Robin Hood

Kevin Costner swashes some buckles. Arnold Schwarzenegger bares some knuckles. Billy Crystal goes on a cattle drive, and Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon go driving in a T-Bird. "There is a lot of product, no question," notes Martin Grove, film analyst and columnist for the Hollywood Reporter. "I've heard as high as 58, and the problem is there's a lot of product every week. When that happens, one week's big movie gets toppled by the next. " Pundits and prognosticators are doing their share of jockeying, too, scrambling to predict the season's hits, flops and sleepers.

The shot moviegoers may remember longer than any other this year wasn't even in a movie . . . at first. If you've been in a theater in the last six months, you can't have missed it. An archer draws his bow and suddenly you and his arrow are flying at dizzying speed through Sherwood Forest as the razor-sharp missile hisses toward its target. At the end of the 30-second spot for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the arrow splinters the shaft of another already embedded in an oak tree, and the camera cuts to the bowman - Kevin Costner, wearing an understandably satisfied look.

You remember Robin Hood and his merry band of men, tromping through Sherwood Forest? Well, forget them. They bear scant resemblance to the zany crew prancing across the Zellerbach Theatre of the Annenberg Center through Sunday. It's Micky O'Donoughue and the New Vic Theatre of London presenting their fractured fairy-tale version of "The Ballad of Robin Hood," this one explaining how Robin's famous longbow ended up buried in Philadelphia. Of course, it's silly. That's the point.

Kevin Costner's yeoman work in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves can't hold a quiver to the classic version of the story that Errol Flynn filmed in 1938. Flynn always claimed that the role bored him to death, but you would never know it from his perfect tongue-in-cheek take on Robin - a perspective echoed by the lighthearted satirical tone of the whole movie. The Adventures of Robin Hood, itself a remake of the enormously successful '20s silent done by Douglas Fairbanks Sr., is rightly regarded as the pinnacle of Hollywood swashbuckling.

"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" shows that certain things have changed about Sherwood Forest since Errol Flynn ran the place. One big change is that Sherwood now appears to be located not far from Santa Monica. Serfs up, dude. Star Kevin Costner, in the title role, has a brave go at something approaching a proper English inflection, but he's off the mark. By about 500 years and one war of independence. He handles the requisite archery and sword- fighting with aplomb, but is slain by his elocution and eventually carried from the field.

A few weeks ago, while still in the nascent stages of rehearsals, Brian Daley - writer, producer and director - barked directions at his cast. "Louder, chorus!" shouted Daley, a man frustrated by his performers and by the state of theater in general. "Slower! I can't hear you!" At one point, Daley stood in the audience with his head hung in frustration, like a disappointed father on the sidelines watching his son miss a touchdown pass. But rehearsals are over now and it is time for the real thing - opening night tomorrow of the musical he wrote called Sherwood Knights.

You can step through the looking glass, walk down the yellow brick road, traipse through Sherwood Forest and visit Gepetto's workshop at the Penn's Landing's Great Plaza's Children's Weekend tomorrow and Sunday. American Theater Arts for Youth perform musical versions of "Alice in Wonderland," "The Wizard of Oz," "Robin Hood" and "Pinocchio" for children of every age. "This is going to be heavy-duty for us," said Laurie Wagman, the company's founder. The same group of professional actors will perform in all four plays, and will have to quickly switch roles.

The legend of Robin Hood is firmly entrenched in British folklore - an archer and swordsman who, with his band of merry men, robbed from the rich and gave to the poor during the early 12th century in Nottinghamshire's Sherwood Forest. Originally portrayed as a commoner, Robin's image changed so that he was later thought of as a nobleman who lost his lands and was cast out as an outlaw. The earliest surviving ballads telling his story are dated to the 15th century or early 16th century.

FOR THE NEXT two weeks, a pair of brawny, woodland ogres will dominate the movies. One is Shrek, the other is Russell Crowe, who picks up a longbow and strides through Sherwood Forest to play the title role in "Robin Hood. " He does so under the strong hand of Ridley Scott. The director is known for his visual panache, but it's his horse-whisperer ability to corral the bucking Crowe that's yielded this unusual, often fruitful partnership. Few men dare work with Crowe more than once.

FOR THE NEXT two weeks, a pair of brawny, woodland ogres will dominate the movies. One is Shrek, the other is Russell Crowe, who picks up a longbow and strides through Sherwood Forest to play the title role in "Robin Hood. " He does so under the strong hand of Ridley Scott. The director is known for his visual panache, but it's his horse-whisperer ability to corral the bucking Crowe that's yielded this unusual, often fruitful partnership. Few men dare work with Crowe more than once.