Last week I talked a little about a movie with Dustin Hoffman as an ex-con trying to to straight, so I thought I'd follow that up with a movie with Dustin Hoffman as a guy who's broken away from his criminal past and gone straight for more than 20 years. He thought for sure he was out, but he gets pulled back in.
It happens because of his son, played by Matthew Broderick. The patriarch in the family, Sean Connery, is an unregenerate rogue and crook, so for 23 years Hoffman has kept his son away from his grandfather. But genetics is a terrible thing. Broderick is fascinated by his grandfather. He drops out of college and tells Connery about a simple caper that will pay off hugely. Connery's all for it, and he finally manages to persuade Hoffman to take part. Would it surprise you to learn that things to go as planned?
I'm not going into specifics here, but some get off more lightly than others as a result of the flubbed caper. The last act of the movie is pretty much a mess, and there are a couple of plot holes that are worrisome. Still, there's a great cast and a great director, Sidney Lumet. So it's not a total loss. Judy and I went to see it in the theater, not knowing what to expect but thinking that with the cast it had, the movie would be great. It's not great. It's sort of middling, or that's my take on it. Considering all the talent involved, it should've been better. Maybe you like it more than I do.
I get all verklempt just thinking about this movie. It's not the Robin Hood of Errol Flynn at all. Or maybe it is. The thing is that Robin (Sean Connery) and Marian (Audrey Hepburn) and the Merry Men are much older now. Everyone else is, too, but they're still around, including King John (Ian Holm) and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw).
The movie opens with a scene that's quite unflattering to Richard the Lionheart (Richard Harris). When Robin and Little John (Nicol Williamson) refuse his orders to take a castle that's home to some women and children and one old man, Richard has the inhabitants killed and orders the execution of Robin and Little John. It doesn't happen, though, and Richard himself dies. Robin and Little John go home to England, where King John is still causing problems and where Marian has become an abbess. Naturally there is trouble, and naturally Robin is caught up in it.
[SPOILER ALERT] Robin and the sheriff eventually engage in single combat. Robin is wounded and taken to the abbey where Marian takes poison and gives him some to drink as well. [END OF SPOILER ALERT]
You probably all read the spoiler, or maybe you've seen the movie. If so, you know why the movie wasn't a huge hit. It has just about everything it needs -- fine performances from all concerned, action, a good story -- but the ending is not the kind of thing guaranteed to get people into the theater It's a fine, elegiac conclusion, but it didn't send people out with a song in their hearts. Really good movie, though.
