Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,074
Written 7/6/03, Revised 3/18/09
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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.
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| 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.
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: CD or
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Bias Check:
For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.86
(in 28 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 28,763 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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