The legend of Robin Hood goes back centuries, with the earliest known mention of the name in literature dating back to 1377. Tales of the daring outlaw who steals from the rich to give to the poor have resonated with generations of children and parents alike, resulting in countless adaptations of the rather barebones story.

Robin Hood and his adventures are perfect subjects for feature films. Numerous movies on the topic have been released across the world, going as far back as the silent film era. The 2018 film titled simply “Robin Hood” – set to be released the day before Thanksgiving – proves that studios still believe there are some sharp arrows in the quiver of Robin Hood film adaptations.

Whether the film – described in publicity material as being “gritty” and which stars Taron Egerton as Robin and Jamie Foxx as Little John – wins over audiences is yet to be seen. While Robin Hood remains a beloved folk hero, not all film and television adaptations have been successful.

24/7 Wall St. has identified the best and worst Robin Hood adaptations of all time based on user ratings from the Internet Movie Database. Both the best and worst films have great variation among them – from the straight forward Errol Flynn-starring “The Adventures of Robin Hood” from 1938 to Mel Brooks’ exceedingly goofy “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Multiple animated films are also present.

Click here to see the best Robin Hood adaptations of all time.
Click here to see the worst Robin Hood adaptations of all time.
Click here to see our methodology.

The best Robin Hood adaptations:

10. The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)
> IMDb user rating: 6.8/10 (1,064 votes)
> Directed by: Ken Annakin
> Starring: Richard Todd, Joan Rice, Peter Finch

The Disney treatment of the story of the Sherwood Forest bandit starred the dashing Richard Todd as Robin. The film received kudos from viewers for well-crafted family fare and served as a springboard for the career of several actors, including eventual Academy Award-winner Peter Finch.

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9. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 6.9/10 (161,925 votes)
> Directed by: Kevin Reynolds
> Starring: Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

A Middle Ages buddy movie starred Kevin Costner as Robin and Morgan Freeman as his Moorish ally. Together they team up to battle the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham, played by the accomplished Alan Rickman.

8. Time Bandits (1981)
> IMDb user rating: 7/10 (51,987 votes)
> Directed by: Terry Gilliam
> Starring: Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese

This whimsical time-travel story starring British acting royalty Ian Holm and Ralph Richardson centers on the adventures of an 11-year-old boy, who is accompanied by time-traveling dwarves. The film includes a segment of Monty Python’s John Cleese as Robin Hood.

7. Robin Hood (1922)
> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (1,799 votes)
> Directed by: Allan Dwan
> Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Wallace Beery, Sam De Grasse

Two of the biggest stars of the silent film era, Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, shared the screen in this early movie retelling of Robin Hood. It reportedly cost $1 million to make. Alan Hale played Little John and would reprise that role 16 years later in the most famous film version.

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6. Robin Hood (2006-2009)
> IMDb user rating: 7.5/10 (14,603 votes)
> Directed by: Various
> Starring: Jonas Armstrong, Gordon Kennedy, Sam Troughton

The television series that ran for three seasons was co-created by the British producer team of Foz Allan and Dominic Minghella. The series got 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb but was canceled after the show’s writers killed off Robin in response to declining viewership.

5. Robin Hood (1973)
> IMDb user rating: 7.6/10 (99,434 votes)
> Directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman
> Starring: Brian Bedford, Phil Harris, Roger Miller

Walt Disney’s animated take on the Robin Hood legend imagines the well known characters as existing in the animal kingdom: Robin is a fox; Little John a bear; and the Sheriff of Nottingham is a wolf. While critic reviews have been middling at best, audiences seem to have loved the movie, judging from scores on both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.

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4. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-1960)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (575 votes)
> Directed by: Various
> Starring: Richard Greene, Victor Woolf, Archie Duncan

The British television series had a five-year run in the late 1950s and was intended for children. The series featured contributions from American writers such as Ring Lardner Jr. and Adrian Scott, who were blacklisted for alleged communist associations.

3. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
> IMDb user rating: 8/10 (42,895 votes)
> Directed by: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
> Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone

This is the version to which all Robin Hood productions are measured against, starring Errol Flynn in perhaps his most famous role. There was plenty of star power in this version, including Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains as the villainous Sir Guy of Gisbourne and King John, respectively, and Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian.

2. Robin Hood Daffy (1958)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (1,974 votes)
> Directed by: Chuck Jones
> Starring: Mel Blanc

Warner Bros., which released the most famous version of Robin Hood in 1938, returned to the theme 20 years later, this time with an animated retelling of the story starring Daffy Duck and featuring the varied voices of the incomparable Mel Blanc.

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1. Robin Hood (1984-1986)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (3,406 votes)
> Directed by: Various
> Starring: Peter Llewellyn Williams, Ray Winstone, Mark Ryan

Originally released under the title “Robin of Sherwood,” this 1980s British television series has a huge cult following to this day. While only airing for three seasons, the series is still remembered fondly by many for combining realism, fantasy, and British history.

The worst Robin Hood adaptations:

10. Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
> IMDb user rating: 6.7/10 (103,709 votes)
> Directed by: Mel Brooks
> Starring: Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Roger Rees

In this adaptation, the Robin Hood story gets skewered by the comedic lance of Mel Brooks, who lampoons the genre (“We’re men … we’re men in tights … YES! We roam around the forest looking for fights!”) Critics’ reviews were mixed, and though the movie’s IMDb score is just 6.7, the movie has gained a cult following and 81% of audiences liked it on Rotten Tomatoes.

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9. Robin Hood (2010)
> IMDb user rating: 6.7/10 (234,464 votes)
> Directed by: Ridley Scott
> Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew Macfadyen

Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott reunited to make a big-budgeted, action-packed version of the Robin Hood tale that failed to connect with critics (43% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (58% liked it on Rotten Tomatoes). The movie featured Cate Blanchett and the ageless Max von Sydow.

8. Robin and Marian (1976)
> IMDb user rating: 6.6/10 (10,036 votes)
> Directed by: Richard Lester
> Starring: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw

Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn played a Middle-Aged version of Robin and Marian in this Richard Lester-directed film that found more favor among critics (76% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes) than audiences (53% on Rotten Tomatoes).

7. Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
> IMDb user rating: 6.5/10 (4,055 votes)
> Directed by: Gordon Douglas
> Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.

“Robin and the 7 Hoods” featured Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. as Depression-era thugs in Chicago, with crime kingpin Sinatra inadvertently becoming a philanthropist.

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6. The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997-1999)
> IMDb user rating: 6.3/10 (551 votes)
> Directed by: Various
> Starring: Martyn Ellis, Richard Ashton, Barbara Griffin

Originally produced for the TNT network, “The New Adventures of Robin Hood” ran for four seasons beginning in 1997. The show incorporated many fantastical elements, such as demons and magic.

5. Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960)
> IMDb user rating: 6.3/10 (905 votes)
> Directed by: Terence Fisher
> Starring: Richard Greene, Peter Cushing, Niall MacGinnis

This 1960 British film cast Richard Greene in the role of Robin Hood and Peter Cushing as Sheriff of Nottingham. While the film received some positive reviews upon its release, it currently has a mere 36% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

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4. Robin of Locksley (1996)
> IMDb user rating: 6.2/10 (690 votes)
> Directed by: Michael Kennedy
> Starring: Devon Sawa, Sarah Chalke, Billy O’Sullivan

Less than half of the audience who scored this this made-for-TV movie gave it a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes. The film takes a revised approach to the story of Robin Hood, imagining the character as a high-school aged archer named Robin McAllister.

3. Princess of Thieves 1995)
> IMDb user rating: 5.8/10 (4,072 votes)
> Directed by: Peter Hewitt
> Starring: Keira Knightley, Hannah Cresswell, Malcolm McDowell

“Princess of Thieves” is a feature length film released as a stand-alone episode of Disney’s “The Wonderful World of Disney” series on ABC. The film tells the story of Robin Hood’s daughter, Gwyn (Keira Knightley), as she fights to rescue her father after his imprisonment at the hands of the Sheriff of Nottingham.

2. Robin Hood (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 5.8/10 (4,109 votes)
> Directed by: John Irvin
> Starring: Patrick Bergin, Uma Thurman, Jürgen Prochnow

This adaptation was released the same year as the much more beloved “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” starring starring Kevin Costner. Despite featuring the popular Uma Thurman in the role of Maid Marian, the movie currently only has a 5.8 rating on IMDb.

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1. Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009)
> IMDb user rating: 4.6/10 (1,222 votes)
> Directed by: Peter DeLuise
> Starring: Robin Dunne, Erica Durance, Julian Sands

Only 28% of audiences warmed to this sci-fi/fantasy version of the Robin Hood tale, according to Rotten Tomatoes. In this adaptation, Robin battles a winged monster sent by the Sheriff of Nottingham to destroy him.

Methodology:

To determine the best and worst Robin Hood adaptations, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed at average user ratings for movies and television shows based on the legend of Robin Hood on the Internet Movie Database. To be considered, each film needed to have at least 500 IMDb user ratings. In cases where films or shows were tied, the title with more votes was given the higher rank.

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