Robin Hood (film)

Robin Hood (film)
Directed by	Wolfgang Reitherman
Produced by	Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring	Phil Harris Andy Devine Peter Ustinov Terry-Thomas Brian Bedford Monica Evans Carole Shelley Pat Buttram Roger Miller
Music by	George Bruns Roger Miller
Studio(s)	Walt Disney Productions
Distributor	Buena Vista Distribution
Released	November 8, 1973
Running Time	83 Minutes (1:23:02)
Language	English
Preceded by	The Aristocats
Followed by	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Country	United States

Robin Hood is Disney Animation Canon's 21st feature film.

Rating

Robin Hood received a G rating by the MPAA. This is the twenty-first Disney animated movie to be rated as such in the US after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book and The Aristocats.

Gallery

United States

First 1973 original release poster

Second 1973 original release poster

Third 1973 original release poster

Fourth 1973 original release poster

Fifth 1973 original release poster

1982 re-release poster

Trivia

• A copyright renewal for the film was registered on August 3, 2001.
• Robin Hood was first released in theaters during the company's 50th Anniversary celebration.
• Initially, the studio considered a movie about Reynard the Fox (which had previously been made as a stop-motion film in 1937 by pioneering French filmmaker, Ladislas Starevich). However, due to Walt Disney's concern that Reynard was an unsuitable choice for a hero, Ken Anderson used many elements from it in Robin Hood.
• Director Byron Howard has stated that the creation of Zootopia was the thought of creating a modern Robin Hood movie with modern CG technology.
• The voices of Mother Rabbit, Mother Mouse, and Father Mouse would be cast in the roles of Kanga and Piglet from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
• Peter Ustinov grew famous playing over-the-top villains. His campy, spoiled, and thoroughly weak-willed portrayal of Prince John is an effective caricature of his own performance as the Roman emperor Nero in the epic film Quo Vadis (1951).
• Phil Harris and Andy Devine had both appeared on The Jack Benny Program.
• Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Trigger, Prince John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham appear at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as meetable characters.
• This is a unique version of Robin Hood that gives Prince John the place of main villain instead of the Sheriff of Nottingham.
• The mice bear an almost identical resemblance to those in The Aristocats.
• Many Robin Hood characters make cameo appearances in various episodes of the House of Mouse television series.
• Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham make cameo appearances in the direct-to-video release Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.
• John endlessly sulks over his mother's preference for his brother, a grudge marked by thumb-sucking and the reversion to an infantile state. At one point the behavior culminates in the complaint "Mother always did like Richard best." This is a sly reference to a classic comedy routine by the Smothers Brothers, in which Tom Smothers would bewail the maternal favoritism shown to Dick Smothers. ("Dick" is a common nickname for Richard.) In the historical play and film The Lion in Winter, Richard is indeed shown as being the favorite of their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, while John is the favored son of their father, King Henry II.
• The church bell on Friar Tuck's church is an actual bell, filmed and added in post-production.
• Friar Tuck was originally envisioned as a pig but was changed to a badger to avoid offending religious sensitivities.
• Peter Ustinov lent his voice to both the original English-speaking Prince John and Prince John in the German dubbed version of the movie. Although Ustinov also voiced King Richard in the English version, he doesn't do that character's German voice.
• Phil Harris' voice as Little John is virtually identical to the voice he used for the character Baloo in Disney's The Jungle Book. Both characters were bears and looked generally similar except for their color.
• In the jailbreak scene, "God forgive Prince John" is written on the wall when Little John and Friar Tuck enter. Preceding this, in Friar Tuck's cell, the words "Forgive them all" is carved in the wall to the right of Friar Tuck.
• The alternate ending (included in the "Most Wanted Edition" DVD) is a short retelling of the story's conclusion, using still images of colored concept art instead of animation. As Robin Hood leaps off of the castle and into the moat, he is wounded by the arrows shot into the water after him and is carried away by Little John to the church for safety. Prince John enraged that he has once again been outwitted by Robin Hood, follows their trail with Sir Hiss. They see Little John leaving the church and suspect the outlaw to be there as well. Sure enough, inside the church, Prince John finds Maid Marian tending to an unconscious Robin Hood, and draws a dagger to kill the unconscious outlaw. Before Prince John can strike, however, he is stopped by the appearance of his brother, King Richard, who is appalled to find his kingdom bleak and oppressed in his absence. Abiding his mother's wishes, King Richard decides he can't banish Prince John from the kingdom, but doesn't pardon him from severe punishment. King Richard returns Nottingham to its former glory (before leaving for the third crusade), and orders Friar Tuck to marry Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
• A short finished scene from the planned original ending, featuring King Richard stopped by, and revealing himself to, Nutsy and Trigger, appeared in the Ken Anderson episode of the 1980s Disney Channel documentary series Disney Family Album. This scene, at least in animated form, doesn't appear on the "Most Wanted Edition" DVD.
• In one scene of the film, where Kluck is fighting the men of Prince John, the University of Wisconsin fight song "On Wisconsin" is played.
• Nancy Adams, who sang "Love" as Maid Marian's singing voice, was the wife of one of its songwriters, Floyd Huddleston. The song was later featured in the 2009 stop-motion animated film version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Coincidently that film also featured an anthropomorphic fox as a main character.
• The film is referenced in Mel Brooks' 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
• In A Bug's Life, Francis, Heimlich and Slim referenced the part when backing away the flies at the bar.
• Jim Henson's Labyrinth contains a pan-shot of Sarah's book collection, including a book version of Robin Hood with the title character pictured on the front cover.
• The theme song for the film played during a T-Mobile commercial during the 2014 Super Bowl.
• This is one of the Disney animated films to have no humans (not counting the opening sequence showing artwork of the human equivalents in a book).
• Assistant animator (at the time) Floyd Norman admitted on one of his Facebook photos that he personally hated the character Skippy because of his "obnoxious brat" personality.
• This is the first Disney film to end with "The End, Walt Disney Productions", which would be the norm for end titles until The Fox and the Hound.
• Skippy says "sissy stuff", this goes for Berlioz saying that to Marie in The Aristocats.
• Sir Hiss hypnotizes King Richard where this resembles Kaa hypnotizing Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
• This is the final Disney animated feature to have the score done by George Bruns.

Trivia

• The second Disney Animation Canon film to not feature any humans, after Bambi.