Buy it... on the 2001 re-recording if you seek the only version of John Barry's last minute replacement score with any hint of the romanticism it badly lacked in its original performance.

Avoid it... if you only have the money to purchase one or two of Silva Screen's 2001 re-recordings of Barry's work, because both The Lion in Winter and The Last Valley are far more entertaining.

Barry

Robin and Marian: (John Barry) In the early 1970's, the idea of producing a film about the death of Robin Hood was kicked around between several studios until it was picked up by producer Ray Stark, director Richard Lester, and a production team experienced in the lightning-quick creation of swashbuckling films. For the novel script depicting the late years of the characters in the Robin Hood tale, a magnificent cast of Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Richard Harris, and Robert Shaw was assembled. Despite the dynamic combination of actors, Robin and Marian was understandably a significantly depressing experience, with the deaths of all of the major characters and a heartbreaking story of lost love and endless battles with old foes. The score for the picture was meant to be a lush, string-oriented affair from the very beginning, and veteran French composer Michel Legrand was hired to add that spark of romance. Legrand composed and recorded music for the entire film; his work featured only a string section and offered solo performances by each of the different string instruments for his thematic material. This approach, however, led to a surprisingly jumbled and overly complex score, and although Lester had been very pleased with Legrand's music, Stark was not impressed, thus firing Legrand and immediately searching for a replacement. The next choice was Maurice Jarre, a composer more seasoned in the category of epic films, but he turned down the project because of short notice and respect for Legrand's work. The third choice was John Barry, who was already well known for scoring a wide range of cinematic styles, from pop action to sweeping epics and romantic heartbreakers. Barry had less than three weeks to provide a replacement score for Robin and Marian, and he responded with a fully orchestral and thematic approach that would meet with the approval of the producer, but not the director. Barry's music in parts of the film was reworked by a fourth composer on the project, pop television specialist Richard Shores. With the mass of Barry's work remaining intact for Robin and Marian, though, he received primary credit for the score. Despite all of these problems, Barry's music is a decent effort considering the short time frame in which he had to work.

	2001 Silva Album: Only $9.99

Indeed, Barry's vision of Robin and Marian is more diverse in its instrumentation than Legrand's had been. Instead of the simple string approach, Barry carries the personality with the woodwinds, which better represent the era of King Richard and the location of Sherwood Forest. His statements of the love theme for the film vary in their intensity, and it is this often subdued nature of the music that causes the score as a whole to drag its feet. Even though it is more than sufficient for the film, the only truly charged performance of that theme is heard during the mass death scene at the end of the film, with previous performances meandering softly without much romantic power. Likewise, the music for action and escape scenes is often understated as well. Depending strongly on a solo timpani for two or three pivotal scenes of action in the story, Barry's score lacks the depth that you often heard in his more broadly conceived scores of the 1970's and 1980's. In these regards, Legrand ironically produced music for the film that Barry probably would have written in the late 1980's. Barry's hasty effort does have its moments, but it lacks the resounding bass and engaging energy that his scores often thrived upon to propel solo performances of his themes. Richard Shores' work for the film compensates by providing that action, but it stands out like a sore thumb compared to Barry's more melancholy approach. Barry himself believes that his score worked well in context, though he too will admit that circumstances surrounding the entire project were far less than perfect. Robin and Marian went on to lose money at the box office, and thus only a promotional LP record was offered in 1976 to film score collectors. A 1990 bootleg CD was produced from that 40-minute LP master, though it featured a dull, distant sound that compounded the problematic aspects of Barry's music. A 2001 re-recording of the entire score by Nic Raine and the City of Prague Philharmonic is superbly executed, and proved once again that Raine is the master of reproducing Barry's older works in electrifying surround sound quality. Prometheus Records took a mono safety copy of the masters and pressed a slightly longer, limited album in late 2008, sacrificing Shores' material for a few alternate cue takes by Barry. Overall, if you are interested in Barry's merely average work for Robin and Marian, seek it on the Silva label, for the re-recording begins to inject life into an otherwise dull atmosphere of light Barry romance. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.85 (in 27 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.52 (in 24,822 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.