Son of Robin Hood (1959)

Let's be realistic.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The main selling point of this Sherwood yarn is that the expected arrival of Robin Hood's son from Spain turns into a surprise, as Deering Hood(June Laverick) is actually a young woman, who can shoot an arrow as straight as Robin could, and isn't half bad as a swordswoman. It's suggested that she become the new leader of the middle-aged remnants of Robin's band, as he died 10 years ago. Thus, she would be comparable to the female pirate captains in "Anne of the Indies", and "Against All Flags". But, it was argued that the men of Sherwood would generally be uncomfortable with a woman leader. Then, it was decided to make the young, recently arrived, Jamie (David Hedison) the real leader of the band, he assuming her name. He also had exceptional skills in archery, swordplay, and deception. He is also the brother of the Earl of Chester(Marius Goring): expected to be crowned king of England, but who lays rotting in the dungeon of the evil Duke Des Roches( David Farrar) and his henchmen, the Duke hoping to be crowned instead. Jamie and Deering gain entrance to the Duke's castle by posing as the Marquis Duval and his wife. They hope to release the Earl of Chester. After various adventures in the castle, the men of Sherwood battle the Duke's knights and , incredibly, slaughter them. As expected, Jamie and the Duke, still in the castle, have a sword fight to the death, and , as expected, Jamie and Deering fall in love and finish the picture with a passionate kiss.....Be on the lookout for Robin's old buddies Little John, Alan A Dale, and Will Scarlet.....Think you will much prefer the 1938 version of Robin Hood, but this film better fits feminist sensibilities, demonstrating that some women can be skilled tomboys, often comparable to men......See the film at YouTube.

Back when I was a lad the Son Of Robin Hood played as the second feature to some other Fox film on a double bill. Occasionally those second features were something worthwhile even better than the A film they accompanied. This film was definitely not in that category.It's been some 20 years since the Merry Men got disbanded and they're now middle-aged and somewhat gone to seed. But with the death of King John there's a plot afoot to steal the throne by an evil duke played by David Farrar. The rightful heir Marius Goring has been imprisoned by Farrar, but Goring has a brother in David Hedison who will set things right in the Douglas Fairbanks/Errol Flynn tradition, not.You have to have a certain elan to do swashbucklers. Either you have it or you don't. David Hedison best known for being the Captain of the Seaview on the TV series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea just ain't got it. Also his American speech pattern with the British cast sounds jarringly out of place. What worked for Clark Gable in Mutiny On The Bounty doesn't work for Hedison. Then again Mutiny On The Bounty was a much better film, like light years better.Added to that none of the historical characters vying for the throne ever existed. Including Robin Hood or in this case the late Robin Hood. Turns out he died some ten years than the events of this film and he left a daughter June Laverick. She does fill out that Lincoln green suit all right. But she's a girl and those aged Merry Men ain't about to come out of retirement for her.They do for Hedison though as the faux son of Robin Hood and of course the inevitable does happen.Maybe the worst Robin Hood film ever done.

***SPOILERS*** Things haven't been that merry for the merry-men of Sherwood Forest since their fearless and right on target, with a bow & arrow, leader Robin Hood passed away some 10 years ago. It's when the evil Duke Simon Des Roches tried to make a grab at the English throne that the merry-men started to take matters into their own hands. Getting the Earl of Chester the legal successor to the English throne, out of harms way in a safe house in Sherwood Forest the merry-men plan to install him as the new English King when the time is right. It's later that the Earl is captured, on tip from an inside source inside the merry-mens hideout, by Des Roches' men and taken into his castle's dungeon. It's Des Roache's plan to get the Earl to sign away his right to the English throne and thus give it over to himself.It's then that the head of the merry-men Little John gets the good news that the late Robin Hood has a son-Deering-who's residing in sunny Spain who's more then willing to take over his dad's place as the leader of the now not so merry merry-men of Sherwood Forest. It's Little John's plan to get Deering Hood to get the now rejuvenated merry-men to organize a guerrilla war against Des Roches and bring the now in chains and incarcerated Earl of Chester back in power as the King of England! The only stumbling block to Little John's plans is that the son of Robin Hood turned out to be his daughter! This made things even more complicated for Little John and his merry-men then they already were!As things turned the Earl of Chester's younger brother Jamie back from the Crusades showed up in town, or Sherwood Forest, the same time that Deering Hood did. After the sword twirling Jamie dispatched a squad of Des Roches's men who were waiting in ambush to knock off Miss Hood the two changed identities with Jamie taking the part of Deering and Deering becoming his woman companion. Still Des Roches had a ace up his sleeve in having planted a spy among the merry-men who tipped him off on their plans to unseat him from power. That's where Jamie's brother, the Earl of Chester, came in with him knowing just who this undercover operative of Des Roches is. The only trouble here is that the Earl of Chester in being told that Jamie was killed in the Crusades doesn't believe that he's his brother and feels that Jamie is in fact a spy for Des Roches and isn't talking!Lots of action with the merry-men lead by both Jamie & Deering Hood getting their act together and taking on Des Roches and his men after they finally found out who's slipping him classified information to what their plans are. It was Des Roches' big mistake in underestimating Deering Hood's, whom he thought was Jamie, ability to lead the merry-men with the same skill and courage that her late dad Robin Hood did in the past. It was in fact Deering who prevent the plant, or spy, inside the merry-mens compound to get the news to Des Roches on the merry-men, lead by Jamie & herself, impending assault on his fortified castle complex.***SPOILERS*** In the end the merry-men made mincemeat out of Duke Simon Des Roches' men in a two prong attack, by land and and under water, on his castle. It was then that Jamie after rescuing the Earl of Chester, the soon to be anointed King of England, put an end to Des Roches' reign of terror by running him through, with his sword, after a long boring and very unconvincing dueling match with him.

Absolutely, ridiculous tale of Robin Hood's alleged son who is really a girl....don't get too confused.....it confused me at first....tale concerns Robin Hood's offspring who was expected to be a man, who comes back to England to fight, not the Sheriff of Nottingham, but a bird named "DeRoche"......Al Hedison inherits the role of Robin Hood's son as it appears RH did not have a true son.....ridiculous acting, poorly staged action battles and acting worse than "Plan Nine from Outer Space".....in one instance a group of Deroche's men try to corner the men of Sherwood and Robin Hood's daughter shoots an arrow in a man in a tree who was a spotter for DeRoche.....man falls out of tree and no where are the 25 men of DeRoche after the shooting!!!! Cardboard castle walls among the other ditties....want more - son of Robin Hood gets invited to DeRoche's castle and soon starts bedding DaRoche's girlfriend!!!! Whew!!! No recognizable actors of any renown.....Robin Hood's men (25 years older!!!!) wipe out the bad guys along with Hedison......this total production by 1959 standards could not have cost more than $100,000 to make.....where was Peter Cushing in this film???? Go figure.......