The Adventures of Robin Hood vs. Stagecoach

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Stagecoach and The Adventures of Robin Hood are two perfect examples of a golden age classic. John Ford's black and white western set a lot of the rules that hundreds of other films would follow in years to come and made John Wayne into a superstar. The Adventures of Robin Hood is an eye-popping Technicolor swashbuckler that made Errol Flynn a household name. Though it's a near neck and neck race, I have to go with The Adventures of Robin Hood. Wayne and Ford both cemented their names in the Hollywood firmament with Stagecoach, but made even bigger leaps and bounds later in their careers. The Adventures of Robin Hood is a kind of adventure film rarely seen in Hollywood today. It's action scenes are top notch, but it is also wise enough to generously invest in its plot and characters. Also notable is its ability to maintain its splashy gloss without seemingly like a living cartoon. A sophisticated moviegoer can walk into it and have the same experience that an unassuming child would have. It's what the movies are all about.

I love both of these movies. Part of me is tempted to side with Stagecoach, simply because I watched it for the first time recently and absolutely fell in love with it; it's a marvelous ensemble piece that's both fun and socially conscious, and along with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, it helped me to understand how excellent and diverse Westerns could really be. But I, too, think I shall have to go with The Adventures of Robin Hood, an old favorite. I actually had the great joy of seeing it once in an actual movie theater, in a crowd that ranged from schoolchildren to ladies and gentlemen that were probably old enough to have seen it when it was first released. At the end of the film everyone rose and applauded. One of the most amazing trips to the cinema in my memory.

Great matchup, but I'm a big Robin Hood buff so I'm choosing it without much internal debate. "Adventures of Robin Hood" practically changed my life when I first saw it.