Plot hole: The Bishop in the film is performing the duties you would expect of someone in his position (giving mass, hearing confessions, performing weddings etc.) He has his own private chambers in the cathedral, refers to Robin as 'the boy I knew' and talks about hearing his Father's confession four months earlier; so he's been around for a while. The problem is the credits refer to him as the 'Bishop of Hereford'. No explanation is ever given for why the Bishop of a city 100 miles away is living and working in Nottingham rather than looking after his own diocese; or why the Bishop of Nottingham isn't around to look after his. (The Bishop of Hereford was an enemy of Robin Hood in the original ballads, and it's likely the filmmakers just gave that name to the Bishop in the film due to its familiarity, without thinking about the plot hole this creates).
Factual error: Robin and Azeem land at the white cliffs and Robin says something like, 'Tonight we will dine with my father'. Those white cliffs are the Seven Sisters in East Sussex, about 200 miles from Nottingham. It would probably take about two weeks to walk it. They also reach Hadrian's Wall in the next scene, which is 200 miles further north than Nottingham.
Continuity mistake: When Robin is burying his father, he cuts his hand saying, "I swear it by my own blood" and that he will avenge his fathers murder. We see the blood dripping over his fingers. Suddenly the camera shot changes and Robin's hand has no blood seeping between the fingers.
Trivia: There was a series made in the UK (and very popular in many other countries) in the 80's called Robin of Sherwood. One of the characters was a Saracen called Nasir. He was not originally supposed to be one of the regulars, but the actor (Mark Ryan) got on so well with the rest of the cast, the decided not to kill Nasir, but keep him on as one of Robin's men. When Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was in development, a character called Nazeem was written because the writer thought that the Saracen was a traditional part of the legend (along with Little John, Will Scarlet and Marian). The name was changed to Azeem because they found out that the character was unique to Richard Carpenter's Robin of Sherwood. So, thanks to a random piece of casting in the UK in the 80's, we were given Morgan Freeman's Azeem.
Trivia: When the villagers are pushing the catapult to the castle so they can get Robin and Azeem inside, the person on the very right of the screen is wearing the same clothes as Will and has the same hair style, but it is definitely not Christian Slater. It is his stunt double.
Trivia: There is a close relation between Sean Connery and Robin Hood. Connery played Robin Hood in the movie "Robin and Marian" in 1976. His son, Jason Connery, played this same character in "Robin of Sherwood," the TV series, in the eighties. And, finally, he had a small part in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" as King Richard.
Sheriff of Nottingham: Locksley! I'm gonna cut your heart out with a spoon.
Robin Hood: Then it begins.
Guy of Gisbourne: Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?
Sheriff of Nottingham: Because it's dull, you twit! It'll hurt more!
Question: When Little John is cutting everybody free from the gallows, he calls them milksops. Why was this word censored when it was shown on TV?
Question: Who exactly are the masked cult of which the Sheriff is a member, shown at the beginning when he unmasks and demands that Robin's father join them or die? If memory serves, the cult and the Sheriff's affiliation with them isn't referenced again at any point in the film. I know the Sheriff and the Witch are dark magic practitioners, but that was suggested to be a private thing between them in the bowels of the castle.
Chosen answer: The masked men weren't part of a cult, they were the Sheriff's soldiers, the same ones that Robin meets when he first returns home. They are just in hoods and masks to appear intimidating while trying to kill the noblemen, like Locksley.
Question: Mortianna is seen practicing some sort of magic, and in the extended addition we see the Sheriff "praying" (I think) in front of an upside-down crucifix. And he assures Mortianna that his true faith lies in the "old ways." I'm trying to figure out: Is this art Mortianna and the Sheriff practice supposed to be Devil worship? Black magic with no real base, that they just invented for the movie? A form of pre-Christian religion, e.g. something like the Druidic religions of pre-Roman Britain? For the life of me, I can't put my finger on it.
Answer: The white robes, reference to "the old ways", and pentagram across the map when the Sheriff meets the Barons suggests per-Christian Druidism; the upside down crucifix certainly implies Devil-worship. These two spiritual paths are, by nature, mutually exclusive. In short, a fictional pseudo-witchcraft invented for the film, yes.
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Answer: There's no reason it should be bleeped out, though maybe censors misinterpreted it. The word merely refers to someone who is weak or timid.
raywest ★