Thursday Movie Picks: Outlaws
1) Robin Hood - Disney's version is unapologetically my favorite because I had it on VHS growing up so I watched it over and over.
2) Robin Hood: Men In Tights - I thought this film was SO funny when I was a kid. My dad and I watched it together quite a bit, and I still find it pretty funny now.
3: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - I love how bad this is. The true gem of this film is Christian Slater delivering one of the greatest lines in cinematic history: "Fuck me, he cleared it!"
The Disney version is the only I've seen and I love how they used animals to tells a story everyone is familiar with already.
ReplyDeleteI do too. It's so cute.
DeleteI love a theme within the theme and this is a great one!! My only complaint is that you left out the definitive '38 version with Errol Flynn as Robin Hood & Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian. That's the genuine article.
ReplyDeleteBe that as it may I also have great affection for the Disney film (even if it is animated it's slyly done).
Men in Tights is humorous but it's been so many years since I've seen it my memory is rather foggy.
Prince of Thieves really is a tonal mess with a cast all acting like they are in different movies but somehow it comes together in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Costner is completely wrong as Robin and Slater does little for me but Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is a fetching Maid Marian, Geraldine McEwan a hoot as the hag and best of all Alan Rickman positively and gleefully consuming scenery whole as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
So many ways to go with this! My first impulse was Westerns since their villains are always referred to as outlaws and more modern films as gangsters or criminals but they're all the same thing so I went a different way with a bit of a theme to mine as well.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)-Pussycat Club go-go dancers Varla (Tura Satana), Rosie (Haji) and Billie (Lori Williams) head out to the desert to drag race and raise some hell. When they meet a young hot-rodding couple they dispatch the guy, take the girl hostage and head to the hills on the hunt for rumored hidden fortune guarded by a disabled old letch (Stuart Lancaster) and The Vegetable (Dennis Busch) his hulking infantile son. They blaze in figuring an easy score, but the men have plans of their own. Pure exploitation is one big wild ride.
Deadlier Than the Male (1967)-Glamorous paid assassins Irma (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylva Koscina) entice prominent businessmen with their wiles then off them for big bucks until insurance investigator "Bulldog" Drummond (Richard Johnson) and his mod nephew, Robert (Steve Carlson) jump on their trail. The twosome circles the globe hopping from one exotic locale to the next to bring the lethal lovelies to justice!
The Getaway (1972)-When career criminal Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is refused parole he convinces his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to strike a bargain with corrupt businessman Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson). Benyon agrees to get him sprung on the condition Doc pulls a bank heist with his gang. All goes as planned but double crosses and betrayals abound. The result-Doc and Carol try to flee to Mexico with both the money and their lives crossing Texas as both cops and outlaws pursue them, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. McQueen and MacGraw fell in love during the filming, left their respective spouses and embarked on a high profile tempestuously short-lived marriage.
I've actually never seen the 1939 version which I know is a huge miss for me. I should put that on my Blind Spot list for next year come to think of it. I haven't seen any of your picks but I'm familar with the first, and that's feels like a surprising pick for you!
DeleteThe Adventures of Robin Hood would be a great blind spot pick!! Especially since you like the story. Flynn is so perfect for the part you'd think it was written for him if you didn't know better. He and Olivia were always magic on screen and it has a fantastic supporting cast-Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Una O'Connor and on and on. It's also shot in the most beautifully rich Technicolor.
DeleteFaster Pussycat isn't the type of stuff I usually watch, though I do love those old 50's bad girl drive-in movies that Mamie Van Doren and her ilk appeared in, but the title was just irresistible so I had to check it out. It was something else all right, I won't watch it again but it was fascinating in it's strangeness that one time.
I should replace it with Come and See, the film I put on my prelim list every year, then remove because I know I'll be depressed after watching it.
DeleteI still want to see the animated Robin Hood because I always loved foxes. I love Robin Hood Men In Tights which is so funny....”Abbaaat!” That Kevin Costner flick is beyond horrible. I could not believe how many people loved it and still do. The Maid Marion character appeared somstrong at first and then, just screamed like a little bitch later on.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you haven't seen the Disney version! You must, I love it. lol
DeleteI picked a Robin Hood movie, too, although not any of the three you selected.
ReplyDeleteHeading over to read your post!
DeleteI do like all 3 versions of Robin Hood as I prefer those films than the recent ones that were made. They never took the source material seriously.
ReplyDelete"Fuck me! He cleared it!" That was a good line but the real reason to watch the film is... the late, great Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham. He just stole the film from everyone as I just love the one-liners
I too went with a theme within a theme all dedicated to an outlaw filmmaker.
Rickman was so great in that, awful character excellent performance.
DeleteI love that you went with Robin Hood movies all the way! We even match with the first one :-D
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteLove the theme within a theme! Haven't seen the Disney version or Prince of Thieves, but love Robin Hood: Men In Tights. I think it's one of Mel Brooks most underrated movies.
ReplyDeleteOh man! The other two are musts for very different reasons lol
DeleteHa, love it! I've seen the latter two but never the first. I've got Disney+ so will have to correct that.
ReplyDeleteYes you should!!
DeleteBut the Prince of Thieves was like really popular during the 90s right? And it had like a really popular theme song I remember seeing the music video on TV a lot…I think it was by Bryan Adams?
ReplyDeleteYES Bryan Adams! It was very popular
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