Robin and the 7 Hoods Movie Review

The legend of Robin Hood gets a curious and not entirely successful updating with Frank Sinatra's Robin and the 7 Hoods, with Sinatra taking the role of a 1930s gangster in Chicago -- at least an alternate-universe version sans Al Capone.

Sinatra plays a low-level gangster named Robbo, and his band of merry men (with usuals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., plus a cryptically cast Bing Crosby) battles the malicious big-time hood Guy Gisborne (Peter Falk, quite funny here). Things aren't going so well until Robbo comes across $50 grand he refuses to accept. He ends up donating the money to charity -- and suddenly, the legend of Robin Hood, who robs from the rich and gives to the poor, is born.

The film's more entertaining elements are its light moments -- Martin hustling Sinatra at pool while scamming on a cocktail waitress, Robbo's new casino, which converts to a Bible-session hall at the touch of a button should the cops come knocking. But too much of the movie doesn't work. It's way too long, repeats itself at length, and is saddled by an endless procession of awful musical numbers (one has Davis singing about how much he loves his guns, one has Crosby crooning that "do-badders" in an orphanage will go to hell), and they're all unfortunately badly dubbed.

The DVD features commentary from Frank Sinatra Jr. and a making-of documentary/promotional piece produced by Warner Bros. back in the day.