Robert Shaw, eh. Taking the hint? Let me guess (I haven't seen this) - Little John?
Was this one - which passed me by completely - any good?
And here's a tip for a Robin Hood related film you may want to include in your 365; Fellow Traveller, with Daniel ("Pizza Man") Travanti. It says "TV" on the data base, but I definitely saw it at the Corner House. I know because I missed a certain amount of dialogue when someone started talking loudly about Marxism and psychotherapy. Sort of thing that happened and still happens there. Someone almost ruined the Baader Meinhof Syndrome for me with a witty apercu about Marcuse.
Nicol Williamson was Little John. (Which I didn't work out until the final scene when Sean Connery's Robin finally refers to him as Little John.)
Shaw played the Sheriff. Taking the hint? Maybe . . . maybe, but it was more the case that after fidgeting through The Duck Season, I wanted to pick a film that I knew that I was going to enjoy.
I'd definitely recommend this one to you. Wonderful cast. A porridge era Ronnie Barker as Friar Tuck!. Bill Maynard as Mercadier. Richard Harris in a wee cameo as Richard Lionheart reminding me once again that he was on his day a wonderful actor.
And I thought it was a nice/cheeky touch that - and I'm only guessing here - that in light of the fact that Connery was Robin and Williamson was Little John, they gave Barker and Denholm Elliott (as Will Scarlett) accents that were closer to Niddrie than to Nottingham.
Nice evocation of England in the 12/13th century, and you could tell it was a mid seventies film because there was a grimness to some of the scenes and darkness to the storyline itself that would have a hollywood executive bawling and shouting if the film was made any time before or after that period.
I mean, christ, the fact that Connery and Hepburn - both in their mid to late forties at the time - were playing characters who were old. Could you imagine such a novelty today with all those hollywood actors playing 34 in perpetuity? It would be considered career suicide.
An elegiac film.
I actually remember Fellow Traveller. I watched it on tv at the time. (I must have videotaped it at the time, because parts of still remain vivid to this day.)
'Fraid - for me - it doesn't qualify for inclusion in 365Watch because 1) It was definitely on TV before receiving a cinematic release. On BBC2 as part of the Screen 2 season, maybe? 2) And I've already seen it.
Good film as I remember. Wasn't the lead Ron Silver? The hollywood red writer who has to decamp to Britain in the McCarthyite era. In real life, he was one of those liberals who became very hawkish after 9/11. The screenwriter Roger Simon was another.
I remember less of the Silver/Travanti scenes, and more of the scenes involving Silver and the bloke playing the John Garfield type character. That line of dialogue along the lines of 'My boxer shorts are still red, comrade', from the Garfield type character has stuck in my head after all these years.
Another film to recommend to those people who stumble across the blog because they were looking for pictures of ecstasy pills on the internet.
(Another comment that's longer than any recent post on this blog.)
I suspect you are wrong about Fellow Traveller having a TV first release. I think it was one of those films that did a week in places like the Cornerhouse and then got shown on telly. But you may be right. I'm amazed I didn't see Robin and Marian. I was known to stay in of a saturday to watch The Two Ronnies, let alone Porridge (which was a bit earlier.) I even saw most episodes of "Going Straight". I think I might buy it next time I shop at Amazon - it costs less than my monthly edition of Jazzwise, for instance. Fellow Traveller is only on VHS and is currently unavaiable. (Last buy from amazon is a bit of a classic, btw - The Lost Revolution. A history of the Official IRA. Well worth checking out.)
Fellow Traveller is available on a particular bit torrent site - beginning with K - if you're that way inclined. The only problem is that it's difficult to register with that particular site. The door policy is a bit stringent.
Lost Revolution? I had to google that. Is that the Hanley and Millar book? If it is, I remember reading about it over at the Splinty blog:
Looks interesting, but as I've recently picked up two chunky books about Britain in the seventies it will have to be put on my 'books to read if I ever get sent down for a twenty stretch' pile.
6 comments:
Robert Shaw, eh. Taking the hint? Let me guess (I haven't seen this) - Little John?
Was this one - which passed me by completely - any good?
And here's a tip for a Robin Hood related film you may want to include in your 365; Fellow Traveller, with Daniel ("Pizza Man") Travanti. It says "TV" on the data base, but I definitely saw it at the Corner House. I know because I missed a certain amount of dialogue when someone started talking loudly about Marxism and psychotherapy. Sort of thing that happened and still happens there. Someone almost ruined the Baader Meinhof Syndrome for me with a witty apercu about Marcuse.
Nicol Williamson was Little John. (Which I didn't work out until the final scene when Sean Connery's Robin finally refers to him as Little John.)
Shaw played the Sheriff. Taking the hint? Maybe . . . maybe, but it was more the case that after fidgeting through The Duck Season, I wanted to pick a film that I knew that I was going to enjoy.
I'd definitely recommend this one to you. Wonderful cast. A porridge era Ronnie Barker as Friar Tuck!. Bill Maynard as Mercadier. Richard Harris in a wee cameo as Richard Lionheart reminding me once again that he was on his day a wonderful actor.
And I thought it was a nice/cheeky touch that - and I'm only guessing here - that in light of the fact that Connery was Robin and Williamson was Little John, they gave Barker and Denholm Elliott (as Will Scarlett) accents that were closer to Niddrie than to Nottingham.
Nice evocation of England in the 12/13th century, and you could tell it was a mid seventies film because there was a grimness to some of the scenes and darkness to the storyline itself that would have a hollywood executive bawling and shouting if the film was made any time before or after that period.
I mean, christ, the fact that Connery and Hepburn - both in their mid to late forties at the time - were playing characters who were old. Could you imagine such a novelty today with all those hollywood actors playing 34 in perpetuity? It would be considered career suicide.
An elegiac film.
I actually remember Fellow Traveller. I watched it on tv at the time. (I must have videotaped it at the time, because parts of still remain vivid to this day.)
'Fraid - for me - it doesn't qualify for inclusion in 365Watch because 1) It was definitely on TV before receiving a cinematic release. On BBC2 as part of the Screen 2 season, maybe? 2) And I've already seen it.
Good film as I remember. Wasn't the lead Ron Silver? The hollywood red writer who has to decamp to Britain in the McCarthyite era. In real life, he was one of those liberals who became very hawkish after 9/11. The screenwriter Roger Simon was another.
I remember less of the Silver/Travanti scenes, and more of the scenes involving Silver and the bloke playing the John Garfield type character. That line of dialogue along the lines of 'My boxer shorts are still red, comrade', from the Garfield type character has stuck in my head after all these years.
Another film to recommend to those people who stumble across the blog because they were looking for pictures of ecstasy pills on the internet.
(Another comment that's longer than any recent post on this blog.)
I suspect you are wrong about Fellow Traveller having a TV first release. I think it was one of those films that did a week in places like the Cornerhouse and then got shown on telly. But you may be right.
I'm amazed I didn't see Robin and Marian. I was known to stay in of a saturday to watch The Two Ronnies, let alone Porridge (which was a bit earlier.) I even saw most episodes of "Going Straight". I think I might buy it next time I shop at Amazon - it costs less than my monthly edition of Jazzwise, for instance. Fellow Traveller is only on VHS and is currently unavaiable.
(Last buy from amazon is a bit of a classic, btw - The Lost Revolution. A history of the Official IRA. Well worth checking out.)
Fellow Traveller is available on a particular bit torrent site - beginning with K - if you're that way inclined. The only problem is that it's difficult to register with that particular site. The door policy is a bit stringent.
Lost Revolution? I had to google that. Is that the Hanley and Millar book? If it is, I remember reading about it over at the Splinty blog:
Belfast launch for The Lost Revolution
Looks interesting, but as I've recently picked up two chunky books about Britain in the seventies it will have to be put on my 'books to read if I ever get sent down for a twenty stretch' pile.
This best be good - I've picked it up via amazon.
I hope you like it. I'd be surprised if you didn't . . . disappointed even.
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