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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 07/05/91 -- Vol. 10, No. 1

MEETINGS UPCOMING:

Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.

_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C

07/17 LZ: THE VOR GAME by Lois McMaster Bujold (Hugo nominee)
08/07 LZ: EARTH by David Brin (Hugo nominee)
08/28 LZ: QUEEN OF ANGELS by Greg Bear (Hugo nominee)
09/18 LZ: THE FALL OF HYPERION by Dan Simmons (Hugo nominee)
10/09 LZ: THE QUIET POOLS by Michael Kube-McDowell (Hugo nominee)
10/30 LZ: MINDBRIDGE by Joe Haldeman
11/20 LZ: EON by Greg Bear
12/11 LZ: MIRKHEIM by Poul Anderson

_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.

07/13 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
07/22 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)

HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.

1. My original thought for a film festival about now would be to
show _T_h_e _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e_s _o_f _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d and _R_o_b_i_n _a_n_d _M_a_r_i_a_n. However,
first, we do not have the former film; second, it would probably be
an overdose of Robin Hood; and third, I don't think it is very
good. I have chosen a similar, but I consider better, swashbuckler
of the same time. We won't have Errol Flynn in tights, but we will
have Tyrone Power. On Thursday, July 11, at 7 PM we will show

THE MT VOID Page 2

The Swashbuckling Outlaw-Heroes
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) dir. by Rouben Mamoulian
ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976) dir. by Richard Lester

Well, what can you say about THE MARK OF ZORRO? This is one of the
great fun adventure films, a sort of culmination of the adventure
film conventions of the 1930s. Tyrone Power plays Don Diego, the
great horseman and swordsman, who returns from school to his home
in San Juan Capistrano to find his father replaced as Alcalde by a
tyrant (played by J. Edward Bromberg) backed up by a vicious Basil
Rathbone. By day Don Diego plays a fatuous fop; by night he dons a
mask and cape and rights wrongs as the Fox: Zorro. The main
musical theme by Alfred Newman is a classic. (If there is demand,
incidentally, I would be more than happy sometime to show the
original Douglas Fairbanks version made twenty years earlier--also
great fun).

Now our second film is a rather interesting expansion of the last
part of the legend of Robin Hood, the part that movies usually
skip. James Goldman (_T_h_e _L_i_o_n _i_n _W_i_n_t_e_r) wrote the story of the
middle-aged Robin Hood and turned it into a statement about what
heroes are really like, about aging, and about the true nature of
adventure. The title characters are played by Sean Connery and
Audrey Hepburn, with Robert Shaw as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Also present are Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson, Denholm Elliot,
and Ian Holm. Nice sentimental score by John Barry.

2. Our long-time Holmdel librarian reports:

"On July 8 I'll be moving to a new and much more cramped office.
It looks as if there's no way that the HO SF library cabinet is
going to fit. I think the time has come to put out a plea for a
new librarian. The library is one file cabinet, 18"W x 30"D x
60"H, plus 8 3-ring binders containing the past issues of the
newsletter."

Is there anyone in Holmdel who would care to volunteer to take the
library?

Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper

There exists an obvious fact that seems utterly moral:
namely, that a man is always a prey to his truths.
Once he has admitted them, he cannot free himself from them.
-- Albert Camus

Keith Reynolds's ROBIN HOOD, PRINCE OF THIEVES
John Irvin's ROBIN HOOD
Two film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper

Capsule review: Two versions of the same legend
became available within a month of each other. Neither
does much justice to the original story but Irvin's
television version turns out to be by far the better
version with a little less flash and a little more
intelligence and historical detail. Reynolds's film is
not as bad as is claimed by the critics, but it still
gets only a low 0 while I would give Irvin's film a high
+1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

I saw the coming attraction for _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d, _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _T_h_i_e_v_e_s
several months ago and decided then that I wanted to see it. After all,
it did not have police and was not set in L.A. How many films come out
that even are set before the 20th Century? Filmmakers don't seem to
want to gamble on ever-diminishing public knowledge of history. I had
hope this could be a good film. Then I read the article in the June
1991 _C_i_n_e_f_a_n_t_a_s_t_i_q_u_e which said:
"The new film's approach to the legend can be [the
producer/screenwriter's] description of the Merrie Men as
medieval Hell's Angels. Add to that [director Keith]
Reynolds's observation that '[Christian] Slater [as Will
Scarlet] plays a 12th Century James Dean' (complete with
Rocker quiff), the overall opinion that Maid Marian is a
12th Century feminist, and the fact that this film's
humor is of a very contemporary nature.... [The Sheriff
is] evil personified. With King Richard absent England
has reverted to paganism and human sacrifice. The
God/Christianity vs. Evil/Darkside is even more potent."
[according to co-producer/co-screenwriter John Watson].
This was not at all encouraging. This is no place near what a telling
of Robin Hood should be. I wrote an article at the time complaining
about filmmakers who do not have respect for the material. It sounded
as if the film was being made with no respect for the characters or the
period. They had let Christianity versus paganism become the conflict
rather than the Anglo-Saxon populace against the Normans who had
conquered the country in the previous century and had set themselves up
as the ruling nobility. That is why Robin, though technically from a
noble family, had no real political power. He was of Anglo-Saxon
nobility and was considered by the Anglo-Saxons to be rightfully of the
ruling class. But it was the Normans who ruled.

Then Fox Television did their own version of Robin Hood, one not
great but creditable. I wondered if it might not be better than the
film it was trying to imitate. And I got into at least one argument

Robin Hood July 1, 1991 Page 2

with someone who thought I was not being fair to _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d, _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f
_T_h_i_e_v_e_s. Then I went on vacation. I came back to find _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d,
_P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _T_h_i_e_v_e_s opened to calamitous reviews. Now I have seen it and
I would say that while everything bad I predicted about the film turned
out to be quite true, I think that the film was not as bad as most of
the critics seem to think. So part of my job now is to defend the film
that I formerly criticized.

There is little wrong with _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d, _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _T_h_i_e_v_e_s that could
not have been fixed by just not making this film about Robin Hood. The
Robin Hood of legend was outlawed as a young teenager. It was his youth
that made him an outlaw since after being taunted about his youth he
shot a king's deer to prove he had the prowess of a man. The film's
concept that Robin had been to the Crusades and had picked up a Moorish
sidekick was inventive but also purely invention. That the Moor would
bring with him the knowledge of gunpowder is unlikely and the
telescope--not invented until the Renaissance--is absurd. In a lighter
film, such as _T_h_e _C_r_i_m_s_o_n _P_i_r_a_t_e, such anachronisms might be a little
more acceptable, but with the exception of the performance of the
Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Alan Rickman, who has more fun with his
role than the audience does), this film is just not that light.
Speaking of Rickman's Sheriff, while I would probably have liked to see
the film less tongue-in-cheek, Rickman's screwball wedding scene has to
rank as a guilty pleasure. (The real Sheriff was married and had a
daughter who eventually succeeded at the feat her father botched:
killing Robin Hood, albeit and old and ill Robin Hood.)

One of the major problems was that the script was just not very
professionally written. Pieces that have already been used in far too
many films show up here. [Minor spoiler alert: The reader who has not
seen the film may want to skip to the next paragraph.] In searching for
Marian, Robin must fight a hooded guardian who nearly bests him. Can
you guess who this warrior is? Yup! In two or three scenes characters
bragging about their expertise are cut short because they were not
watching what they were doing and did something like riding right into a
tree branch. They even manage a horror film jump scene. This is very
inadequate script-writing. And when the Sheriff tells Robin his father
died "squealing like a pig," this was an allusion to a similar line also
spoken to Costner in _T_h_e _U_n_t_o_u_c_h_a_b_l_e_s.

Dialogue is particularly anachronistic, with characters using lines
like "full of piss and wind" and saying Robin has "balls of stone." The
Sheriff tells someone, "Shut up, you twit." This is the kind of
script-writing where whenever someone falls there is always a fortuitous
haystack to break the fall. When swords strike each other or a wall
there are always sparks.

But having promised to defend the film, I will. The main criticism
that has been leveled at the film is that Costner is much too laid back
to play Robin. This strikes me as nonsense. He does not have the _u_m_p_h
of an Errol Flynn swinging through the trees and calling, "Welcome to

Robin Hood July 1, 1991 Page 3

Sherwood, milady!" Costner's performance is at worst non-traditional,
but with the exception of some accent problems it is still a valid
interpretation of the character. The film has been criticized for
having too many scenes that are too dark. It seems to me that the
lighting is perfectly reasonable to create a period feel. The night was
a lot darker in the late 12th Century. As for the darkness of tone in
what some will interpret as children's film, good! We are talking about
some nasty people. Let's not sugar-coat them.

As the film ended I decided it deserved some breed of a zero
rating. The gratuitous rock music song over the end credits convinced
me it was a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.

What shows up the pandering and silliness of Kevin Reynolds's _R_o_b_i_n
_H_o_o_d, _P_r_i_n_c_e _o_f _T_h_i_e_v_e_s even more is the other version of Robin Hood
made for Fox Television and directed by John Irvin. This is not a
flashy _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d and it certainly is not the original story, but it is
certainly the more intelligent retelling of the story. I think that was
pretty much to be expected. Director John Irvin is probably most
respected for his BBC television adaptation of John LeCarre's _T_i_n_k_e_r,
_T_a_i_l_o_r, _S_o_l_d_i_e_r, _S_p_y. He has gotten into wider-appeal films since,
things, like _G_h_o_s_t _S_t_o_r_y and _H_a_m_b_u_r_g_e_r _H_i_l_l and even _R_a_w _D_e_a_l, but
clearly this is a man who can do intelligence on the screen. Rather
than side-stepping the politics of the time as Reynolds did, Irvin's
version, written by Sam Resnick and John McGrath, is steeped in the
politics of the time. Robert Hode (played by Patrick Bergin) is a Saxon
noble who has been a lifelong friend of the Norman Baron Daguerre
(played by Jeroem Krabbe). Robert wants what is best for the Saxons;
Daguerre wants England to become strong under Norman rule. Both are
"good guys." The "bad guy" is another Norman noble, Miles Falconier
(played by Jurgen Prochnow), whose selfishness turns Norman against
Saxon and shows the two friends where their differences lie.

Falconier, incidentally, is cruel to Norman and Saxon alike. The
reason for his presence in the land is to force himself on the Norman
Lady Marian (pronounced Mar-ee-AHN) in an arranged marriage. Marian
(played by Uma Thurman), of course, has taken a liking to the Saxon who
has been outlawed and who has changed the spelling of his last name to
"Hood." It is with pride that she tells Falconier that she has already
given herself to another "with the greatest of pleasure." Incidentally,
I caught only one reference to the Sheriff of Nottingham and it was
unclear if it referred to any character we had seen. It might have been
a title for Daguerre.

While Reynolds's version insists on making the good guys Christian
and the bad guys into believers in witchcraft, the Irvin version,
probably with more historical accuracy, makes the Normans the Christians
and the Saxons still drenched in the so-called "pagan" religion of their
ancestors. While the Reynolds version gives the edge to the Saxons
because a Moor brings them scientific knowledge anachronistic to the
period, the Irvin version gives the edge to the Saxons because the

Robin Hood July 1, 1991 Page 4

Normans still accept some of the pagan customs. (Which of course they
still do, as witnessed by the presence of the spring fertility symbols
of the rabbit and the egg at Easter and the winter solstice holiday's
association with mistletoe, holly Yule logs, and the bringing of trees
indoors, all inherited by Christmas. It is as much of the compromise
worked between Norman and Saxon as anything else is.)

So Irvin's is the second version of _R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d which also plays
very fast and loose with the original story, but at least it replaces
fidelity to the story with some intelligence and some historical
accuracy, and in that it is the better film. My rating for Irvin's
_R_o_b_i_n _H_o_o_d would be a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

Capsule review: This is a cross-country chase film
with a strong feminist subtext. Susan Sarandon and Geena
Davis find themselves in a life of crime in a world with
little support from the opposite sex. Rating: high +1
[-4 to +4].

Thelma and Louise have had it. Thelma (played by Geena Davis) is
something somewhere between a housewife and a household appliance. Her
husband bullies her, cheats on her, and treats her like dirt. Louise
has it a little better as an unmarried waitress with a foul-tempered
boyfriend. The two of them want just to get away for a weekend and do a
little fishing. Then, after an evening in a bar, Thelma is almost raped
and Louise has shot the rapist. Suddenly the two are on the run from
the law, a situation they find both exhilarating and terrifying. Thelma
has never been allowed to think for herself. Now that she is free and
thinking, it is not surprising that her decisions are not very well
thought-out and generally get the two deeper into trouble. In a sense
this is a coming-of-age film about Thelma.

At least superficially, this is a story that has been done many
times before. The sympathetic characters start with a little fun,
enrage the law, and eventually are being chased by regiments of law
enforcement officers. Yes, the film does have car chases and hair-
breadth escapes and the usual scenes of police cars cork-screwing
through the air and crashing. Take away the subtext and you have a very
cliched film. The subtext, however, makes this a very strong little
propaganda film. There are a lot of men in this film and only one man
is decent and another is decent when he is not having a temper tantrum.
Jimmy, Louise's boyfriend, does prove to have redeeming features. And
Hal, the policeman tracking Thelma and Louise, manages to understand
every wall of the box the two of them are in. Hall is more interested
in saving the two from harm than he is in catching them. If this film
has a hero, it is Hal. But every hunk Thelma tries to pick up only
makes things worse. Truck drivers on the road are sexist pigs. And
Thelma's husband Daryl is a real piece of work.

Ridley Scott's direction is good in the human interaction scenes if
rather cliched in the action scenes. The photography of the great
Southwest is certainly visually stunning. Still, the film's message
about feminism and, in general, freedom comes on a little strong. While
the rapist certainly has none of the audience's sympathy, killing him
seems unnecessary. We want to see his attitudes and behavior punished,
but like Louise, we have strong second thoughts as to whether his crimes
deserve the death penalty.

In any case, this may be one of the most intelligent cross-country
chase films. I give it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.

5TH ANNUAL SUMMER FESTIVAL OF FANTASY, HORROR, AND SCIENCE FICTION
Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York City, NY 10014, 212-727-8110

Fri-Tue Aug 09-13 HOUSE OF WAX; Three Stooges in "Spooks"
Wed Aug 14 COBRA WOMAN; DR. CYCLOPS
Thu Aug 15 BLITHE SPIRIT; PORTRAIT OF JENNIE
Fri-Sat Aug 16-17 THE OLD DARK HOUSE; SHE (1935)
Sun Aug 18 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; MIRACLE IN MILAN
Mon-Tue Aug 19-20 LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960);
A BUCKET OF BLOOD; NOT OF THIS EARTH
Wed Aug 21 X THE UNKNOWN; HORROR HOTEL
Thu Aug 22 BLACK SUNDAY (1961);
CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER
Fri-Sat Aug 23-24 LENSMAN; THE MYSTERIANS
Sun Aug 25 STALKER
Mon Aug 26 HORROR DRACULA; THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Tue Aug 27 ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS; CRACK IN THE WORLD
Wed-Thu Aug 28-29 THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T.;
THE THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER
Fri Aug 30 YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN; THE NUTTY PROFESSOR
Sat-Tue Aug 31-Sep 03 THE MAD MAGICIAN; HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
Wed Sep 04 STRAIT-JACKET; SHANKS
Thu Sep 05 TWILIGHT OF THE COCKROACHES; THE NAKED JUNGLE
Fri Sep 06 THE GIANT GILA MONSTER; THE KILLER SHREWS;
TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE
Sat Sep 07 AKIRA
Sun Sep 08 THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT; QUATERMASS II;
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT
Mon-Tue Sep 09-10 NOSFERATU (1922); AELITA: QUEEN OF MARS
Wed-Thu Sep 11-12 CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER; NEAR DARK
Fri-Sat Sep 13-14 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE; DR. STRANGELOVE
Sun-Mon Sep 15-16 SOLARIS
Tue Sep 17 SUSPIRIA; FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET
Wed-Thu Sep 18-19 ROBOT MONSTER; RETIK, THE MOON MENACE