Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) - 74 mistakes

Factual error: Robin and Azeem land at the white cliffs of Dover and Robin says something like, 'Tonight we will dine with my father'. Nottingham is 218 miles from Dover. It would probably take about two weeks to walk it.

Continuity: Towards the end of the film, Robin climbs on to the catapult, followed by Azeem, who moves his sword as though putting it in a sheath, but you can clearly see he either misses or there is no sheath, and so he just holds it there. When the two are catapulted in the next shot, both of Azeem's hands can be seen flailing and the sword can be seen fixed at his waist.

Factual error: When Marian is embroidering at home, she is singing to herself "Le chant des oiseaux", which Renaissance composer Clement Janequin didn't write until the 16th century.

Continuity: When Robin reaches the cliffs of Dover after escaping from prison, he jumps out of the boat and starts kissing the ground. He then reaches out with his left hand for help up, but when the camera switches, he's being lifted by his right.

Continuity: At the execution scene where Will Scarlet is about to be beheaded, Robin picks up a burning arrow to shoot the executioner. When the arrow is first picked up from a dead body, the flame is half-way up the arrow, but when Robin fires it, the flame is (conveniently) at the arrow's tip.

Continuity: When Robin heroically swings across to Fanny and the child in the Sherwood Forest battle scene: He swings straight across, with the rope's focal point fixed between himself and Fanny. Then he gives the rope to Fanny to swing across to John. This time the focal point is between her and John. Someone somehow managed to "move" the rope in order to move the plot along. That was jolly nice of them wasn't it?

Revealing: When Robin crashes through the stained glass window to save Marian and fight the sheriff, the panes of glass flutter in the breeze, revealing it to be fake glass.

Factual error: When Azeem goes to pray he starts by kneeling on the ground and soon afterwards he bows down. The Muslim prayer sequence starts by standing up for quite some time then one bow, up again followed by two kneeling bows then up again.

Continuity: At the start when Azeem is tied up in the prison, at one point when he asks the Christian to free him, his hands are tied at the wrists, then apart tied to the wall, and then back to his wrist all in three quick takes.

Factual error: During the religious service we see noblemen and women sitting on benches - benches were not introduced in churches until the 19th century.

Factual error: Aside from the earlier mentioned mistake of them apparently walking to Nottingham in less than a day, if Azeem was facing Mecca to pray, they set off in a southerly direction anyway.

Continuity: While Azeem is off praying, Robin fights the men attempting to capture the young poacher. As Robin defeats the men, careful viewers will notice Azeem climb down the rock wall, climb back up, and once more, climb down to join Robin.

Continuity: When Robin reaches his homeland, after he kisses the ground, he rolls over in the water. His coat is covering him, then in the next scene, it isn't, then it is, then it isn't.

Continuity: When Robin goes to the Church, the camera pans down from an enormously high vaulted ceiling in a vast cathedral. A few moments later, Robin and the Sheriff come running out of the Church and it's a small little stone shack.

Continuity: When Azeem first blows something up, the Friar is next to him and Will, Robin, John and Bull are seen behind them around the model of the castle. However when it goes to the next shot there's only Will and Robin around the model. John and Bull walk in a few seconds later.

Continuity: When Marian and Duncan leave the camp by boat, Marian's lady-in-waiting, Sarah, is nowhere to be seen. Surely she should have left with Marian, as she is with Marian later in the chapel.

Audio problem: When Wolf attacks Will before the hangings, the guards pull him off and he says "Kill him." But his mouth doesn't move.

Continuity: Throughout most of the film, Robin wears brown boots with metal studs around the calf. When he is fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham at the end, he is suddenly wearing greyish boots, with cross-garters. Since you see his brown boots just before he enters the castle - when he kneels down near the dung they're especially visible - it is rather ludicrous that he would suddenly change them, given that he is rushing around trying to save the other outlaws, and then Marian.

Revealing: Robin's sword bends when he presses it against Guy of Gisborne's throat.

Continuity: When Robin is challenged by John Little after attempting to cross the river watch Johns staff. The scene cuts between shots from in front of and behind John. All shots from in front of him show him leaning closely on the staff, all shots from behind show him holding it to side and not leaning on it.

Continuity: When Robin is talking to the Bishop about his Father, they are in a small chamber in the Church. Later on in the film, when the castle is being stormed, Friar Tuck enters this room and throws the Bishop out of the window. Only this time the exact same room is in the castle, not the Church.

Continuity: When Robin and Azeem are escaping on horseback from the sheriff's men at Marian's castle, crossbows are being fired at them from the left side and one hits Robin's horse. When Robin pulls the crossbow bolt from his horse a minute later he pulls it from the horse's right side.

Audio problem: During the scene of the birthing woman, Azeem says, "If you won't hear my advice...", but his lips don't move.

Continuity: When John is standing on the platform looking across at his trapped wife, there's a piece of the railing next to him that's sometimes on fire, sometimes not.

Continuity: When Robin first goes to visit Marian, he enters the house with a roll on his back (over the shoulder). It's there when he enters and the maid tells him to 'stand right here'. A moment later "Marian" appears, and the roll is gone, it's not on his back, or even in a wide shot showing he took it off. It never appears again.

Continuity: Right before Wolf climbs down from the tree, the only clouds in the sky are way off in the distance. Wolf climbs down, and the very next shot of the sky is full of clouds.

Continuity: In the big fight scene in the forest Robin is not wearing his necklace. But when he goes to help save Fanny before he swings across the necklace suddenly is around his neck.

Continuity: Guy of Gisbourne's men come upon two of Robin Hood's men in the forest, trying to pull a log onto the path. The men see their enemies and run away, leaving the log sticking out onto the path. But the log suddenly disappears when Gisbourne's men go after them, and never again reappears.

Continuity: When Robin and Azeem are approaching Dover Beach, there is shot behind the boat showing only one sailor standing at the stern. In the very next shot, not only is the sailor standing but suddenly so is Robin, at the bow.

Continuity: This mistake makes sense only if you've seen the extended edition. In a deleted scene, it is understood that the sheriff cuts out his scribe's tongue. In a later deleted scene, the scribe has to write messages on a chalkboard to communicate. Later still, at the end when Robin and company invade the castle, Robin asks the same scribe where the sheriff is and he verbally tells him, "Up the stairs," or something similar. Maybe he could speak a little, but he wouldn't have been able to pronounce the letter 'T'.

Continuity: In addition to the other mistake of Robin crashing through the window that's obviously made of paper - when he first comes through, he makes a hole in the middle, but some of the window is still intact around the outside of the window frame. When it cuts back to Robin a second later, however, there is no "glass" in the frame at all.

Revealing: When Robin Hood is fighting the sheriff's men under the tree, Robin throws a crossbow at one of the men. You can see the plexiglass, which is protecting the actor, get marked up and shake from the impact.

Revealing: When Robin gets attacked by Marian, Robin pushes her towards a a stone wall several times, and the wall moves from the impacts.

Continuity: Either some of the scenes take place over several years, or the leaves of Sherwood switch instantly between autumn-brown and spring-green.

Continuity: When Will tells the sheriff he'll have to "respectfully decline" his execution, from one angle his hands are behind him holding onto the gallows, but from another angle they're outstretched.

Continuity: During the hanging scene, when Bull cuts the rope to close the gate, he cuts it and runs so he doesn't get squashed by it, but in the zoomed out shot, he is suddenly on the ground and rolling away.

Continuity: When Robin and his men steal the cart of brew and Friar Tuck, the Friar's trousers (that he is wearing under his brown robe) change colour repeatedly between shots. When he is singing, and when he is trying to sit up after the men have opened the chest of money, the are flesh coloured (cream). But when he has been hit on the head by the branch and falls from the cart, they are brown.

Deliberate "mistake": Marian is wearing pantaloons, or knickers, in the rape scene. Knickers were not worn by women until Victorian times, and then they were split at the crotch.

Continuity: In the scene where Will Scarlet goes back to Sherwood after being captured by Nottingham, Little John attacks him calling him a traitor. In one shot the cuts on Will's chest are going one direction in the next shot, they are going another.

Revealing: The fallen tree from which Robin gives his inspirational speech about freedom has obviously had several branches removed with a chainsaw. It may be hard to see the marks of the blade on a copy of the video, but in the cinema they were pretty obvious.

Visible crew/equipment: When they are moving the catapult, if you look above Robin and Azeem, you can see a crew member in the window above them. He is wearing all black, but you can tell he is trying to get out of the shot.

Continuity: When Robin arrives on the beach at Dover he drops his 'roll' then falls onto the sand, rolling in the shallow water. The shot from behind his head shows the roll but when the camera moves to the front the roll has gone.

Continuity: Just before the 'one true weapon' speech, one of the villagers shows Robin what the soldiers did to his son, Will walks toward Robin and pulls his dagger from its scabbard, after Azeem says 'if it's fame you seek.' the camera goes back to Will and he is no longer carrying it. In the behind shots, it can be seen back inside its scabbard.

Deliberate "mistake": In the scene with the forest battle, the scene with flaming arrows being fired was filmed on grass (look at the ground) in a separate location, because it wasn't safe to fire them in a real forest.

Continuity: When the soldiers are taking anything valuable out of a village church, when they put up a wanted poster outside, Robin shoots an arrow into the poster and then Little John rips it of the wall and shows it to the men. When someone says, "Give it back" the soldiers drop what they are holding, and the poster is still on the wall with the arrow through it.

Factual error: This pertains to all Robin Hood movies. Robin's back quiver was an American Indian innovation, unknown in Europe until the Age of Discovery. Medieval archers used belt or shoulder quivers.

Continuity: When Robin is testing the river before they cross, the rope that trips him is seen below the water looking bright yellow. But once out of the water, it looks brown with moss on it.

Other: When the outlaws trap and rob a carriage in the forest, they put hooks on the back of it to keep it in place. But when the driver spurs the horses on faster, they run off, pulling the driver off the carriage and away behind them. There's no logical reason for this to happen, as you see the horses attached to the carriage, there is no evidence, either audio or visual, of the harnesses breaking, and in any event there really isn't enough force exerted for the harnesses to break to begin with.

Continuity: When Robin is giving his inspirational speech to the people who have just fled the village, at one point Wolf walks and stands behind Will twice in a row. Then there's a reverse shot from behind Will, where Wolf should be visible, but he's nowhere to be seen. Cut back to the front view, and he's just where he should be.

Continuity: During the confrontation with Guy of Guisborne, over the issue of Wolf's poaching, Guy's teeth during the short conversation ("Well, well - Robin, welcome home") are coloured to look brown. But shortly after when Robin has him prone at his sword's end, and Guy identifies himself ("Guy of Guisborne, the Sheriff's cousin") you can see his teeth have not been made up for that shot - they are white.

Continuity: During the final fight between Robin and Nottingham, the cut on Robin's chin disappears after the fight is over.

Continuity: After stealing the treasure along with Tuck Robin and Crew open the chest soaking wet. A deleted scene in England - 'throwing the carriage into the lake' - made that bit of the film make no sense.

Continuity: When Robin and Little John fight in the river Robin's hair changes from being dry to wet to dry again despite falling in the river several times.

Continuity: When Robin, Azeem, and Duncan visit Marian's house for the first time, it's dreary and overcast out. But when Robin steps inside, there's suddenly bright sunlight coming through the windows. It then periodically cuts back to outside, where it's still overcast.

Visible crew/equipment: Following the river duel the outlaws, Robin and his men sit around a campfire in the woods. There is a high-angle shot looking down on the men, also showing Little John perched in a tree. Look behind the tree, through the branches, and you can see a piece of camera tracking on the ground.

Audio problem: When Robin and his men have Friar Tuck pulling the wagon you can hear the men singing, but in the shot facing them, their lips are not moving.

Continuity: When Marian is being chased by the Sheriff up the stairs, she's got a bare backside. Later, when he's trying to have his way with her, she's wearing bloomers.

Continuity: Just after Will is tied to the barrel to be executed and the drums start rolling, there's a wide shot of the whole gallows, including the barrel, but Will is missing.

Continuity: When Robin is talking to the Bishop in his private chambers, they're sitting by the window. They're both lit on the side of their faces that are near the window, but for some reason in the Bishop's closeups, he has harsh white light on the other side of his face as well. Not only is there no source for this light, but in the wide shot that side of his face isn't lit.

Continuity: When Robin and John are fighting in the river, John has his stick under Robin's, and forces it around in a 360 degree motion twice - once in the wide shot, and immediately again in the closeup.

Continuity: When the sheriff's men come to take Marian, she defends herself with a rod from the fireplace that was roasting some meat. If the rod had been sitting in the fireplace even for a few minutes, it's probably too hot for her to hold.

Factual error: Think of the '100 billion dollars' scene in Austin Powers 2, where the President laughs because that kind of money doesn't even exist. You now have an idea how ridiculous it is that a twelfth century outlaw stealing tax money and robbing travellers could get anything like '4 million' as the scribe mentions. King Richard's ransom was only something like 100,000.

Factual error: What's that 'arrow-cam' shot all about? Later on in the film Robin shoots at the hanging ropes and the arrow spins. This is correct for arrows travelling in a straight line. Its physically impossible for an arrow to weave and wobble in the way that the 'arrow-cam' shows and travel in a perfectly straight line.

Continuity: As Robin begins to distract Mary from aiming the arrow you will notice that at the wide angle shot she picks up a brown fletched arrow. As the shot tightens it is a white fletched arrow.

Continuity: This one takes place in the main battle scene in the forest.  Robin holds a rope, swings around, knocks a man off his horse, and lands on the thatched roof.  The next shot shows him shooting an arrow, but this time (and this time only) he's holding the bow left-handed, not right-handed.

Continuity: When Robin and Azeem are about to be launched in the catapult, look at Azeem's sword. When he first gets in, the blade is facing down. It then cuts to Will, then back to Azeem, whose sword is now facing blade up. Then they are launched and Azeem lands with the sword blade down again.

Continuity: When John starts to cross the burning bridge to rescue his wife and baby, he steps onto the bridge and almost into the fire, which is just inches from him. But when the bridge breaks, the fire has suddenly moved several feet below him (so it doesn't burn him up as he climbs to safety, I presume.).

Audio problem: When Marian is attacking Robin inside the house, and Azeem is trying to break down the door from the outside, Duncan says "Point me towards danger, Azeem. I'm ready." But his mouth doesn't move at all.

Factual error: Marian tells her messenger to take a letter to the King, who is in France. Problem is, we were enemies with France at that time. The King wasn't even there, he was on his way home from imprisonment having been captured on his return from the Crusades.

Continuity: Wolf (the boy) has semi-long, shaggy hair that hangs over his ears and eyes. During the archery contest, however, when Robin has to distract him by flicking his ear with the end of an arrow, his hair has been carefully slicked back to expose his ear.

Continuity: When the outlaws are being attacked in the forest, one man is shot by a flaming arrow in the back. But when he falls off his platform onto the ground, the arrow is suddenly in his stomach.

Revealing: When Robin is attempting to rescue Marian from the chapel, he holds the scribe against the wall with his sword. You can clearly see the fake sword bending as too much pressure is applied against the Scribe's chest.

Continuity: When Robin, Azeem, and Duncan are escaping Maid Marian's place and the soldiers, they come upon one of those rock walls. It is run down and sometimes is built up, sometimes is crumbled. They decide to crash through a built-up part instead of jumping over the crumbled section a couple of feet over.

Continuity: During the hanging scene, after Wolf attacks Will, when Will is brought to the front of the crowd the manner in which the two guards restrain him changes repeatedly between shots.