Jason's Disney Movie Review: 'Robin Hood' (1973)

The next movie in my quest to watch and review all the movies and films made by Disney is the 1973 animated feature film 'ROBIN HOOD.' Not sure how long this will take or if I will be able to complete it but I am going to have some fun trying and hopefully watch some some great movies! All the movies and films will be chosen at random and right now come from the Walt Disney Pictures library which will include Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar movies as well as the True-Life Adventure movies. It will not include at this time movies and films from Touchstone Pictures or Hollywood Pictures or from any of the studios that were acquired by The Walt Disney Company such as Marvel Studios, LucasFilms and 20th Century Studios to name a few. Those may come later. My goal is to post at last one review a week and possibly more in some weeks. For each movie I review I will include some basic information such as release dates, synopsis, cast and crew as well as my thoughts and a rating or score that can be used to put together my all-time favorite Disney movie list.

'Robin Hood' premiered at the Radio City Music Hall on November 8, 1973. The 21st Disney animated feature film. A Walt Disney Productions distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc. Based on the the legend of Robin Hood. The movie follows Robin Hood, Little John and the inhabitants of Nottingham in their fight against the excessive taxation of Prince John. In Disney's animated version of the classic tale of Robin Hood, the characters of the story are portrayed as animals, a lion (Prince John), a fox (Robin Hood), a vixen (Maid Marian), a bear (Little John), a badger (Friar Tuck),  a chicken (Lady Kluck), a wolf (Sheriff of Nottingham), and narrated by a rooster.

Directed by and produced by Wolfgang Reitherman. Written by Larry Clemons, Ken Anderson (Character and Story Conceptions and Story Sequences), Eric Cleworth (Story Sequences), Vance Gerry (Story Sequences), David Michener (Story Sequences as Dave Michener), Julius Svendsen (Story Sequences) and Frank Thomas (Story Sequences). Music by George Bruns. Music Editing by Evelyn Kennedy. Orchestration by Walter Sheets. Art Direction by Don Griffith. Animated by Dale Baer (Character Animation), Don Bluth (Character Animation), Jack Buckley (Effects Animator), Basil Davidovich (Layout), Al Dempster (Color Styling), Stan Green (Key Assistant Animator), Ann Guenther (Background Painting), Joe Hale (Layout), Fred Hellmich (Character Animation), Ralph Hulett (Background Painting), Milt Kahl (Directing Animator), Ollie Johnston (Directing Animator), Hal King (Character Animation), Eric Larson (Character Animation), Bill Layne (Background Painting), John Lounsbery (Directing Animator), Bob McCrea (Key Assistant Animator), Dan MacManus (Effects Animator), Burny Mattison (Character Animation), Cliff Nordberg (Character Animation), Dale Oliver (Key Assistant Animator),  Sylvia Roemer (Layout), Art Stevens (Character Animation), Ed Templer Jr. (Layout), Frank Thomas (Directing Animator) and Chuck Williams (Key Assistant Animator). Starring the voices of Roger Miller (Allan-a-Dale - The Rooster), Peter Ustinov (Prince John - A Lion / King Richard), Terry-Thomas (Sir Hiss - A Snake), Brian Bedford (Robin Hood - A Fox), Monica Evans (Maid Marian - A Vixen), Phil Harris (Little John - A Bear), Andy Devine (Friar Tuck - A Badger), Carole Shelley (Lady Kluck - A Chicken), Pat Buttram (Sheriff of Nottingham - A Wolf), George Lindsay (Trigger - A Vulture) and Ken Curtis (Nutsy - A Vulture). 

The movie was a commercial success, earning $9.6 million during its initial release on a $5 million budget. The movie was re-released on March 26, 1982 and it is estimated that its lifetime earnings are around $33 million. Released on home video on December 3, 1984 on VHS, CED, Betamax and Laser Disc in the Walt Disney Classics home video line. At the beginning of the home video boom Disney thought releasing their past animated classics could hurt future theatrical re-release revenue. Robin Hood was viewed as a good choice to launch home video as it was not held in high regards as some of their earlier titles. 

The soundtrack was released in 1973 and contained the songs, score, narration and dialogue from the movie. The songs included, "Whistle Stop" (written by Roger Miller and performed by Roger Miller), "Oo-De-Lally" (written by Roger Miller and performed by Roger Miller), "Love" (written by George Bruns and Floyd Huddleston and performed by Nancy Adams), "The Phony King of England" (written by Johnny Mercer and performed by Phil Harris) and "Not in Nottingham (written by Roger Miller and performed by Roger Miller).

The movie received one Academy Award nomination for the song "Love" (written by George Bruns and Floyd Huddleston) in the Music (Song) category at the 46th Academy Awards in 1974.

Film Technical Specifications – Rating: G | Runtime: 1 hour and 23 minutes (83 minutes) | Sound: Mono (RCA Photophone Sound Recording | Color: Color (Technicolor) | Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1.

"Robin Hood" 1973 Theatrical Trailer

Jason's Thoughts

I watched this movie most recently on Disney+ on April 1, 2023. We watched and reviewed this film on the podcast I co-host, Talking Disney Podcast back in September 2021 and it was fun to watch it again. There are so many adaptations of Robin Hood, as far as I know this is the only one that uses anthropomorphic animals to tell the classic story and I think this is one of the best versions! The one knock I hear I most often is that the film used recycled animation from previous Disney animated films. But according to Floyd Norman (former Disney animator), the director Wolfgang Reitherman did this because he wanted to use techniques that worked and in reality it takes longer to redraw an existing scene sequence. The songs are great from beginning to end and you'll find yourself singing them for days after you watch this. 

Here are some fun fact(s) about "Robin Hood" you may or may not know: 

- The last Disney animated feature film that all of Disney's Nine Old Men would live to see completed. They are Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman and Frank Thomas with 6 of them working on this film. 

- Monica Evans (Maid Marian) and Carole Shelley (Lady Kluck) also worked together on Disney's The 'Aristocats' (1970), as the voices of the twin geese, Abigail and Amelia.

My Score: 87.50 (Check out the Jason's Movie Review page to see all the movies I have watched and reviewed.)

Have you seen “Robin Hood" . . . what are your thoughts on the movie? Share in the comments below, I’d love to hear them!