Plot
"Big" Jim Stevens, undisputed boss of the Chicago underworld, gets an unexpected birthday present from his ambitious lieutenant, Guy Gisborne. Big Jim gets shot by all the guests at his birthday party, and Gisborne takes over. He orders all the other gangsters in town to pay him protection money, but declares it is still "All for One", The news does not sit well with Big Jim's friend and fellow gangster, Robbo, and a gangland war breaks out.
Robbo recruits pool hustler Little John, who demonstrates his billiards skills while singing "Any Man Who Loves His Mother", plus quickdraw artist Will and a few others, but they are still greatly outnumbered. In addition, the corrupt Sheriff Octavius Glick is on Gisborne's payroll. Gisborne and Robbo come up with the same idea, to destroy the other's gambling joint on the same night, with Will enjoying every moment of shooting up Gisborne's place ("Bang! Bang!").
Big Jim's refined, educated daughter, Marian, shows up. She asks Robbo to avenge her father's death (wrongfully attributed to the sheriff), a request which Robbo flatly refuses. Gisborne disposes of the sheriff. Marian then invites Robbo to dinner and gives him $50,000, falsely assuming that Robbo did as she had asked. Robbo refuses the money, so Marian attempts to seduce him into joining forces to take over the whole town. Robbo turns her down. When she sends the money to his under-repair gambling club, Robbo donates it to a boys' orphanage.
Allen A. Dale, the orphanage's director, notifies the newspapers about this good deed. A new Chicago star is born: a gangster who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Robbo finds it useful to have the public on his side. He invites the delighted Dale to join his gang, having him handle all the charities. Dale starts the Robbo Foundation and opens a string of soup kitchens, free clinics and orphan shelters. He even gives green, feathered hats and bows and arrows to the orphans, while thoroughly milking the Robin Hood image. In the meantime, Robbo and Little John give tips to Dale on how to improve his own image ("Style").
Robbo's joint reopens and is an instant hit; while Gisborne, whose place is now empty, is infuriated. He and the new sheriff, Potts, organize a police raid. Robbo has anticipated this and when a few switches are pulled, the entire club is disguised as a mission. The sheriff and Gisborne burst in to find Robbo's gang singing gospel songs and preaching the evils of alcohol, complete with hymnals and tambourines ("Mr. Booze").
Robbo is framed for Glick's murder. At the trial, Gisborne and Potts claim that Robbo planned the whole thing. Dale tries to teach the despondent orphans to view this as a lesson ("Don't Be a Do-Badder"). The jury finds Robbo not guilty. Wearing a green suit, Robbo publicly thanks everyone in Chicago ("My Kind of Town").
When he returns to his club, Robbo finds his charities are now a front for counterfeiting. The soup kitchen smuggles fake bills over state lines in soup cans. Robbo also finds Little John living it up in Marian's mansion. Marian is willing to keep Robbo as a front, as long as she is in charge. Robbo shows his contempt for her and leaves, with Little John following him out the door.
Marian finds another willing partner in Gisborne, but the gangster is no match for Robbo and is killed. Robbo tells a shocked Marian to clear out of town.
She instead turns public opinion against him, starting a Women's League for Better Government group and framing Robbo for the counterfeiting ring that she and Little John started, with Potts working as her new partner. Unable to fight a mob of angry women, Robbo and his gang flee. Robbo and his merry men are reduced to working as Santa Clauses to solicit charitable donations. They watch as Marian steps out of a car with her latest partner, Alan A. Dale, who casually gives the Santas money before going off with Marian. The trio shrug and walk down the street together ringing their bells.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an aggregate score of 40% based on 4 positive and 6 negative critic reviews. [5] Variety commented: "Warner Bros. has a solid money entry in 'Robin and the Seven Hoods,' a spoof on gangster pix of bygone days sparked by the names of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bing Crosby to give marquee power...Performance-wise, Falk comes out best. His comic gangster is a pure gem and he should get plenty of offers after this. Sinatra, of course, is smooth and Crosby in a 'different' type of role rates a big hand. Martin seems lost in the shuffle. Davis is slick and Miss Rush, going heavy, is beautiful to look at." [6]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "The minor musical whimsey that arrived at the Palace and other theaters yesterday under the just-too-cunning title of 'Robin and the 7 Hoods' is almost as strained and archaic in the fable it has to tell of Prohibition-era gangsters in Chicago as the fable of Robin Hood it travesties. Dishing up Frank Sinatra as the leader of a mob that enhances its public image by giving large sums of money to charity, it runs through some all-too-familiar plot arrangements and farce routines that have a fleeting and far-away resemblance to some of the stuff in the old Damon Runyon tales." [7]
Michael Thornton, writing in The Sunday Express had this to say as part of his review. "I must confess I was yawning up to the moment Bing Crosby made his quiet and studious entrance as the unworldly secretary of a children's orphanage. The years have not dealt lightly with Mr. Crosby. The tips of the famous toupee have receded still further back upon that time-honoured face. But after some moments of horrifying suspicion that he had been introduced as a mute stooge for the Sinatra Clan, the Old Master opened his mouth to sing again and to prove that his sweetness of tone remains unimpaired and undiminished for all his years of seniority." [8]
The song "My Kind of Town" was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2004 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs. [9]
