glory, The hero becomes an anachronism. His heroic values don't fit the times. This is why, even more than Little John, Robin's best "friend", the man he truly admires, is actually the Sheriff of Nottingham, because only his arch foe understands the clash of duties that pitted two noble characters against each other. It wasn't just that Robin's best day had passed. With the death of the Sheriff, King Richard and a cause worth fighting for, his purpose was over.

And, yes, the untrained rabble are pitilessly slaughtered in the end, like they always are in real life.

[–] DD-931 18 years ago

I think just about everybody who explains why this movie ends the way it does is right on the money. Especially when it comes to the fact that this is how Robin Hood died in the legends. But I do find it curious that so many people just naturally assumed Robin would survive his wounds from the fight with the Sheriff. In the day and age of the story, people usually died from such wounds, and quite slowly and painfully too (Even if Robin wasn't ready to accept that fact yet).

Or do some people just think John should've taken him to the nearest ER?

[–] Udo666 18 years ago

"In one ballad, the woman was identified as Marian."

Does anybody know what special ballad he meant?

The Ending is just perfect. I love it so much because it is so different from all the other typical heroic endings, where the hero kills the villain and everyone is happy again. This one is so much better.

[–] dadoo4050 18 years ago

I found a copy of the paperback by Goldman on Amazon just to check this out. In his introduction, Goldman writes:

"Then, one day, I came across a ballad which I have since been unable to locate. But I remember it. It was short and fragmentary and unlike all the onthers. What it said was this.

. . .

"John half-carries Robin to the abbey. He pounds on the abbey door. It opens. The abbess stands there: Marian."

Source: Goldman, William. "Robin and Marian." New York: Bantam Books, 1976. (p. 19).

(Sorry, this was printed before ISBN #'s became available. The book can be had for less than $5 through used-book outlets. Worth it for the introduction which describes Goldman's creative process, and the hoops one must jump through to get a film produced.)

"Dadoo4050: and who, disguised as a mild-mannered schoolteacher. . ."

[–] vpilutis 16 years ago

In a TV special some years back where they spoke of legends they had something about Robin having been real and killed by a friend or family member for betraying a another friend

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