Why so much hype?

Best movie ever!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Back when I was a lad the Son Of Robin Hood played as the second feature to some other Fox film on a double bill. Occasionally those second features were something worthwhile even better than the A film they accompanied. This film was definitely not in that category.It's been some 20 years since the Merry Men got disbanded and they're now middle-aged and somewhat gone to seed. But with the death of King John there's a plot afoot to steal the throne by an evil duke played by David Farrar. The rightful heir Marius Goring has been imprisoned by Farrar, but Goring has a brother in David Hedison who will set things right in the Douglas Fairbanks/Errol Flynn tradition, not.You have to have a certain elan to do swashbucklers. Either you have it or you don't. David Hedison best known for being the Captain of the Seaview on the TV series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea just ain't got it. Also his American speech pattern with the British cast sounds jarringly out of place. What worked for Clark Gable in Mutiny On The Bounty doesn't work for Hedison. Then again Mutiny On The Bounty was a much better film, like light years better.Added to that none of the historical characters vying for the throne ever existed. Including Robin Hood or in this case the late Robin Hood. Turns out he died some ten years than the events of this film and he left a daughter June Laverick. She does fill out that Lincoln green suit all right. But she's a girl and those aged Merry Men ain't about to come out of retirement for her.They do for Hedison though as the faux son of Robin Hood and of course the inevitable does happen.Maybe the worst Robin Hood film ever done.

The earliest reviewer on this title claims that there are no actors of any reputation in this film.Well what about George Colouris of Mercury Theatre fame,or David Farrar leading man of the 40s and 50s,Marius Goring distinguished stage and screen actor,Jack Lambert and Russell Napier who played countless military types and policemen,not to mention George Woodbridge.They like many actors before and since had to make a living and so appeared in this rubbish.Actors as distinguished as them would end up in sex comedies 10 years later.This film is probably the worst Robin Hood film ever made and as such is rather enjoyable.Just watching June Laverick shooting down all and sundry gave me a huge laugh

***SPOILERS*** Things haven't been that merry for the merry-men of Sherwood Forest since their fearless and right on target, with a bow & arrow, leader Robin Hood passed away some 10 years ago. It's when the evil Duke Simon Des Roches tried to make a grab at the English throne that the merry-men started to take matters into their own hands. Getting the Earl of Chester the legal successor to the English throne, out of harms way in a safe house in Sherwood Forest the merry-men plan to install him as the new English King when the time is right. It's later that the Earl is captured, on tip from an inside source inside the merry-mens hideout, by Des Roches' men and taken into his castle's dungeon. It's Des Roache's plan to get the Earl to sign away his right to the English throne and thus give it over to himself.It's then that the head of the merry-men Little John gets the good news that the late Robin Hood has a son-Deering-who's residing in sunny Spain who's more then willing to take over his dad's place as the leader of the now not so merry merry-men of Sherwood Forest. It's Little John's plan to get Deering Hood to get the now rejuvenated merry-men to organize a guerrilla war against Des Roches and bring the now in chains and incarcerated Earl of Chester back in power as the King of England! The only stumbling block to Little John's plans is that the son of Robin Hood turned out to be his daughter! This made things even more complicated for Little John and his merry-men then they already were!As things turned the Earl of Chester's younger brother Jamie back from the Crusades showed up in town, or Sherwood Forest, the same time that Deering Hood did. After the sword twirling Jamie dispatched a squad of Des Roches's men who were waiting in ambush to knock off Miss Hood the two changed identities with Jamie taking the part of Deering and Deering becoming his woman companion. Still Des Roches had a ace up his sleeve in having planted a spy among the merry-men who tipped him off on their plans to unseat him from power. That's where Jamie's brother, the Earl of Chester, came in with him knowing just who this undercover operative of Des Roches is. The only trouble here is that the Earl of Chester in being told that Jamie was killed in the Crusades doesn't believe that he's his brother and feels that Jamie is in fact a spy for Des Roches and isn't talking!Lots of action with the merry-men lead by both Jamie & Deering Hood getting their act together and taking on Des Roches and his men after they finally found out who's slipping him classified information to what their plans are. It was Des Roches' big mistake in underestimating Deering Hood's, whom he thought was Jamie, ability to lead the merry-men with the same skill and courage that her late dad Robin Hood did in the past. It was in fact Deering who prevent the plant, or spy, inside the merry-mens compound to get the news to Des Roches on the merry-men, lead by Jamie & herself, impending assault on his fortified castle complex.***SPOILERS*** In the end the merry-men made mincemeat out of Duke Simon Des Roches' men in a two prong attack, by land and and under water, on his castle. It was then that Jamie after rescuing the Earl of Chester, the soon to be anointed King of England, put an end to Des Roches' reign of terror by running him through, with his sword, after a long boring and very unconvincing dueling match with him.

And neither is the beginning or the middle as the story of Robin Hood gets the AT SWORDS' POINT treatment, with a bunch of little-known actors -- except for George Couloris, David Farrar and Marius Goring -- under the direction of George Sherman, who spent most of his career, properly, directing B westerns.June Laverick, a pretty young blonde, plays the daughter of Robin Hood, who spends most of her time hiding behind David 'Al' Hedison, who pretends to be her -- him -- that is, Robin Hood's son, leading Robin's old and graying Merry Men. The whole thing is directed with little of the silliness that attended AT SWORDS' POINT, but the whole thing is handsomely shot in wide screen. Unhappily, the prints were definitely not Technicolor, but have aged poorly, casting a gloomy and pink sheen over the entire proceedings. The score is also a nice variation on Korngold's score for the Errol Flynn version. You can skip this one.