Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Continuity mistake: 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.

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:35:05 - 00:36:00)

Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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. (00:39:00)

Continuity mistake: 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.

Krista

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

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:00:00)

Continuity mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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 mistake: 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 during the close-up. In the wide shots, his hair has been left shaggy and down.

Continuity mistake: 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.

Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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 mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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 mistake: 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. (01:54:05)

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).

More mistakes in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Azeem: Salaam, little one.
Little girl: Did God paint you?
Azeem: Did God paint me? For certain.
Little girl: Why?
Azeem: Because...Allah loves wonderous variety.

More quotes from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

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.

More trivia for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

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?

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

More questions & answers from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

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