Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Continuity mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:05:40 - 01:06:45)

Continuity mistake: 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.

Krista

Continuity mistake: 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.).

Krista

Continuity mistake: As Marion begins to distract Robin 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.

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).

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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.

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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.

Answer: It is a type of witchcraft which involves devil worship, yes.

Phixius

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