About ninety minutes in I checked how much was left. That’s the honest version of this review. The rest is me trying to work out why, because the idea underneath this film is good enough that it should have worked. Here’s the idea. Robin Hood was never the man in the ballads. He robbed and he killed and he was very good at it, and then he lived long enough to hear children sing songs about a version of himself that never existed.

The Yellowstone franchise has been expanding in every direction simultaneously — prequels in 1883 and 1923, a Kayce Dutton procedural in Marshals, the Pfeiffer-led Madison reconfigured as a standalone. None of them have replicated the original’s combination of melodrama, landscape, and moral pressure. Dutton Ranch, premiering May 15 on Paramount+, may be the closest anyone gets to a genuine continuation. Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler are in South Texas now. They are building something of their own, away from the wreckage of the Montana saga, and running into a rival ranch operation backed by Ed Harris and Annette Bening.

Spaghetti Westerns, a distinctive subgenre of Western films, emerged in the mid-1960s and captivated audiences worldwide with their unique style, storytelling, and memorable music. These films, predominantly produced and directed by Italians, earned their moniker due to their origin in Italy and the heavy Italian involvement in their creation. Unlike traditional American Westerns, Spaghetti Westerns often showcased a grittier, more cynical view of the Old West, characterized by morally ambiguous characters, stark landscapes, and dramatic, operatic scores.