the prince of thieves is a 1948 film nominally inspired by alexandre dumas ' 1872 novel le prince des voleurs .

produced by sam katzman for columbia pictures and starring jon hall as robin hood with stuntwork by jock mahoney , the film was shot in the cinecolor process that features an inability to reproduce the colour green .

sequences were shot reusing several of the sets of columbia 's the bandit of sherwood forest and at corriganville .

patricia morison and adele jergens co-star .

the prince of thieves

robin hood : prince of thieves [ double sided ] is available on amazon .
we’d love your help . let us know what’s wrong with this preview of prince of thieves by chuck hogan .
robin hood : prince of thieves was filmed in over a dozen locations , but nottinghamshire wasn’t one of them .
if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie robin hood : prince of thieves ?
and
what is the full cast list of robin hood : prince of thieves ?
then this page has got you covered .
adapt this : ben affleck ' s ' the town ' vs . chuck hogan ' s ' prince of thieves '
this cast list of who was in robin hood : prince of thieves includes both lead and minor roles . ( 25 items )
its only crime was its legacy … robin hood : prince of thieves . photograph : warner bros / ronald grant archive
we look at how robin hood : prince of thieves came to be , what worked , and what didn ' t .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing robin hood : prince of thieves near you .
following his retirement , the head of the british board of film classification , james ferman , admitted that the only regret of his career was giving prince of thieves a soft pg rating .
robin hood : prince of thieves cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of robin hood : prince of thieves actors includes any robin hood : prince of thieves actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view trivia about each robin hood : prince of thieves actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to a page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of robin hood : prince of thieves have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
say the words robin hood : prince of thieves to anyone over a certain age and the probable responses you’ll get will be ‘bryan adams’ , ‘dodgy accents’ and ‘questionable geography’ .
fiction book review : prince of thieves by chuck hogan , author . scribner $ 25 ( 384p ) isbn 978 - 0 - 7432 - 6455 - 6
i’m not sure why you’d want to know more about this film , but robin hood : prince of thieves [ double sided ] is available on amazon .
but let & apos ; s remember better times , and see what the cast of & apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves & apos ; is up to these days .
the princess bride star cary elwes was perhaps a natural fit to take on the iconic lead role in prince of thieves , but the actor reportedly turned down the role over concerns about the ‘contrived’ script .
alongside prince of thieves’ production company , morgan creek , twentieth century fox and tri - star pictures were also initially competing to bring robin hood to the big screen at the same time .
prince & the new power generation - sexy m . f . ( official music video )
the town is a much better title than the prince of thieves - in my opinion . mostly because the story is as much about doug macray ' s surroundings as it is about doug himself . prince of thieves just kinda sounds corny anyway : p anyhow i wanted to read this one because i absolutely loved the movie and i have heard good things about chuck hogan ; this book did not disappoint !
25 years ago to the day ( july 19 ) that it premiered in the uk , here are 15 things you may not know about the most hollywoodised take on nottinghamshire’s most famous son , robin hood : prince of thieves .
& apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves & apos ; was a big hit , grossing more money in 1991 than any movie not titled & apos ; terminator 2 : judgement day . & apos ;
robin hood : prince of thieves was a pretty big deal when it came out in 1991 . i was about nine years old at the time , and thus squarely in the target demographic for a film that brought robin hood kicking and screaming into the modern action movie format . i was fond of the film , although i knew even then that it wasn’t perfect . but there was something about robin hood : prince of thieves that kept me coming back for repeated viewings on cable television , and that left a lingering , though vague impression on me in the decades that followed . it was only when i revisited robin hood : prince of thieves for the first time in over ten years , for this week’s episode of the test of time , that i finally realized what makes this movie feel so damned important .
like so much media from our collective youths , though , robin hood : prince of thieves doesn’t hold up . twenty - three years after its theatrical release , revisiting the film is a positively painful experience , especially in the almost three - hour director’s cut available to stream via amazon . thieves is a clunky , poorly acted movie arguably intended for adults but embraced by kids who just didn’t know better . ( though the existence of an extensive kenner line of prince of thieves action figures suggests the toymaker knew kids were going to like it from the get - go . ) it’s confoundingly disjointed , sweepingly racist and sexist , and full of both bad costumes and bad wigs .
chuck hogan is an american author . his story
two thousand volts
appeared in the best american mystery stories 2009 . he is the co - author of the strain trilogy with guillermo del toro . his 2004 novel prince of thieves was adapted to film as the ben affleck directed the town in 2010 .
but actually , the 1991 blockbuster ( which was released 25 years ago this week ) is one of the most outright enjoyable retellings of the robin hood narrative you’ll come across – and for all of you complaining about the mistakes , prince of thieves was based on a legend , not a true story . who said it had to be accurate ?
historical accuracy is a bit of a touchy subject where robin hood : prince of thieves is concerned . the film makes many superficial attempts to feel authentic , from the awful teeth ( on everyone but the lead actors , of course ) , to the drab color schemes and generally murky lighting . but prince of thieves is perfectly comfortable with rewriting what little actual history can actually be found in the original robin hood tale . celts , for example , are transformed into a race of hulk - like , idiot monstrosities who can feel no pain . dramatically , it’s somewhat satisfying . in principle , however , robin hood : prince of thieves is nothing less than a hypocrite . it attempts to present a realistic , and considerably more dramatic version of the classic story , but infuses it with ridiculous villains , anachronistic moralizing , actual anachronisms , and a hero who isn’t even english .
when you put prince of thieves up against that lot all of a sudden it looks like a fellini masterpiece in comparison . but even without being in the company of its daft children , it still stands up : early 90s big - budget romanticism , albeit dressed in tights and flouncy linen shirts .
but more interestingly , michael kamen ' s energetic score to robin hood : prince of thieves , is brilliant . kamen died of a heart attack at the age of just 55 , and it ' s one of several excellent scores he penned in his lifetime . it ' s a tragedy we never got to hear more .
i commented in an earlier post about robin hood : prince of thieves ( 1991 , dir . kevin reynolds ) that one of the biggest anachronisms in the film is mortianna the witch and what appears to be a satanist coven . the problems with it are big enough that i decided to give it its own post .
what audiences said : critics were mixed on robin hood : prince of thieves , but audiences flocked to the action - adventure . kevin reynolds’ film was the second highest grossing movie of 1991 , behind only terminator 2 : judgment day . in the years that followed , the film is most commonly remembered as a relic of the 1990s , and for costner’s embarrassing american twang .
last year , when i reviewed disney’s robin hood , i avoided discussing the question of whether robin hood was a historical figure . i figure it’s time that i tackle another robin hood movie , so i chose the infamous robin hood : prince of thieves ( 1991 , dir . kevin reynolds ) . and i suppose the place to start is with the whole question of the character’s historicity .
you don’t need us to tell you that the most fun moments in robin hood : prince of thieves center around the last outright villain alan rickman has played on screen , the sheriff of nottingham . he turned the role down a couple of times before eventually agreeing ( sam neill and richard e grant were considered , too ) , on the condition that he could have relatively free reign with the part .
still , revisiting robin hood : prince of thieves has been interesting for me . i ' ve always liked the film an awful lot , but my reservations about the ending grow with each viewing . it just doesn ' t feel right . it did not stop the film from being a massive hit , though .
robin hood : prince of thieves is clearly a 1990s production , right down to the oscar - nominated and outright interminable ballad “ ( everything i do ) i do it for you . ” bryan adams was a regular presence at the multiplex two decades ago , having contributed love songs to this , the three musketeers remake and also don juan demarco . all those songs are pretty interchangeable , mind you , but they tore up the charts back in the first bush era . his robin hood : prince of thieves theme fits in well with michael kamen’s sweeping score , which may be the most accomplished aspect of the whole production , and is now heard regularly in disney commercials and in front of all of morgan creek’s productions .
then : you may remember slater as hot - headed merry man will scarlett in & apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves . & apos ; that same year he played one of the leads in & apos ; mobsters & apos ; and appeared in & apos ; star trek vi : the undiscovered country . & apos ;
the men wear masks . their guns are drawn on the bank manager . she nervously recites the alarm code , and the tumblers within the huge vault fall . the timing and execution are brilliant . it could be the perfect heist . but as the huge sum of cash is stolen , so too is one man ' s heart - - and that man is the prince of thieves . . . charlestown , a blue - collar boston neighborhood , pro
jon hall gets a break from the exotic arabian nights films he was doing during most of the forties and gets his chance to play the legendary robin hood in prince of thieves . he ' s definitely a bit more of a rogue in this robin hood tale than you find in most . he rescues maid marian and her brother michael duane a pair of saxon nobles who were waylaid in sherwood forest . it ' s the brother that ' s heading for his wedding to lady adele jergens . however the powers that be who rule england in richard i ' s absence have other ideas for some politically convenient marriages of alliance . of course that ' s prince john who is not seen in this film . as it ' s only 71 minutes , barely longer than an hour we don ' t get too much time for character development . the prince of thieves plays like an episode of the old richard greene robin hood series . for those expecting errol flynn you will be disappointed .
in an era where films such as die hard have been downgraded to 15 from 18 , it ' s interesting that robin hood : prince of thieves is one of the few to have gone the other way . the disc release , with the original 142 minute cinema cut we saw in the uk is now a 12 , and even then , there ' s a sense the bbfc is being a bit generous .
that said , the accent criticisms would stick , and mel brooks would have fun with it in his spoof inspired by prince of thieves , robin hood : men in tights . when his robin hood , cary elwes , says
this robin speaks with an english accent ,
men in tights gets one of its few laughs right there .
then : yup , that was pop star bryan adams appropriately playing a balladeer in & apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves . & apos ; his song , & apos ; ( everything i do ) i do it for you , & apos ; also helped to make the movie’s soundtrack a big hit .
21 . prince of thieves was originally edited quite severely when it reached home video – the sheriff’s attempted rape is toned down , and marian’s abductor no longer says ‘i’ve never seen the breasts of a noblewoman’ . it wasn’t enough to placate some angry parents , and british censor james ferman later admitted the pg rating was probably a mistake . you can read all about the various different edits here .
9 . despite the unified look , prince of thieves was shot all over the place , with woodland locations in north yorkshire , burnham and the new forest . if you pop over to wiltshire you can visit wardour castle , which doubled as the locksleys’ home . it’s a ruin by the time robin gets there , but the special effects team used matte painting to make it look fully intact early in the film .
i hope the world sees ben affleck’s director’s cut of the town . if it’s as faithful as i’ve heard it is , the full film may just be a modern crime - film masterpiece , on the level of john huston ‘s the asphalt jungle or scorsese ‘s goodfellas . as is , the town is a fine film , but chuck hogan’s prince of thieves contains hard , sobering lessons that the crowd - pleasing movie sidesteps . check out hogan’s book , it’s a knockout .
robin hood : prince of thieves could have easily failed the test of time . it’s too mired in 1990s clichés to feel wholly modern , but at a base level , this dramatic retcon of the robin hood legend feels right at home in the present generation of grim and gritty remakes . and to think , it preceded that trend by well over a decade . i’m not sure if christopher nolan would ever cop to it , but batman begins bears so many similarities to robin hood : prince of thieves that it feels almost like an intentional homage . yet batman begins gets all the credit for inventing the realistic pop culture adaptation , while kevin reynolds’ film gets more credit for screwing up an english accent than for anything it actually does right . it’s a fun film , political correctness be damned , and it doesn’t just pass the test of time… it feels ahead of it .
chuck hogan never allows these characters to directly interact in the novel , but there are plenty of close shaves . one particularly entertaining sequence in prince of thieves finds frawley – who in the book is much more of a rival for claire’s affections – finds a garage dougie keeps hidden . he breaks in , looking for damning evidence but only finds doug’s gorgeous , classic corvette , restored from the ground up . frawley carefully , viciously keys the living shit out of it .
the sheriff of nottingham plans to usurp king richard’s throne while the rightful monarch is away at the crusades , with a soothsaying witch and a mostly unseen conclave of barons – we’ll just call them “the league of shadows” – by his side . prince john , by the way , is nowhere to be seen . it is my understanding that prince john didn’t actually take over the throne until after king richard’s death , but he keeps showing up in robin hood movies anyway , so the filmmakers have clearly dovetailed the villain’s familiar mincing persona into the sheriff’s more threatening one , and it makes for a very memorable bad guy . who cares about prince john anyway ? he only signed the magna carta .
that said , bbfc chief james ferman would express that his only regret on his retirement was allowing robin hood : prince of thieves through with such a soft certificate . he had a point . this is a brutal , violent film , with a surprisingly nasty edge for a family movie . and there ' s also the ending of the film , which leaves a really sour taste .
tonally , robin hood : prince of thieves also has batman begins written all over it . it takes a vigilante formerly associated with wisecracks and tights and takes him very , very seriously , with dramatic , realistic lighting and all - new reinterpretations of the character’s classic tropes . no longer does prince john use an archery contest to lure robin hood into the open , thus giving him the perfect opportunity to prove his impressive skills . instead , the sheriff of nottingham hangs most of robin’s friends , forcing robin to use those skills to shoot the ropes out from halfway across a castle courtyard . it’s the same basic scene as before , but now it’s all badass .
this outline and the general sketch of the film are surprisingly close to the source material – except for the time - frame of book , which is set in 1994 . affleck and co - writers peter craig and aaron stockard clearly have a great deal of respect for hogan’s structure . that’s not a surprise : chuck hogan is among the nation’s premiere writers of crime fiction ( prince of thieves was hailed by many critics and authors – including stephen king – as one of the best novels of 2004 ) , and his recent vampire - plague novels co - authored with no less a worthy than guillermo del toro ( the strain trilogy , which encompasses the strain , the fall , and the night eternal , the last of which will appear in october 2011 ) are some remarkable pieces of fiction .
william bibbiani is the editor of craveonline ' s film channel , co - host of the b - movies podcast , co - star of the trailer hitch , and the writer of the test of time . follow him on twitter at @ williambibbiani .
the story of wyatt earp as he interacts and battles other famous figures of the wild west era .
story of the assassination of reinhard heydrich , nazi ss commander , by czech partisans and the reprisals inflicted by the nazis on the czechs .
back in the early ‘90s , the sight of kevin costner showering in the buff would have sent a certain section of the cinemagoing public fainting in the aisles .
one of the more unusual elements of robin hood : prince of thieves ( 1991 , dir . kevin reynolds ) is azeem ( morgan freeman ) , a black muslim who helps robin escape from a muslim prison in jerusalem . he declares that he owes robin a life debt ( which , by the way , is pretty much an entirely literary concept , without much basis in the real world ) and so he returns to england with robin , whom he insists on calling “christian” .
costner and reynolds would patch up their differences , only to fall out in even more spectacular style on waterworld ( only to patch up their differences again and reunite for hatfield & mccoys ) . but with robin hood : prince of thieves , against considerable odds , they fashioned an often hugely entertaining - and hugely uncomfortable - blockbuster , with an immense villain .
robin hood : prince of thieves is the only film to date that brings kevin costner and elmo from brush strokes together on the big screen ( to date , anyway , depending on howard lew lewis ' schedule ) . and the merry men feature no shortage of fun characters : step forward nick brimble ' s grand little john , soo drouet as his wife , fanny ( behave ) , and the marvellous michael mcshane as friar tuck . it ' s a grand ensemble .
then : mcshane played friar tuck in & apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves . & apos ; you may also remember him from & apos ; office space , & apos ; in which he played a hypnotist who dies while plying his mysterious craft , and as kramer & apos ; s superstitious rival fdr on & apos ; seinfeld . & apos ;
rewatching robin hood : prince of thieves , time hasn’t altered at all the rights and wrongs of it . its introduction of azeem , the moor companion that robin befriends in a savage scene in jerusalem at the start of the movie ( costner had been keen that we saw backstory of robin outside of sherwood forest ) gave morgan freeman a decent , if unexpected role . it’s one of the biggest deviations from the robin hood legend , but in fairness , it lends the film its best non - rickman comedy moments ( co - writer pen densham went on to say in an interview abut including azeem that
i was told it was a stupid idea by studios , so overcoming those objections made it worth the effort
) .
much has been made—rightfully so—of the film’s treatment of morgan freeman’s azeem character , the moor that escapes a jerusalem jail with robin and is summarily indebted to him by decree of allah . while the film’s dialogue certainly does azeem no favors , calling him “the painted man” and making a joke out of his faith a few times , robin hood : prince of thieves still mostly contains a message about acceptance of others , with freeman’s azeem overall reading as a clever , loyal , and learned man . ( costner’s ham - fisted speech to the merry men about color and creed , though ? ugh . he should never be counted on to deliver long blocks of “sincere” dialogue . )
there was a series made in the uk ( and very popular in many other countries ) in the 80 ' s called robin of sherwood . one of the characters was a saracen called nasir . he was not originally supposed to be one of the regulars , but the actor ( mark ryan ) got on so well with the rest of the cast , the decided not to kill nasir , but keep him on as one of robin ' s men . when robin hood prince of thieves was in development , a character called nazeem was written because the writer thought that the saracen was a traditional part of the legend ( along with little john , will scarlet and marian ) . the name was changed to azeem because they found out that the character was unique to richard carpenter ' s robin of sherwood . so , thanks to a random piece of casting in the uk in the 80 ' s , we were given morgan freeman ' s azeem .
the internet is choked with nostalgia for the youth - oriented entertainments of the not - too - distant past : tumblr blogs regurgitating images of half - forgotten toys ; youtube compilations of long - lost tv - show intros ; countless blogs playing “remember when ? ” with movies and video games whose rose - colored recollections aren’t always properly earned . with memory wipe , the a . v . club takes a look at some of our formative favorites with clearer eyes and asks that all - important question : were they really that great to begin with ? this installment looks at robin hood : prince of thieves , the second most popular movie of 1991 .
reynolds had directed costner before on the really very good fandango , and his involvement – along with a screenplay from pen densham and john watson that was willing to go broader than the traditional robin hood legend – led to costner committing to prince of thieves . the fox and tristar projects shut down shortly after ( although a competing robin hood movie , starring patrick bergin , would get a uk cinema release in 1991 , heading straight to television in the us ) .
despite its ubiquity in the summer of 1991 , a whole host of eclectic artists have attempted to extend the shelf life of adams’ theme tune even further .
not that that either appears to be the director’s cut . most stories about robin hood : prince of thieves tend to center on the sizeable disagreement and falling out between costner and reynolds , that led to the latter having his cut of the film taken away from him . costner ( who reportedly did some second unit directing ) and his producers instead assembled the final version – as they would do with waterworld , costner and reynolds’ next collaboration – and the director was not impressed with it . however , he didn’t hold the cards here , and whilst the final cut was approved by a director called kevin , it wasn’t the kevin who actually helmed the film .
it should be clear from this summary that the poem is a wild fantasy . robin just happens to have an insanely large sum of money lying around to loan out to the knight , and his generosity is rewarded later on when he recoups twice the sum from the monk , only to give half of it away again . the story relies on comic inversions ( the bandit given his captive money , the sheriff dining off his own stolen plates , the bandit hosting the king , the king wearing robin’s livery instead of the other way around ) and the idea that moral decency is rewarded while villainy is punished . the hero is an incorrigible outlaw , and just throws away the king’s pardon because he’s bored . the whole thing reads like a contemporary comic action film , and honestly has a way better plot than robin hood : prince of thieves does .
reportedly concerned that rickman would upstage him , costner , who also served as one of the film’s producers , apparently hijacked the editing process to beef up some of robin’s scenes and trim some of the sheriff of nottingham’s .
prince of thieves is the source novel for ben affleck ' s the town . hogan is one of the great boston thriller writers , joining lehane and george v . higgins in capturing the unique irish thug culture . having seen the film first , i knew what to expect and i admit , whatever downtime there is in this book , it is more than made up for over the long haul ( this is a long book in very small type ) . the story is classic - the bank robber gets a conscience , finds a girl and tries to run after one last job . but it all feels fresh as hogan tells it . his writing is clear , his images are memorable , his characters , wonderfully flawed . not as surprising as lehane ' s kenzie and gennaro books , not a poetic and deep as mystic river , not a saavy or dialog rich as higgins , prince of thieves manages to capture the heart through the pulsating plot , the frantic heists and the almost believable love story . his hero doug is beautifully drawn and makes the whole novel worth it ' s high rating . and in case you care , the town is a nearly perfect translation of the book - making affleck ( after lehane ' s gone baby gone ) , the film poet of lowlife boston .
my family owned about three movies when i was growing up . we were a library clan ; if we wanted to watch something , we’d either pick it up or order it from the cuyahoga county public library , a system that worked most of the time . but for whatever reason , we actually owned hard copies of a few things . one was fantasia , which i’ve still never watched . another was a dubbed copy of amadeus that one of my parents’ friends must have given them . ( again , haven’t watched it , though i should . ) and the third was a real , honest - to - goodness store - bought copy of robin hood : prince of thieves .
prince of thieves , the 2004 heist novel by chuck hogan that served as source material for the town starring ben affleck and jeremy renner , is the best book i ' ve given up on and had to rate with one star since joining goodreads . it does not make me a happy man to do this and would recommend the book to anyone hooked by the synopsis who hasn ' t seen the movie . i have seen the movie and trying my damnedest , could find no compelling reason to stay in this taxicab . let me off here , driver . hogan ' s writ
what we tend to forgot is how often these movies are based on these things called books . hold on , don’t go ! i know you want to click over to omg ! on yahoo ! but stay with me for a while longer while we discuss the pros and cons of the cinematic adaptation of a previously published material . i’ll begin with something recent , co - writer and director ben affleck ‘s adaptation of crime novelist chuck hogan ‘s prince of thieves , which affleck astutely retitled the town . if you haven’t seen the film or read the book , be warned : this article will have massive spoilers . you’ve been warned . here we go .
robin hood leads the fight to uphold justice , against the corrupt sheriff of nottingham .
then : he wasn & apos ; t credited for the role , but there was no doubt that was sean connery portraying king richard in & apos ; robin hood : prince of thieves . & apos ; while connery hadn & apos ; t played james bond , his most famous character , since 1983 , he was still a household name and face thanks to movies such as & apos ; the hunt for red october & apos ; and & apos ; indiana jones and the last crusade . & apos ;
most things about robin hood : prince of thieves are terrible . kevin costner ' s and christian slater ' s attempts at english accents : terrible . bryan adam ' s theme song which refused to go away during the summer of 1991 and can conjure mass feelings of nausea to this very day : terrible . seeing costner ' s naked arse as he gets washed in a waterfall : terrible . but i ' ve still probably watched it more than any other film and will ( in true robin hood spirit ) defend it until my dying breath .
there’s not a line in the film he doesn’t deliver deliciously , and the story goes that the film was re - edited to take bits of rickman out , and put more of costner in , such was the sheriff’s dominance of the movie .
chuck hogan is the author of several acclaimed novels , including devils in exile and the killing moon . the town was awarded the hammett prize for excellence in crime writing , and named one of the ten best novels of the year by stephen king . he is also the co - author , with guillermo del toro , of the international bestseller the strain . he lives with his family outside boston .
this is the first day of shooting at the sherwood forest location ( not the real sherwood forest , which is in nottinghamshire to the north ) , but robin hood : prince of thieves is already behind schedule and the filmmakers are under pressure . the 747s are the least of their problems . attempting to take the latest flyby in stride , costner flashes his easy - going smile , and in moments filming resumes . but later , taking his lunch break picnic - style on a blanket spread out on the forest floor , he doesn’t hide his growing concern . ”it’s very dangerous to be ( working ) so fast , ” he says . ”we are relying on the weather , and every time the weather turns against us we could get behind . when that happens there is always the feeling that certain people want to do something about it to shorten the filming time . that is not always the cure . ”
perhaps the first sign of problems came just ahead of shooting . robin wright had been cast in the role of maid marian , but discovered she was pregnant . four days before cameras were set to roll , mary elizabeth mastrantonio was drafted in ( the film would then overrun , causing - and don ' t say we never give you killer bits of trivia - her wedding license to lapse ) , more than holding her own in the part . that said , she would pinpoint many people’s feelings about robin hood : prince of thieves when she said in a 2009 sunday herald interview that “it felt like different films , different attitudes , and i’d have much rather been in alan rickman’s film . i wanted to do what he was doing . ”
in 1993 , there was stephen herek ' s the three musketeers , which brazenly followed reynold ' s formula , casting michael wincott ( who played guy of gisborne in prince of thieves ) as an evil henchman and boasted a theme song sung by bryan adams ( who was aided by two more middle - aged lotharios in the form of sting and rod stewart ) . in the same year , mel brooks ' s robin hood : men in tights ably took the piss out of reynolds ' s opus with cary elwes ( of princess bride fame ) as robin and larry david ' s best buddy richard lewis playing prince john . then , two years later , came mel gibson ' s machismo - laden ode to william wallace which stretched historical accuracy to levels that would probably give david starkey an aneurysm , and produced a theme song which turned into an anthem on ibiza ' s dancefloors when it was given a trance remix by dj sakin & friends in 1998 .
up until the final act , robin hood : prince of thieves is generally enormous fun ( appreciating the downbeat early scenes , and the remarkably adept blind man , duncan ) . reynolds - shooting his arrows at 300 frames a second - has a busy camera , that he ' s willing to point wherever he needs to keep the film moving . his action moments - clearly practical - are strong , and the arrows of fire being launched into the sherwood camp make for an excellent sequence . he breathlessly mixes up action and comedy , and then takes time to set up a potentially brilliant final sequence , as robin and chums must halt the sheriff ' s wedding , and save ten of their men - one of whom is john and fanny ' s son - from being hanged .
when robin and his moorish companion come to england and the tyranny of the sheriff of nottingham , he decides to fight back as an outlaw .
additionally , the historian maurice keen , in his outlaws of medieval legend , points out that the robin hood poems of the 15 th century share many of their motifs with stories of other medieval outlaws . the detail about the monk who is robbed because he won’t tell the truth comes straight out of the story of the 12 th century pirate eustace the monk . in a different poem , robin hood disguises himself as a potter , a retelling of a story variously told about hereward the wake , an 11 th century rebel ; eustace the monk ; and william wallace . keen shows how many elements of the robin hood poems are expressions of peasant discontent and in that sense act as a form of social protest . so looking at them for historical facts is probably the wrong approach , sort of like looking at modern action films for historical facts .
with robin hood poised to become one of the summer’s top hits , most of those involved in it will probably forget the production’s myriad problems when the box office figures roll in . but for the two friends who made the picture possible , the wounds of making robin hood may take longer to heal .
i saw the movie , the town , a few years ago and got the book after i learned the movie was based on a book . the movie was great , the book is even better . you get so much more depth with the characters and the plot . with the book , you can dwell on the inner life and struggle in doug ; the obsession of the fbi agent pursuing him ; and the thoughts and reactions of claire - - the woman caught up in the middle of it all . it always amazes when an author can make a sympathetic hero out of a character that
from the author of the strain comes a tense , psychologically gripping , hammet award - winning thriller . four masked men—thieves , rivals , and friends from the tough streets of charlestown—take on a boston bank at gunpoint . holding bank manager claire keesey hostage and cleaning out the vault were simple . but career criminal doug macray didn ' t plan on one thing : falling hard for claire . when he tracks her down without his mask and gun , their mutual attraction is undeniable . with a tenacious fbi agent following his every move , he imagines a life away from his gritty , dangerous work—a life centered around claire . but before that can happen , doug and his crew learn that there may be a way to rob boston ' s venerable baseball stadium , fenway park . risky yet utterly irresistible , it would be the perfect heist to end his criminal career and begin a new life . but , as it turns out , pursuing claire may be the most dangerous act of all . racing to an explosive climax , prince of thieves is a brash tale of robbery in all its forms—and an unforgettable odyssey of crime , love , ambition , and dreams .
all initial copies of the original 1991 uk ' pg ' video had the full promo video for bryan adams '
everything i do ( i do it for you )
played underneath the credits at the end of the film .
the basic problem with this claim is that the earldom of huntingdon was a noble title that the kings of england sometimes granted to the kings of scotland . in 1165 , when william the lion became king of scotland , he passed the earldom to his younger brother david , who held it for the rest of his life , even after he became king of scotland ; david died in 1219 . so there’s no opportunity for robin hood to have been earl of huntingdon in 1198 . as a historian , parker wasn’t very concerned about facts .
while rescuing the boy , robin grabs a crossbow and throws it at one of the soldiers ,
hitting
him in the face . the crossbow hits plexiglas in front of the soldier , and leaves a scratch that is momentarily visible .
19 . as if there weren’t enough reasons to love alan rickman , the actor once admitted that he edited the script – with the help of ruby wax and playwright peter barnes – in a branch of pizza express , to improve some of the ‘terrible’ dialogue .
speaking of maid marian and the film’s romantic element , woof . though 12th - century england certainly didn’t lend itself to lengthy love stories or even ideal matches , the fact that marian would fall head over heels in l - o - v - e love with robin after seeing his pale , naked ass through a waterfall , well , it’s comical at best . sure , she may have fallen in lust , but the film lets the camera linger on mastrantonio’s gaping face in the scene , suggesting that , as if struck by cupid’s arrow , she’s simply fallen for a guy she barely knows . and while this trope isn’t uncommon in films or in fiction in general , it’s just another example of how prince of thieves ’ plot is spotty at best , relying on viewers to already know the story and fill in the gaps themselves .
it’s the film which saw alan rickman deliver one of the greatest panto villain performances of all time , bryan adams take a summer residency at the top of the uk charts and kevin costner prove that when it comes to accents , well he just can’t be bothered .
it turns out that robin hood : prince of thieves was the batman begins of the 1990s . check it out : it’s a film about a universally recognized vigilante , closely associated with one country , starring an actor from another country , who is assisted by a sage - like , gadget - inventing morgan freeman , and who returns home from a life - changing multi - year journey into manhood , but then has trouble convincing his female childhood friend - turned - love interest that he’s actually achieved maturity , and who uses theatricality to defend his homeland from an insidious cult that seeks to undo the good deeds of his deceased father , whose untimely death spurs him into action . that ' s pretty spot on , isn’t it ?
the surviving 15 th century poems , of which there are about a half - dozen , give us our earliest look at how medieval english audiences pictured robin hood , and he is a drastically different character than the modern cinematic figure , so different as to be almost unrecognizable except that several of the names are the same . the stories mention robin hood , little john , and will scarlett ( or scarlock ) , along with guy of gisbourne and a sheriff who in one poem is the sheriff of nottingham . there is also a character , much the miller’s son , who has largely vanished from the cinematic merry men . but there is no king richard or prince john , only a passing mention of king edward ; nor is there any mention of maid marion or friar tuck .
all the newly streaming films of netflix , amazon , filmstruck , and more .
of the three , the tristar project was apparently barely in the running . but for a long time , it looked as if 20th century fox would win this particular race . it had a director on board , with john mctiernan – hot off the back of die hard and in the midst of the hunt for red october – set to make its robin hood film . and at that stage , it was the most advanced of the projects .
long before he took on the role of captain jack sparrow , johnny depp very nearly appeared in another swashbuckling adventure when he was offered the role of will scarlet .
in a blue - collar boston neighbourhood , a planned robbery takes place . the men wear masks . their guns are drawn on the pretty bank manager , claire keesey , who nervously recites the alarm code , and the tumblers within the huge vault fall . the timing and execution are brilliant . it could be the perfect job . a huge sum of cash is stolen , but so too is one man ' s heart , as doug macray , the brains behind the tough , tight - knit crew of thieves , falls for claire . but she has another admirer : fbi agent adam frawley , who is beginning to zero in on the gang , and for doug , pursuing claire may be his most dangerous act of all .
one of the best studies of the shift from the folk magic model to the satanic model of witchcraft is richard kieckhefer’s european witch trials : their foundations in popular and learned culture , 1300 - 1500 . he documents the shift in the accusations at trials . it’s a bit old , but it’s worth a read if you’re interested in medieval witchcraft .
a young thief , seeking revenge for the death of his brother , is trained by the once great , but aged zorro , who also pursues vengeance of his own .
defending the film has never been easy . even as a 13 - year - old , it was a hard sell . my peers would be watching their brothers ' copy of terminator 2 or silence of the lambs and i ' d be banging on about a film set during the crusades , which featured people who lived in trees near mansfield . when i went to university , things got really uncomfortable . i ' d signed up for a european film course and remember talking to some fellow students after watching the cabinet of dr caligari . as they discussed their favourite - ever films i listened nervously as my peers rattled off titles such as citizen kane , rear window and breathless . when it was my turn i paused , said a prayer and then spat it out :
it has to be robin hood : prince of thieves .
the looks of disgust that it was met with are still seared into my memory . some of them never spoke to me again . i became a pariah on a film course which consisted of about five people all because i ' d muttered the name robin hood .
after escaping from a dungeon after being captured by the turks during the crusades , robin , son of lord locksley and a warrior moor named azeem return to england only to find robin ' s father has been murdered by the corrupt sheriff of nottingham and has taken over his father ' s lands . unable to be helped by maid marian dubois , sister of robin ' s friend peter who died trying to help robin and azeem escape . robin vows to avenge his father and flees to the forest of sherwood , home to a band of outlaws who have been banished from their villages by the sheriff of notingham . combining the forces of the outlaws , robin and his merry men set out on a crusade against the sheriff of nottingham and defeat the sheriff of nottingham and his henchmen who bids to take over the throne of england ' s rightful ruler king richard and put a end to the corruption that has infested the english countryside .
the n : wincott played the devious guy of grisborne , who aids his cousin , the sheriff of nottingham , in his evil - doing . the julliard - trained actor had previous been in movies such as & apos ; the sicilian & apos ; and & apos ; the doors . & apos ;
after being captured by turks during the crusades , robin of locksley and a moor , azeem , escape back to england , where azeem vows to remain until he repays robin for saving his life . meanwhile , robin ' s father , a nobleman loyal to king richard the lionhearted , has been murdered by the brutal sheriff of nottingham , who helped install richard ' s treacherous brother , prince john , as king while richard is overseas fighting the crusades . when robin returns home , he vows to avenge his father ' s death and restore richard to the throne . even though maid marian , his childhood friend , cannot help him , he escapes to the forest of sherwood where he joins a band of exiled villagers and becomes their leader . with their help he attempts to cleanse the land of the evil that the sheriff has spread .


big timber is a 1917 american silent film northwoods/drama produced by the oliver morosco company and distributed by paramount pictures .

it was directed by william desmond taylor and starred kathlyn williams and wallace reid .

it is not known whether the film currently survives , and it may be a lost film .

the film was remade in 1924 by universal with william desmond starring .

big timber ( film )

big timber pioneer ( 406 ) 932 - 5298 | 105 w . second avenue | po box 830 | big timber , mt 59011
wedding venues in and around big timber at eventective . com . use the filter options to find your perfect big timber wedding venue .
two rivers gallery , big timber , montana . artists reception , third fridays ! photo courtesy of ; big timber pioneer . | pinterest | artist
a montana highway patrol trooper stopped the vehicle on interstate 90 in big timber in february .
big timber airport is 7 minutes’ drive away from this motel . bozeman is 62 miles away .
see the 3 best hotels in big timber , based on 196 verified hotel reviews on booking . com .
28 best two rivers gallery , big timber , montana . images on pinterest | montana , river and rivers
anthony is a young , optimistic and overtly naïve musical theatre performer living in big timber , montana with big broadway dreams . tony , on the other hand , is
romica and adina tila , romanian missionaries with the jesus film will be here on sunday , october 15 to share about the difference the jesus film tools are making in their country of romania . romica and adina and their children will be spending a week here in big timber .
located in big timber , this hotel offers guest rooms with free wi - fi . a 24 - hour front desk and laundry facilities are provided for guest convenience .
a new - wave western feature film spent 18 days in august filming in south - central montana . the production company based their operations out of billings . they used the moss mansion along with many other locations in the billings , columbus and big timber areas . montana crew and cast were hired for the shoot and the production company took advantage of montana’s big sky on the big screen act .
billings - one of the two men accused of trafficking drugs from california to montana and fleeing during a traffic stop in big timber pleaded guilty to federal drug charges wednesday .
big heritage inspires new pokémon go game locations and launches free primary school workshops .
title big timber year 1950 distributor ( s ) assoc . british pathe ltd classified date ( s ) 14 / 11 / 1950 submitted run time 72m 54s approved footage 6561 bbfc reference aff022900
timothy egan , author , the big burn : the big burn destroys an area the size of connecticut in 36 hours we ' ve never had anything close to it .
eight sections of lucien castaing - taylor’s mammoth big timber project : a revealing and often breath - taking look at sheep ranchers at work in montana , during the twilight of this kind of ranching .
is a 60 minute silent film , silent and slow . the film is broken in to 3 sections : birth , life , death . the film opens big ( very big ) with a static shot of the top of an enormous ship strung up as if by the strings of some daewoo puppet master . in this introductory section we not only learn the effort required to construct a ship but the effort required to view a film in which one must participate , not simply watch passively . hutton was once a seaman – an experience which , thankfully for viewers of his film , never shook free from his imagination . while
offering a terrace and views of the mountain , valley guest house b & b ; is located in big timber . free wifi is available throughout the property and free private parking is available on site .
aaron pederson — apparently , nullah when he was older . however this part was not included in the finished film — presumably because the film run time had to be shortened . exactly what aaron pederson ' s part in the ' australia ' film story was , has not been made public .
eddy : big bro ! it ' s me ! eddy ! you know ! [ whispering ] pipsqueak .
if you’re tempted to post a comment that resembles anything on the film review comment bingo card , please reconsider .
narrator : the big burn swept eastward across the rocky mountains , picking up speed , consuming everything in its path .
the film was watched by 2 . 268 million viewers in its initial broadcast in the u . s . [ 1 ]
narrator : before the smoke had even cleared from the mountains , the debate over the lessons of the big burn began .
erin fitzgerald as may kanker , one of the kanker sisters wanting to save her
big ed
from the neighborhood kids .
timothy egan , author , the big burn : firefighting was a very , very primitive science . they were learning as they went along
after the big burn , chief forester gifford pinchot publicizes the selfless actions of the fire fighters who lost their lives in the blaze .
i ' d like to think that baz luhrmann may one day dig out the acres of discarded film footage and release a ' directors cut ' of his ' australia ' film - a revisited version ; longer than the current version , or cut into two parts . re - editing would involve months of work , but the result , unhindered by financial backer ' s ideas on ' acceptable ' film length , could be spectacular .
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the big horn county coroner has released the name of the 5 - year - old girl who died from injuries she received in a crash .
kitty rickert , kim baker , and another friend who attended the jesus film prayer journey this past spring will be sharing more about the jesus film and their past trip on sunday , october 1 at 10 : 30 am in the fellowship hall . you’re invited to join in on their sharing time !
remains enmeshed with a dialogue specific to its particular time . the subject of the film might be eternal , but its implications are very timely . ”
once you have seen the film , the information below will be helpful explaining anything you missed or would like to be reminded of . there is a huge amount of detail crammed into the ' australia ' movie - a lot of this interesting detail can be better appreciated during a second or third film viewing .
prices : urltoken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . river valley inn 600 west 2nd avenue big timber mt 59011 located off interstate 90 , this montana motel features guest rooms with free wi - fi . it serves a daily continental breakfast and offers free guest parking for large vehicles . yellowstone national park is 165 miles away . a cable tv with hbo film and espn sports channels is offered in every air - conditioned room at river valley inn . all guest rooms include a refrigerator , a seating area and a telephone . a 24 - hour reception greets guests of inn river valley . fax and photocopying services are available . vending machines featuring snacks and drinks are located on - site . big timber airport is 7 minutes’ drive away from this motel . bozeman is 62 miles away .
browse a photo gallery of the men who fought the big burn in 1910 and helped make the u . s . forest service what it is today .
big horn resort has been the site of many happy weddings . our indoor and outdoor wedding facilities have been designed to accommodate virtually any size or style of
featuring free wi - fi , this air - conditioned room includes a cable tv with hbo film and espn sports channels , a seating area and a refrigerator .
many critics and urban bloggers have accused the film ' australia ' of being cliched and false . in doing so , they have illustrated their ignorance of life on remote cattle stations . the myriad of details built into this film are accurate , and such a large amount of authentic detail on the australian bush has never been written in to a film before — ever . so these details certainly don ' t qualify as cliches . but i suspect that 99 % of film critics didn ' t even observe the raft of authentic details that baz has built into his film , anyway . a good many of them have made amazing errors in their reviews ( the most spectacular of which was a vitriolic scottish guardian writer , who said lady ashley inherited a ' sheep station ' then walked a mob of cattle off it . )
ben mendelsohn — captain emmett dutton ( appears throughout the film , and clearly takes a shine to lady sarah ashley from the moment he spots her marching down the wharf on arrival in darwin . however his fondness for her is never voiced . if the film ran longer , no doubt this would have been played out in more detail . )
’ purpose is didactic : by replicating the artist’s own careful observation of the natural world , it seeks to assist its audience in becoming artists in their own right . moreover , benning offers surprising insight into the spatial nature of his medium , simply by anchoring his camera firmly in place . in short , the form of benning’s film directly yields its content . then again , benning’s film is not entirely without formal precedent : benning remains a structuralist in a time well after that movement’s cultural ebb . …benning’s film is about thirteen lakes , which is as far removed from the hollywood system as it is from environmental orthodoxy . perhaps there is no better way to conclude than to be reminded of the film’s simplicity and to consider the film’s nonconformity , both in terms of its form and in its content . whether it is its opposition to traditional narrative structures or to the environmentalist gospel ,
miriuwung ( also spelt ' miriwoong ' ) is the aboriginal language spoken in the film . it is commonly spoken in the east kimberley region of western australia , i . e . it is spoken in the area where ' faraway downs ' was situated . indigenous kununurra locals greeted the speaking of their language with much enthusiasm , at the film premiere .
two by two : ooops . . . the ark has gone ( aka two by two : god’s little creatures , aka all creatures big and small ) ( 2015 )
roddy mcdowall stars in this monogram b film as a preppy kid with a degree in forestry who gets a job at a logging camp where he calls trees by their latin names , befriends the girl cook ( jeff donnell ) , and makes an enemy ( ted hecht ) . lots of location shooting at lone pine , california , the film has a documentary feel as it depicts the various stages of logging big timber , which the loggers call
sticks .
one of a series of films that mcdowall starred in and produced for monogram . co - stars include lyle talbot , gordon jones , robert shayne , lyn thomas , and tom greenway . main problem is that the villain ( hecht ) is too obvious . pretty mild and not the best of the monogram bunch .
an extremely attractive and more than somewhat cocky stripper making the big bucks in the big apple . anthony envisions his big break when he enters a contest to be in an off - broadway production in new york city . tony sees “ $ ” signs when he finds a competition entitled , “america’s strip search ! ” thanks to these contests being held by the same production company , and our leading men having the same name , an unexpected case of mistaken identity explodes . horizons are broadened , lives are changed forever , and hilarity ensues .
he story of noah’s ark is rather bizarre in its original incarnation , but what this cheap european animated film does with it is almost beyond comprehension . and not in a good way .
however , beyond the disney , hidden within the film are some very clever , and well - researched nods to the history and archaeology of norway , in which the film seems to be largely set . indeed , the plot is loosely based on the tale of the snow queen by danish author hans christian andersen , who based many of his books on old scandinavian folktales .
at high noon on july 1st , deep in montana’s crazy mountains , kayakers converge above « the pinch » for one of the steepest and fastest creek races in the country . enjoy the ensuing chaos that is the big timber creek race . huge thanks to beartooth paddlers society , nate winning , and dave schroeder for organizing a killer event and congrats to the legend tyler bradt for bringing home the win and ceremonial axe .
a cable tv with hbo film and espn sports channels is offered in every air - conditioned room at river valley inn . all guest rooms include a refrigerator , a seating area and a telephone .
the arendelle links don ' t end with the name - the main castle itself looks like a stone version of a stave church . these stunning timber churches crop up in scandinavia when the areas become officially christian in the 11th and 12th centuries .
up until the late 19th century , the country had done its best to develop its open spaces - - encouraging the wholesale harvesting of timber , industrial mining on a vast scale , the blasting of railroads through the mountains and across the continent .
montana film office • 301 south park ave helena , mt 59620 • tel : 800 . 553 . 4563 • 406 . 841 . 2876 • fax : 406 . 841 . 2877 • montanafilm @ urltoken
the pulaski was created in the years just following the 1910 big burn by u . s . forest service ranger ed pulaski , and it continues to be used by wildland firefighters to this day .
break open a punnet of strawberries and make the most of the summer at the canalside . we will be screening live action from the centre court on big screens between the 3rd - 18th june .
narrator : their progressive vision imagined a new kind of commonwealth , national forests , controlled by an enlightened corps of rangers , overseeing not just the timber , but also the minerals , the water and the wildlife - - for the benefit of all americans .
narrator : in the decades after the big burn , the agency ' s uncompromising stand on fire would serve the forest service well , but its impact on the national forests would be fraught with unintended consequences .
inspired by timothy egan’s best - selling book , the big burn provides a cautionary tale of heroism and sacrifice , arrogance and greed , hubris and , ultimately , humility , in the face of nature’s frightening power .
see also my # wherearethewomen rating of two by two : ooops… the ark has gone ( aka two by two : god’s little creatures , aka all creatures big and small ) for its representation of girls and women .
two by two : ooops . . . the ark has gone ( aka two by two : god’s little creatures , aka all creatures big and small ) movie review : global apocalypse , you know , for kids | urltoken
matt hill as ed , the tritagonist of the film . he is still behaving immaturely , but acts really nice to his friends . in this film , he is referred to as the bravest of the group . his convincing sadness touches eddy , causing eddy to change his behavior . it is revealed that his greatest fear is the eds breaking up . at the end , he becomes less dimwitted and much braver than he was previously shown earlier in the series .
the film follows the timber industry from logging through to export the sawmill is in chemainus , this version was built in 1924 . at the time the sawmill has owned by the victoria lumber company . it is 1946 that the sawmill came under the control of hr macmillan . given this is chemainus the logging operation is most likely a victoria lumber company show . 2 : 10 - spar tree being made 3 : 10 - buckers sawing a tree to length 3 : 16 - steam donkey in operation 3 : 43 - skidway to the water 4 : 33 - logging railway 4 : 52 - sawmill and log dump 8 : 10 - ship being loaded the film was made by the canadian government motion picture bureau narration david gwydyr narrator rupert caplan original source footage at this link : urltoken
ava connolly | callum maloney | dermot magennis | ice age | studio ghibli | tara flynn | two by two ooops . . . the ark has gone ( aka two by two god’s little creatures aka all creatures big and small )
timothy egan , author , the big burn : they called what they were doing
the great crusade .
in some ways , it was a religious crusade to them . they were doing god ' s work to preserve the earth .
, the second part of what will be a trilogy , helmrich continues his chronicle of an indonesian family dealing with the trials and tribulations of daily life in the world’s largest islamic nation . shape won the top documentary award at the sundance film festival .
there ' s plenty of scandinavian heritage in britain too , left by viking raiders , traders and settlers , and big heritage provide brilliant viking workshops that explore this history in your own classroom . for more info , contact us on schools @ urltoken
samuel vincent as edd , the deuteragonist of the film . he is the smartest , of course , but got in some arguments with his friends . in this film , he helped out a lot with navigation , as he did help the eds get to where they were going . eddy blames him for the scam ' s destruction of the lane , causing edd to question his friendship with eddy . at the end , he becomes friendlier to eddy and less angry with his friends when they do mischievous things .
narrator : as primitive as fire fighting was at the turn of the century , gifford pinchot believed it was an essential part of his new department ' s mission . fire threatened the nation ' s timber , the very resource he and his rangers existed to protect , and they had to extinguish it at all costs .
colorburn productions is founded on the simple principle that well - crafted stories have the ability to entertain audiences and enlighten the masses . we are committed to creating media that is smart , edgy , adventurous , and emotional . science . nature . culture . film .
in addition to outlining the story and explaining some of the locations , some of the many authentic details that baz luhrmann wrote into the sets , the dialogue and the story are highlighted below . these are details that have been missed by the average film reviewer .
timothy egan , author : what finally muffles what ' s left of the big burn , is an early season snowstorm . snow can happen anytime in the rocky mountains , but you don ' t expect it at the end of august , early september .
she’s not telling them how to construct a movie . she’s explaining why she didn’t enjoy the movie they made . that’s what critics do . or are you suggesting that no one should ever make negative comments about a film , because they might hurt someone’s feelings—or sound angry ?
featuring free wi - fi , this air - conditioned room includes a cable tv with hbo film and espn sports channels , a seating area and a refrigerator . please note that the price is based on 4 guests . maximum occupancy is 4 ( see hotel policies ) .
featuring free wi - fi , this air - conditioned room includes a cable tv with hbo film and espn sports channels , a seating area and a refrigerator . please note that the price is based on 6 guests . maximum occupancy is 6 ( see hotel policies ) .
our fall sermon series will address skepticism and the various problems revolving around faith in a good god . each week we will look at one “big picture” problem area like faith and science , the existence of god , whether the bible can be trusted , and more .
if you don ' t want to know details of the ' australia ' movie story ( plot ) , actors and the characters they play , actual filming locations etc , before you see ' australia ' , then don ' t read the film synopsis below , until afterwards .
timothy egan , author , the big burn : it was a great , great culture clash . forest rangers were not popular at all . they were considered outsiders . even though this was public land , people still felt they could do as they wanted to with it .
eddy ' s previously unseen student id card is also seen later on in the film . as eddy pulls out the postcard to show ed , eddy ' s iconic chain - wallet opens . in it , we see eddy ' s school picture from
smile for the ed .
the dvd released in april 2009 includes two extra scenes , not included in the finished ' australia ' film . one scene is titled ' angry staff serve dinner ' . it shows lady ashley being waited on by staff at the faraway downs homestead - presumably on the first night she arrived . the finished film shows no hint or suggested cause of friction between lady ashley and sing - song , bandy legs and daisy so in the absence of additional information , it ' s hard to know where this scene would have fitted in . more omitted storyline would have fitted in around it .
the mob of 750 shorthorn cattle was walked right into these beach - side cattle yards , which would not have worked , for the film , in the large city that darwin has become . the darwin bombing scenes were also filmed in bowen . ' australia ' filming also took place for a couple of weeks at the real stokes hill wharf in darwin , and scenes of both were fitted together seamlessly in the film . the bombing raids actually took place , but it was in 1942 , and prior to the bombing of pearl harbour , not afterwards . in total more than 2 , 000 australians were killed in japanese bombing raids .
charles e . williams , buffalo soliders national museum : pinchot expected the gps to go out and practice forestry the way they ' ve been taught , full of innovation , energy , and they were up for the job . but , what made that job difficult were the people that they encountered in these towns . the roustabouts , workers in the timber industry , in the mines , and railroads .
two months of filming took place in the north queensland town of bowen because it doubled as the darwin waterfront as it appeared more than 60 years ago . bowen had sufficient land that was vacant - and leasable - in the ideal spot . this enabled film sets - including cattle yards - to be built right on the waterfront .
in 1950s america , the walt disney true - life adventures became the definition of nature films by depicting particular animals as exemplars of post - war american life and morés . french nature film pioneer jean painlevé was the anti - disney : his fascinating short films tended to focus on aquatic species that confront conventional assumptions about gender and family .
bryan brown — king carney ( owner of all the cattle country in the top end except for ' faraway downs ' , which he is determined to own , to complete his monopoly of the beef market . halfway through the film neil fletcher knocks him unconscious with a rifle butt and pushes him into the saltwater crocodile infested river . )
arendelle is the kingdom in which the film is set . in old norse , ' aren ' may be derived from the old norse ' ørn ' , which means
eagle
, and ' delle ' is derived from ' dalr ' , which means
valley
– so it can be translated as ‘valley of the eagles ' .
' australia ' filming took place in sydney in - between the on - location filming in other states . weeks were spent filming at the fox studios near centennial park , as well as a historic property called camelot , in cambden on sydney ' s outskirts , which featured as lady sarah ashley ' s home in england . camelot ' s beautiful and distinctive brick stables with an arched , slat timber ceiling featured in the film . strickland house , a heritage - listed house in vaucluse , one of sydney ' s oldest - settled eastern suburbs , doubled as darwin ' s government house in the ' australia ' film . though also beautiful , darwin ' s government house is actually of far more modest proportions , design and building materials , as is typically the case for northern australian architecture generally , including station homesteads . but strickland house has a distinctive design and a magnificent outlook , and obviously it was a very convenient location for filming , being situated only a couple of suburbs away from fox studios in sydney . both camelot and strickland house fitted the roles they played in ' australia ' perfectly .
but pinchot had another reason to embrace a war against fire . he saw in it the key to his organization ' s survival . ever since the creation of the forest service , timber and mining barons - - many of whom also had seats in congress - - had attempted to slash the agency ' s staff and budget at every turn , determined to starve it out of existence . pinchot needed a weapon to fight back .
timothy egan , author , the big burn : when they come through , sparks go off , and the railroads aren ' t putting out these fires , they go to the forest service and they say
well it ' s your land , we ' re only coming through . you ' ve got to put these things out .
weeks of on - location filming also took place in several locations in western australia ' s east kimberley region , in the far north - east corner of what is australia ' s largest state . the film ' s ' faraway downs ' homestead was built not far from the eastern bank of the ord river , near the very distinctive and aptly named ' house roof hill ' on carlton hill station . in fact ' faraway downs ' is shown on the map which appears in the film , relatively close to the real locations where much of the filming took place . the cockburn range also features in ' australia ' . as the crow flies , this spectacularly beautiful range , dotted with boab trees , is not very far away from carlton hill ( to the west , on the other side of the ord river ) . the cockburn range is located on el questro station ( more recently known as ' el questro wilderness park ' ) , located south of wyndham , but it is visible from a number of neighbouring properties as well . filming also took place on two of these properties , home valley station and diggers rest station , with a focus on some of the particularly special boab trees located on diggers rest and the pentecost river crossing on home valley , which are probably the ones that feature at the start of the film , in the droving scenes and during the wet - season near the end of the film .
in 1900 , unscrupulous timber baron jim fallon plans to take advantage of a new law and make millions off california redwood . much of the land he hopes to grab has been homesteaded by a quaker colony , who try to persuade him to spare the giant sequoias . . . but these are the very trees he wants most . expert at manipulating others , fallon finds that other sharks are at his own heels , and forms an unlikely alliance .
steve pyne , author , year of the fires : timber was really a critical industrial product , and we were going to run out , much like an oil crisis in present times . so the solution was to regulate this unsettled land as a public domain that would then be governed by scientific informed bureaus , and this would allow us to conserve it . not lock it up , but to use it in some kind of rational regulated way .
running for 2 hours 45 minutes , ' australia ' involves a few issues . the main ones are indigenous history and cultural traditions , colonisation & migration ; wwii and the japanese bombing of darwin ; and life on a remote northern cattle station ; with a poignant story of love , humour and tragedy woven amongst it all . despite what some film critics say , it ' s not actually a cut - and - dried story - conflicting angles are brought up - but unfortunately the average film reviewer isn ' t bright enough to realise that baz has presumably been very deliberate in raising complicated issues ( from indigenous drinking , encouraged by well meaning whitefellas , to the racism by recent arrivals in the country , adoption , etc ) .
cast away , in fact , jumps four years from the first terrible weeks to the final period , when noland has adapted to his new environment , but is preparing to escape on a raft . the big change is not internal ( we never discover his religion , his politics or his aesthetic interests other than his love of elvis presley ) but purely physical .
david paul grove as jonny 2x4 , the secondary antagonist of the film . he and plank portray captain melonhead and splinter the wonderwood on the run for the eds . jonny appears to be the nuthouse for still carrying plank around and tormenting the cul - de - sac . at the end of the film , upon arriving at the amusement park he finally gets to the point in beating up the eds only to have the rest of the kids retaliate against him ( because he was the last to arrive at the park ) . after the credits , a scene shows him back in the melon cave , plotting his revenge . plank however tells him that there is no time left in the movie , to which he replies ,
what movie ?
the first days on the island are well managed - the discovery of coconuts , the shaping of tools , the hope of imminent rescue , the descent into despair . the film ' s colour is cold , unromantic , quite unlike the gorgeous technicolor hues of the 1949 ( british ) and 1980 ( american ) versions of the blue lagoon , both shot in the same area of the south seas .
robinson crusoe actually had it lucky with a wrecked ship from which to salvage for rifles , gunpowder , tools , clothes , timber and so on . he also had a rather grand island to explore , to map and to colonise . chuck noland , whose name suggests someone dumped in no man ' s land , has wound up on a hard place as inhospitably rocky as the one that provided the briefest of sanctuaries to the eponymous hero of william golding ' s brilliant and remorseless pincher martin .
to reveal that hanks makes it home is merely to acknowledge that this is a big - budget hollywood picture , produced by its star , and there is a drawn - out , sentimental coda that more or less re - enacts tennyson ' s ' enoch arden ' , that great victorian poem about a desert - island survivor returning to discover that life has changed and his wife has remarried .
750 ' kimberley red ' shorthorn cattle that were typical of the era were sourced especially for the film and waited on agistment for more than twelve months . they were kept until november 2008 in case they were needed to film late scenes . many of these beautiful bullocks sported impressive sets of horns and naturally they became very quiet . when they were sold , several were purchased to form part of a bullock team . the specially trained horses used in ' australia ' were auctioned in april 2008 . a few months prior to the commencement of filming the book with the largest number and widest variety of cattle station images was purchased for visual research purposes - second unit director guy norris bought a copy of a million acre masterpiece in november 2006 , then cinematographer / director of photography mandy walker purchased a copy in december 2006 .
narrator : as the atmosphere finally cleared in the northern rockies , the true nature of the devastation became apparent . more than three million acres of forest had burned , and greeley estimated that a billion dollars worth of timber had been lost . the winds were so strong , entire sections of the forest had been flattened , huge trees spread out like kindling . soot from the fires darkened sunsets as far away as boston , and a layer of ash blackened the ice in greenland . the human toll was equally appalling .
tony sampson as eddy , the protagonist of the film . he still has his greedy and immature behavior and love for his brother until he learns from his mistakes . when edd calls eddy a
so - called
friend after a huge fight with him after he plays a not so funny joke on him , he becomes very sad and emotionally wrecked because all he ever wanted was just a friend or more to begin with , even going as far as to admitting that he was responsible for the destruction end of the scam , and this proves true at the end of the film when he gives up his old ways after his brother is discovered to be a fraud , and then all the kids ( except jonny ) forgive him for his past schemes after seeing why he wanted to be popular and they all become his official friends .
the closing scenes show ' faraway downs ' after the wet season - grassy landscapes and full waterholes . king george appears and nullah says goodbye to lady sarah - ditches his whitefella shirt and shoes with enthusiasm - and heads off on walkabout with his grandfather . ( this boab and waterhole appeared throughout the film , and are probably located on digger ' s rest station , south of wyndham , in the east kimberleys . )
timothy egan , author , the big burn : taft had a higher murder rate than chicago and five prostitutes for every man , they said , and when the rangers showed up , they were horrified . they cabled back to forest service headquarters , saying ,
two undesirable prostitutes setting up business on forest service land . what should we do ?
and someone cabled back ,
get two desirable ones .
by late afternoon a soft breeze began to sway the tops of the white pine and spruce . by 5p . m . it had freshened to 20 miles per - hour , then 30 , and suddenly hurricane force winds of 70 miles per hour were hurtling out of the west , fanning the flames of thousands of fires like an enormous bellows , merging everything into one gigantic blaze . the big burn had begun .
timothy egan , author , the big burn : at one point roosevelt and pinchot are on the floor of the white house , maps spread out all over , and they are mapping out future united states forests . and roosevelt says
oh god , have you ever been up in the flathead valley ? i had a bully time there once .
he goes ,
we ' ve got to include that .
join us at the timber yard reception at here east for our next coffee morning catchup . as usual there will be an update from here east followed by a guest presentation . this month we’re delighted to be joined by kate mccurdy , communications officer at studio wayne mcgregor who will be talking about their exciting new space at here east and their community engagement program . to attend please rsvp by monday 22nd may 12pm at the latest to community @ urltoken - we can only accept people who ' ve sent an rsvp due to limited space .
unfortunately the authenticity of a lot of the more specific set and story details will only be appreciated by the small percentage of the population that are familiar with large australian cattle stations . for example : the weathered gidyea rails on the fence surrounding ' faraway downs ' , the very typical garden plants and white - painted rocks , the round timber horse yard , the tennis court , station sheds , the vehicles used - including the camels pulling the broken down car - and the drover ' s cook ' s wagon ; plus the water tank .
timothy egan , author : he stakes everything on the idea that man can control fire . though they ' d never fought a fire before . that ' s what ' s so interesting . the forest service is only five years old in 1910 . they have never fought a big fire . and it ' s almost like he ' s asking for it . it ' s almost like hubris . nature , bring it on .
steve pyne , author : one of the startling things that happened in 1910 , were all of the dead firefighters . there were 78 during the big blow up and this had never happened before . they had no idea what to do . there ' s no worker ' s comp . there ' s nothing to pay for their expenses , there ' s no burial money . they simply don ' t know what to do .
there ' s apparently an announcement due soon on plans to release a follow - up to the wildly successful disney animation , frozen . there ' s not a parent in the land that hasn ' t considered options for boarding - school when their cherubs start belting out the irritatingly catchy ' let it go ' song at 5am - from a film which spawned a whole new host of disney characters , including olaf the snowman and sven the reindeer .
scenes were also filmed at the spectacular king george falls , not far from the mouth of the king george river on the kimberley ' s remote north coast , and the striped beehive - shaped sandstone domes and cliffs of purnululu national park . the ' bungle bungles ' featured in one of the most dramatic droving scenes in the film , when the cattle rush . purnululu is located between halls creek and wyndham / kununurra , near warmun ( turkey creek ) .
after a scam goes badly wrong , ed , edd and eddy are forced to hightail it from the cul - de - sac . panicked , eddy suggests they hideout at his brother ' s place at least until the dust settles . agreeing , the eds embark on an epic journey through uncharted territories to locate
big bro ' s
whereabouts . . . unaware that the enraged neighborhood kids are tracking them down for a ' dork ' pounding !
at the very start of the film the unusual call of the pheasant coucal can be heard , and at the very end , the cacophony of blue winged kookaburras ( a quite different call to that of the larger and better known southern cousin , the laughing kookaburra ) . i first heard both these types of native birds when i worked on a remote cattle station in northern australia . their distinctive , haunting calls would echo along the splendid isolation of the mitchell river - families of blue - winged kookaburras would raise a racket early and late in the day , and solitary pheasant coucals would mainly call plaintively to prospective girlfriends in the hotter humid months during the storm and wet seasons . the memorable calls of these birds are absolutely typical of rivers and creeks in the northern australian bush , and this is a great example of a splendid gem of a detail that has gone totally over the top of the average film critic ' s head .
there’s a few scenes in the film where you are able to get a glimpse of ‘ futhark ’ script – this is a runic alphabet used both in scandinavia and in the uk by viking settlers . disney employed the services of dr jackson crawford , a runic specialist from ucla who provided the translation for this script . when translated , the runes tell the story of how the frozen ' curse ' came about , and how true love was the way to end it .
long before the word become synonymous with katie hopkins , a troll was a supernatural creature in norse mythology . trolls tended to live in mountains and caves and would enjoy annoying humans . they are mentioned in a number of norse stories such as the prose edda – a famous compilation of norse mythology . although a much later story , it’s no coincidence that the story of the three billy goats gruff comes from norway , they are a big part of norwegian folklore !
they arrive at the house on faraway downs just as the station has begun mourning the death of the boss , maitland ashley , who is laid out on a table inside . the smoking ceremony ( burning of gum leaves ) is in full swing , and the drover realises there has been a death immediately when he spots the green leaves that have been piled onto the fire outside the house . nullah hides in the empty water tank , thinking it is the ' coppers ' ( police ) coming to forcibly take him to the mission , where ' half - caste ' children are taken . ( the ' faraway downs ' film set was on carlton hill station , beside house roof hill and the ord river , near kununurra . the ' smoking ceremony ' is traditionally done by aboriginal people to ward off bad spirits when a person dies . as mentioned in the film - mentioning the name of an aboriginal person who has died is taboo , as is viewing their photograph . )
narrator : in the end , ed pulaski could never escape the big burn . he lived on with emma in wallace , remaining what he had always been - - a quiet man who loved the mountains of the west . crippled by the flames that had seared his eyes and lungs , he kept on working for the forest service until 1929 , stubbornly petitioning the government for compensation for his wounds , and for money to care for the simple graves of those who had fallen .
terry klassen as eddy ' s brother , the true main antagonist of the film . at first , he seems to be everything the kids have heard of from eddy , but in reality he is a sadistic , ruthless , contemptuous , and cruel young man who ravenously desires his pleasure for torturing eddy . he is ultimately beaten when ed sends the door from his trailer flying towards him , knocking him out cold . he was last seen in the movie dragged by the kanker sisters back in his trailer .
back in the cul - de - sac , after the end credits , deep within the melon - cave , jonny seethes in anger , hurt and enraged by the kids ' betrayal of him . he declares that captain melonhead ' s goody - goody ways are over and that he will rise again . he takes on the mantle of the gourd , while plank becomes timber the dark shard . maniacally , he swears to have his vengeance upon the cul - de - sac . however , plank tells him that there isn ' t enough time left in the movie , to which jonny replies ,
what movie ?
timothy egan , author , the big burn : fire is the last wild element of the west that hasn ' t been controlled . every wolf is gone , they ' ve exterminated the grizzly bear , they ' re all gone . so what ' s left is fire . and it ' s important to understand how fire is perceived at the time . the public , they fear it because these are wooden towns going up at every railroad stop all over the west . they really fear it .
timothy egan , author : the survivors go to these hospitals and they patch ' em up . but what happens afterwards is horrible . one of them commits suicide . others die months or a few years later , and they weren ' t even credited as part of the official casualty toll because their lungs were so badly compromised by how much smoke they breathed in . they die at 28 - 29 years old from the smoke of the big burn , which kills them six months after the fact .
timothy egan , author , the big burn : pinchot is one of the most fascinating characters , not just in american conservation , but in american history . he was a patrician ; he was a very odd duck . he preferred to sleep on rocks than a soft bed . he was an ascetic . but he had a vision . even though he was the product of a family that made their money in clear cutting forests ; he became , you know , one of the founding figures of saving forests .
lady ashley decides to keep faraway downs and offers the drover the job of managing it , but he declines her offer ( ' no man hires me , no man fires me ' ) and also declines her offer to attend the ball , saying he would not fit in . bandy legs takes nullah to see the wizard of oz at the open air theatre , gaining him entry by blackening his face and arms with charcoal . before the film , everyone watches dramatic black & white newsreels with the latest government - sanctioned war news .
the last few months have been busy for us . we were delighted to welcome more than 4000 visitors to the wonderful 64 bits exhibition over 3 weeks in april . the exhibition included a host of talks , workshops and discussions , welcoming a large range of different visitors including school groups and families . if you missed the exhibition , check out the following film created by centre for computing history , which includes an interview with jim boulton , digital archaeologist and curator of 64 bits , who talks us through the history of the internet .
the coffee - table book ' a million acre masterpiece ' was purchased by ' australia ' movie second unit director , guy norris , in november 2006 , then a copy was purchased by cinematographer / director of photography mandy walker in december 2006 ( just prior to the commencement of filming ) . the books ' biggest mobs - longest shadows ' and ' life as an australian horseman ' also feature outback cattle stations , and ' life as an australian horseman ' includes photographs taken on the station where the ' faraway downs ' homestead film set was situated .
jonny : this is your craziest plan ever , plank ! we ' ll show them . we ' ll show them all ! what ' s that ? they did , didn ' t they ? yes . . . the goody - goody two - shoe days of captain melonhead and splinter have come to an end ! out of the darkness ' ll rise . . . the villainous days of the gourd , and his evil cohort timber the dark shard ! together , we will exact revenge on the entire cul - de - sac ! [ laughs maniacally like an idiot , then suddenly stops ] what ? there ' s no time left ? it ' s the end of the movie ? what movie ? !
by the afternoon of august 20th , almost 24 hours into the big burn , the railroad town of avery had been successfully evacuated by the buffalo soldiers . now , the troops , and the few men left in town , found themselves facing a wall of steadily advancing flames . boarding one last train to the east , they raced across trestles , already ablaze , through a furnace so hot the paint melted off the outside of the railcars . then , the fire jumped ahead and blocked their way . with nowhere else to go , they were forced back to avery .