Robin and Marian

Richard Lester, 1976

What a weird pedigree. Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, How I Won The War) directing Sean Connery as Robin Hood, Audrey Hepburn as Marian and Ronnie Barker as Friar Tuck.

And it's no merry adventures thing, it's 20 years after as Robin returns from fighting in the crusades and finds Marian's been living in a convent. It's got all the zest you expect from Lester, but with a softened pace.

An unashamedly soppy film, it nonetheless carries a constant ache, it is is about lost time, the way that maturity does not often deliver the answers that youth expects will come. Hepburn's performance - her first in nearly a decade - is wonderful, a constant melancholy behind the eyes counterpointing her poise and wisdom, and there is a powerful feeling of a long love glowing between her and Connery.

Being set in the 12th century, there's a lot of quality livestock living around people. We get goats, pigs and geese, but surprisingly few cattle. But although they only have a minor role, it does at least have considerable prestige, drawing the funeral carriage of Richard the Lionheart.