Here's an offbeat, violent, Spanish version of the classic tale with all the characters and locations present - with the exception of Little John, who has now been renamed simply "Giant". The film is offbeat in that it doesn't offer up the usual adventure staples, like lots of swashbuckling action a la Errol Flynn, dangerous escapes and romance. Instead this is a dark and brooding story with only a smattering of comedy and plenty of horrific deaths and situations. It's been suggested that this is an allegory of Franco's fascist regime at the time in Spain and indeed the film-makers do seem to be putting across a dark moral message with the authority figures depicted as cruel, merciless brutes (the sheriff in particular is an overweight, lazy and violent brute who brutally stabs a man in the chest after being freed from his cell by him).
The entirely Spanish cast is made up of unknowns (at least outside of their native country), with the exception of the bizarrely-named Charly Bravo - whose name seems to pop up in a lot of Spanish and European productions, and the minor appearance of Jose Luis Lifante (LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE) as an evil abbott, who has no speech. The dubbing, however, is better than usual and the acting above average for the genre. The setting is an atmospheric one, enhanced by occasional bursts of period music which really help to set the scene. The only flaw I can see is in the poor lighting; seeing as most of the film takes place in the dark, this makes for an eye-straining experience.
Being a Spanish film you come to expect odd out-of-place moments and ROBIN HOOD NEVER DIES has plenty of such scenes. There's a corpse which laughs in its coffin and springs to life, and a man who dresses up as a medieval dragon and chases after a guard spitting sparks and flames! In no other Robin Hood films are there scenes like the macabre sight of the bodies of the Merry Men hanging from tree branches in a wooded clearing. The finale, which involves the storming of the sheriff's castle, is mildly exciting if again a little too dark, and the conclusion is open-ended for a sequel which never came. Indeed this entire film feels just like one episode in a long-running saga and stands alone as one of the oddest Robin Hood films out there. As such, it is recommended by myself, but only to the genre fan with a real dedication for tracking down rare films as this is one of the hardest to find.
The entirely Spanish cast is made up of unknowns (at least outside of their native country), with the exception of the bizarrely-named Charly Bravo - whose name seems to pop up in a lot of Spanish and European productions, and the minor appearance of Jose Luis Lifante (LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE) as an evil abbott, who has no speech. The dubbing, however, is better than usual and the acting above average for the genre. The setting is an atmospheric one, enhanced by occasional bursts of period music which really help to set the scene. The only flaw I can see is in the poor lighting; seeing as most of the film takes place in the dark, this makes for an eye-straining experience.
Being a Spanish film you come to expect odd out-of-place moments and ROBIN HOOD NEVER DIES has plenty of such scenes. There's a corpse which laughs in its coffin and springs to life, and a man who dresses up as a medieval dragon and chases after a guard spitting sparks and flames! In no other Robin Hood films are there scenes like the macabre sight of the bodies of the Merry Men hanging from tree branches in a wooded clearing. The finale, which involves the storming of the sheriff's castle, is mildly exciting if again a little too dark, and the conclusion is open-ended for a sequel which never came. Indeed this entire film feels just like one episode in a long-running saga and stands alone as one of the oddest Robin Hood films out there. As such, it is recommended by myself, but only to the genre fan with a real dedication for tracking down rare films as this is one of the hardest to find.