The Sexism of Sherwood Forest
It's been 10 years since Robin Hood died and the evil Duke Simon Des Roches (David Farrar) has an evil plan afoot to steal the English throne from the rightful successor the Earl of Chester (Marius Goring). Little John (George Woodbridge) and the remaining Merry Men do their best to prevent Des Roches plans but are unaware that they have a traitor in their midst and when they try to protect the Earl of Chester Des Roches men get the jump on them and capture the Earl. It is then that the Merry Men learn that some time before Robin passed he fathered a child who whilst living in Spain wishes to follow in their father's footsteps and come to England to join the cause. Except Robin's offspring Deering Hood (June Laverick) is in fact a daughter rather than the son that the Merry Men expected. Whilst Deering Hood lacks her father's skill the arrival of Jamie (David Hedison), the Earl of Chester's brother proves beneficial as he has the skills and he and Deering switch places to bring the fight to Des Roches and his men in order to save the Earl and the throne.
It is a long standing joke that when the men behind the movies run out of ideas for a franchise they do away with the central character and bring in the son to take over, only ever extending the franchise realistically for one more movie. That is exactly what "Son of Robin Hood" is with Robin Hood dispatched except it tries to be clever by giving us Robin's daughter and the Merry Men's sexist confusion that an heir would automatically be a son. But whilst it tries to be clever the truth is that it is a weak way to give us another "Robin Hood" movie.
In truth whilst we have Deering Hood the hero the real swashbuckling hero is Jamie played by David Hedison. It makes "Son of Robin Hood" a routine "Robin Hood" style movie where we have the skulduggery of Des Roches and the band of men putting a stop to his evil doings. We also get some romance as Jamie is attracted to Deering all of which is what you would have found in any other Robin Hood movie of the time with none of it being original.
What it really means is that we get some swashbuckling action with a touch of confusion as Des Roches and his men also think that Jamie is in fact Robin Hood's son. But it does get all a little daft the longer it goes on and whilst David Hedison does fun & flirty whilst June Laverick is plucky and attractive it really struggles to keep you entertained.
What this all boils down to is that "Son of Robin Hood" is now one of those movies which you watch if you are looking to watch ever Robin Hood movie or follow one of the actors in it. But if you watch it for some swashbuckling style action it is likely to come up short and daft in the way it tries to convolute things to make it interesting.
Tags: Robin Hood Movies