She supposedly raised him so this is definitely a great interaction. Like if you're a caregiver (actual parent or not) I'm sure she'd be used to his fits. It's a tried and true method with toddlers to not react to their more extreme emotions as they sometimes continue to act that way to get a better reaction out if you. That's how that whole scene plays for me ever since I was a baby sitting back as a teen. I even used to ask my son when he was acting out if he was feeling vexed. Might bring it back now that he does it more since his younger sibling showed up last year 🤔
Best part, Rickman got to write all his own lines. It was a condition of him playing the character, that he got to rewrite all the Sherriff's dialogue, which he did with his good friend Ruby Wax, which is why the Sherriff is the greatest Cartoon Villain ever. And I mean Cartoon Villain in the very best way, because he just goes out of his way to be the single greatest and most gleefully evil Rat-Bastard in cinematic history.
While I enjoyed him in Die Hard, this film forever cemented my appreciation for Alan Rickman. There's an entire generation that remembers him as Snape, but to me he'll always be the Sheriff of Nakatomi Plaza.
Weirdly, the respect that Azeem gets is one of the more historically accurate bits of the film. There were Muslim merchants in London, up from al-Andalucia (Spain). Moor was an exonym for Berbers but kinda got applied to anyone from Iberia, the Maghreb, Sicily, and Sub-Sahara Africa. They were highly respected for their scholarship and scientific achievements. By the Late Middle Ages (which is about a century later) it was not unknown for the wealthy to have Moorish or Jewish doctors. In the 12thC East Midlands xenophobia was more likely to be aimed the Cornish, Northumbrians, or some other nearby place on the island. Anti-Blackness wasn't really a thing until centuries later. It was very much a product of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Anyway, mainly commenting for the algorithm.
In High School, I was taught a very narrow & one-sided version of The Crusades. This film actually made me reconsider what I thought I knew, & I read a much wider range of history books about the era. Not often a Hollywood film manages to do that.
@@seliris5941 , Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein? If so, yeah. I remember reading an interview where he mentioned he liked to combat peoples preconceived notions about race by waiting untill the middle/end of a book before describing the protagonists physical appearance and revealing they were "of African/Asian/ect descent". He was also criticized by both the right AND the left for a lot of his social/political opinions, which were very present in his novels and tended to flip flop over time. No one could ever really draw a bead on him. Toward the end, even I think he got a few to many screws loose in the ol' noggin, as his later books seem to just be incestuous fantasy porn. A very interesting, but weird author, known as one of the grandaddies of Sci-Fi.
@@seliris5941 As someone who entersd the UK school system in the 55 yeasrs ago I can guarantee you that crusades were a synonym for good until at least 1966 in school and remained so in popular culture for some time. Indeed the very first time i recall anyone being "cancellled" for isllamophobia were the four horsemen od the new atheist mpovement (Sam Harris specifically - 1999? 2000?). And I'm not surre if he US has actua;lly lost it's bugaboo witb anti-islamism,. even toidayIncludng denial of the Crusades as missions of plunder and subjugation. The Norfthern KIngs were fsamously active and successful within nations of the Holy Roman Empire in military terms. So no doubt the Pope hought he was onto a good thing makoing the holy land a plunder permitted zone knowing thaty would attrfact the warlord KIng Richard IIIrd and some othr dude i doin't ecall thec name The first conematic offeeing i can recall which did any justoce to the history of the crusades was Robin And Marian (1976) now much of that could be wromng but i'm definitre that post mortem exams were covered up and connections lost,..
@@brucebartup6161 The First Crusade was kinda/sorta justified as a counter-offensive. The initial spread of Islam was militarily supported, and Christendom saw it as a military threat (which arguably it was as they had better tech and leadership for the most part). That said, the crusaders committed some of the worst atrocities in recorded history prior to the World Wars, and really deserved to lose in the long run. I'm not in any way saying religious wars are okay, but the perceived threat was intense. Then again, history is a clusterf*ck of "noble" causes and the corruption thereof by profiteering and the concentration of power.
This was really "my" Robin Hood, the first version of the story that I saw that wasn't animated. It's such a classic. Nowadays, most people only remember it as the movie that (along with the Errol Flynn version) was the basis for Mel Brooks' "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." As for the people criticizing the film for being "too dark," I think of all the versions of Robin Hood that came afterward that tried like hell to prove how "grown up" they were by being even darker. (A trend that was way too dominant in the mid-to-late 90s, and Zack Snyder is still holding onto.) One of the great things about this movie that a lot of people overlook is that in the earliest known texts from medieval times, Maid Marian actually did fight and defeat Robin Hood while wearing a face-covering. So the added "woke" element wasn't even really added.
I knew I had read of Maid Marian fighting alongside Robin as an equal (in The Sword In The Stone) but I thought that was a modern add (though still well before this movie ever existed). I'll have to track down some of the older stories to read. (I'm a sucker for Robin Hood and King Arthur stories.)
IF you wan dark try Robimn amnd Marian !976, I don't thonk iyt got mucvh distributimn in tthe US. In that movie Marian kills Robin Robin kills the Sheriff in a bloody and reasluistic fight, wuithh blood Richard is revealed as an utter bastard Robin's men are killed or captured becaudse a noibleman brolke his word Little John getts mad and kills the Nobleman Wil Scarlett reveaklst that all the tales of derring do were all made up
I’m not sure Robin is planning the sailors to kill Azeem, when they land in England. He wants them to kidnap him and return him home and thus release him from his vow. At least that’s how I always saw it happening.
@@caligo7918 What I always heard Azeem say in the English version was "I would it had succeeded." which is a fancy way of saying "I kind of wish you'd succeeded" not "I would have succeeded (where you failed)." Does the German agree with what I heard in English?
Three words for y’all - Robin of Sherwood. This TV version aired in the UK in the 80s. Written by Richard Carpenter and starring Michael Praed (later replaced by Jason Connery - And how they did *that* is a mindblower that not only weaves two variant strands of the legend together, but also makes perfect sense in-universe), this was the version that refined how the legend was told. Packed full of mythological nods, including Herne the Hunter, it was the start of the darker tone representations of the legend. Freeman would not have been in PoT if Mark Ryan hadn’t been Nasir the Saracen in that show, and Judi Trott originated the Badass Marian characterisation Highly recommended, I believe season 1, at least, is available to stream
It aired on Showtime here in the states as Robin the Hooded Man I believe. I'm a big mythology nerd & really enjoyed that series for all the mythological flourishes it added like Herne the Hunter.
This movie was great fun. I still remember Rickman's "I'll cut your heart out with a spoon!" with great fondness. Even the homeless biker vibe of the Merry Men worked.
Your statement that there was a "literal holy war" going on is true, but there's also more to it. My go-to example for this is Usama ibn Munqidh, a Syrian who was well-respected in the Crusader States at around the same period. His writings include an incident where he was praying in a church belonging to the Templars (he was Muslim but the Templars understood and respected his spiritual needs despite the broader conflicts between them), and an asshole shows up and starts trying to force him to pray in the (western) Christian manner. It's the asshole who gets thrown out of the church, with other Templars basically saying "sorry, he's new here." In the end, some of the interactions with Azeem feel remarkably true (though perhaps none more so than the spyglass incident).
The now standard practice of including a Muslim character was invented by the great 80s bbc show Robin of Sherwood; the story is that the writers of Prince of Thieves mistook this for a traditional piece of the story from watching Robin of Sherwood. That series introduced this style of historicity too, the mythology done with a sense of scenic reality.
Azeem and the witch both seem strongly inspired by Robin of Sherwood - and brilliant and original as Rickman's performance is, as written it sure looks like the sarcastic and scheming Sheriff and brutal but hapless Gisbourne as they appeared in Robin of Sherwood.
Robin of Sherwood is still my favourite Robin Hood adaptation. Nicholas Grace as the Sheriff just can't be topped in my opinion (with all due respect to Alan Rickman); and Nazir was always one of my favourite characters.
@@schwarzerritter5724 I'm sorry that Sir Richard at the Lee, a sorrowful knight who becomes Robin's friend after Robin protects him from a cruel abbot, never seems to appear in adaptations. I thought Sir Richard was pretty cool when I read children's stories about Robin.
I've always read the scene where the guys from the boat attack on the beach as Robin having paid them to pretend to attack himself, so that Azeem could "save" him from them, fulfilling his vow and allowing Robin to be rid of him. This is backed up by Azeem subsequently making a comment about no one "controlling" his destiny. This comment, plus Robin's subsequent "I had to try" only really make sense if it was an attempt by Robin to subvert Azeem's vow.
This movie blew my 13 year old mind when I saw it in '91. Its still a lot of fun. The arrow camera shot, Rickman having a great time hamming it up and Michael Kamens score all are great stuff.
This is one of the few soundtracks I've ever bought. I pretty much wore out the cassette version of it in my car. I've been trying to track down a copy of it on CD, but it's hard to find nowadays.
I loved this movie as a child and still do. I honestly didn't know it was panned like that. I've never heard anyone say its a bad movie overall, just that Kevin's acting could've been better. I watch it once a year followed by Men in Tights makes an excellent movie night.
On the subject of walking the several hundred miles from Dover to his home in Nottingham... It would have been barely 200 if he'd been any good at finding his way. That scene (5:04) is filmed at Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's Wall, over 140 miles north of Nottingham. I'm not so sure I'd call it a good movie, but it is a superbly enjoyable movie, with some great characters.
As someone who has ended up in both Scotland and the New Forest by accident (not in the same day mind you), even with the advantage of a GPS, this is the most relatable part of the movie for me.
sunyavadin lol yes they would have got away with the mad geography more if they’d used less iconic locations. I’m sure I remember the transition from Seven Sisters to Hadrians Wall getting a laugh in the cinema I saw it in as a kid.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I always liked this movie. "Everything I Do" is a fantastically cheesey song and I do LOVE Bryan Adams' music; as a fellow white guy born in the 1980's, love of his music is ingrained deeply in my genome, like John Mellencamp. Also, Alan Rickman as Nottingham: YES!!!!
As a Canadian born in the 1980s, he is inescapable. I once heard a cheesy synth dance music version of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" being played in a grocery store and I had to stop in my tracks and shake my head in disgust.
Why does that song always remind me of "kiss from a rose" by Seal? Very different songs but somehow remarkably similar in a weird yet almost indescribable way. Anyone else noticed this or am I crazy?
An older, reflective, regretful Robin Hood was explored in an older movie, "Robin and Marian", with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn, with Robert Shaw as the Sheriff of Nottingham. It isn't much loved, but I do love it, and from the aspects you discuss as appreciating in "Prince of Thieves", you might appreciate "Robin and Marian".
I saw that with my thankfully-now-ex. When Marian asks "how could you go off to war with Richard when you knew how much you meant to me?" and Robin says simply "he was my king," we had an interesting exchange. She said "that doesn't explain anything," to which I replied "that explains everything." Interesting how we fell into stereotypical gender rôles in that conversation. I don't think we ever resolved it.
Sheriff: "I'm going to cut your heart out with a spoon!" *Two Minutes Later* Goon: "Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe..." Sheriff: "Because it's dull, you twit. It'll hurt more!" Fucking love this movie. I'm not even ashamed.
At around this point in time, the Canadian Government no longer considered Adams a Canadian, so he no longer qualified for the Canadian Content laws (CanCon for short) on airing music which made him quite upset (and rightfully so to be fair). At the timethe CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission) required either 33% or 40% (I can't remember the number) of all music on the airwaves to be Canadian, so this ruling made it harder to hear his later works. So the "Power Ballet" phase of Adams career is rightfully blamed on the English. ;)
It's just...the nonsensical plot that annoys me to no end in that movie. Or at least how I remember the plot. So, yeah, the plot overreaches, making what should be _at most_ a regional conflict into a battle over the entire former USA.
@@jeffthompson9622 yes, yes he did. I remember my dad bought me a signed first edition copy of the novel many many years ago. I was very excited when the movie premiered.
YES! This movie and The Princess Bride are the two movies I've watched the most often in this world. Princess Bride is ahead by a good margin, but yeah, these two. I'm now onto DVD's and Blu-Rays, they hold up better than my old VHS tapes did, lol.
Man I remember seeing this film on opening weekend in cosplay as a 10 year old boy. Green tights, coin purse, dagger and tunic and everything. I loved this film, it was the first medieval film I saw in a theatre and I loved it as much as I loved Ladyhawk on my VHS…
This is the truth: When I saw this movie as an 11 year-old I though the "painted man" thing was referring to the markings on Azeem's face, not the colour of his skin...
I have to agree about it being pretty good, however, that's probably because like you, it was one of my favorite movies as a kid. So it has that kind of nostalgia, special place in my heart. But if looking at it critically, if I were to have watched it now for the first time right now, I feel like I would have to disagree. But I DIDN'T watch it just for the first time now, so it is still a classic to me. I was too young to care about the inaccuracies or poor accent at that time, so I'm easily able to look past them now. I really think lots of people look at movies and other things too critically, sometimes. Sometimes you want a movie that you can sit there and enjoy, without any thought and this is definitely one of those movies.
I was much older when it came out, and I still like it. It's full of funny quips and gags, and the humor actually works. It's exciting, and you can tell the actors were having fun during filming. It's not some great artistic feat, but it's fun, definitely. Additionally, I was a history teacher, and I used to show clips from it to demonstrate how people actually used to live back then. Marian's home is THE most accurate depiction of a pre-medieval fortress.
I enjoyed RHPoT; however, I have a softer spot the Patrick Bergin version. Mainly because it features a scene in which a friend of mine pursues himself through the forest; playing a Merryman in some shots, and a Sheriff's Man in other shots. Also, the films has got Jurgen Prochnow, which is always a positive. Of course, RHPoT has the wonderful Michael Wincott, so that balances out. 5:05 When Robin and Azeem walk from the White Cliffs of Dover, to Nottingham; they do so via a section of Hadrian's Wall. That's a round trip of about 600 miles; while Dover to Nottingham in only about 200 miles.
For those who have never heard of that one--it looks good! www.imdb.com/title/tt0102797/?ref_=nm_knf_t3 I love that story--it's the kind of thing family and friends love to notice.
This came into my feed after I just rewatched the film. My love for this film never waned, only got stronger over the years. It’s almost a perfect “Year One” story, to borrow the comic vernacular. Setting up Robin’s character as having been so drastically changed by the Crusades then allowing for further growth was some excellent writing. And I agree about Costner’s acting. His reaction to seeing his father’s rotting corpse felt like genuine horror, and how Azeem comforts him and doesn’t ridicule him for the almost scared little boy outburst is great and subtle.
Haven't seen the movie in years but I remember loving it. People thought it was dark? Compared to other Robin Hood movies I guess but compared to really dark movies...Anyway, it's a great fun movie
Steve, that was delightful. I have always kind of enjoyed the movie for many of the reasons you listed here and I am old enough to have seen it in theatres when it came out. But I do have to say the Bryan Adams jokes particularly the last one made me laugh aloud. Thank you.
"Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent" .... Cary Elwes in Robin Hood Men in Tights. That sums up how much Kevin Costner was fitted for the role and shows how much effort he put into it when even Christian Slater did a better accent than he did, projecting a different interpretation that excuses it might make people feel better, but the other interpretation is just as valid
Funny you said that: turns out Costner dropping the accent wasn't his decision. It was Reynold's decision. They even hired a speech coach to teach Costner and had a few weeks of training, but they told him to stop. Not sure of the reason, though, but I heard once it was because the speech training started too late due to Costner's commitment with "Dances With Wolves". So I don't think accusing of "not even trying" is a fair criticism, at least not to Costner. Also, as they already pointed out, there's more to a role than just making an accent.
There was a great Robin Hood series from the early-mid 80s that first aired on BBC (as Robin of Sherwood) and then came over to the US on PBS. Aside from a touch of magic that periodically shows up, it's probably the most realistic Robin Hood on screen.
I love this movie. Currently we're in a period when actors are encouraged to be subtle and under-perform, and sometimes it's nice to see the melodrama hit the fan. Having Alan Rickman and Christian Slater cutting loose versus Kevin Costner's usual milk-toast performance (and I say that in the nicest way) is hilarious. I agree -- somehow it works. It's also a fun adventure flick. I'm not a middle-aged white man, but growing up in the 90s, Kevin Costner movies and Bryan Adams are definitively near and dear to the heart.
I've always thought that Prince of Thieves was one of the best serious takes on the Robin Hood mythos put to film. (Men in Tights and Disney's Robin Hood might beat it out when it comes to overall enjoyability, but those aren't exactly serious films. ;) )
I wholeheartedly agree, Steve. Prince of Thieves is by quite a margin my favorite Robin Hood... as played by people. The Disney animated one does still win overall. Every town, has its ups and downs. Sometimes ups outnumber the downs, but not in Nottingham.
I think it's pretty great! It was actually the first movie I went out to see on my own when I was 15 back in 1991; I walked done to the theater and watched it by myself. Frankly, Alan Rickman's performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham is enough by itself to make to worthy of repeat viewings. I still like it enough to own a copy and watch it every so often; it makes for some great D&D inspiration. I've actually been playing D&D since the same year this movie was released, and I still play twice a week. In fact, watching this video has gotten me hyped to watch the movie again, which is just what I'm going to do right now! Thank you, Steve!
I have always enjoyed this movie, and never felt Costner deserved the crap he got from it. As you noted, Freeman's, Rickman's, and McShane's performances really lift the whole experience to the next level. My friends and I (over)quoted this movie so much. We did the same thing with another great movie, "The Last of the Mohicans".
Being from Nottingham my biggest issue with the film growing up was the castle. There's the establishing shot of this grand Germanic castle on a densely wooded hill in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty and dramatic but when you know it's actually in the middle of the city, a short walk from buildings that would have existed at the time and its literally built on a huge chunk of sandstone it really throws you off when you're an annoying little know it all
My parents were awesome and they took me to see this at a drive in when I was 6. I loved it then, despite Costner's non-existent accent and I still love it to this day. It is so much more fun than Ridley Scott's failed film.
From what I recall the public reception of Robin Hood was mostly positive and possibly even helped by the opposite opinion from the critics of the time. Today the internet would probably roast and toast the movie. Because that's what the internet likes to do. Thanks for an all together too uncommon (for the internet) substantive positive review! Time to watch Robin Hood again from the one time years ago that I've seen it. Alan Rickman's (RIP) performance is reason enough. There are plenty more.
Hi Steve, I just wanted to let you know that I am making this video an optional "reading" for my students next week in my Freshman Writing course. They're going to be writing "Critical Reviews" where they write a review of a piece of media, not just in a general sense but also exploring the way that piece of media treats racial minorities, women, sexuality, social class, etc (they pick one to focus on). I think this is a great example of how to do that. Thanks for producing such great RU-vid content!
I also remember seeing Hudson Hawk in the theaters around the same time, and while it was objectively bad in practically every way, I couldn't help but enjoy it. Maybe it was the Swinging on a Star number they during the heist. :)
It came during my Junior year. My friends and I saw it tons of times at the dollar theater. I've always liked it because of the cornball elements, rather than in spite of them.
I'm glad Robin Hood Prince of Thieves exists, in particular because it laid the foundation for Robin Hood: Men in Tights. :D I'm not sure if you saw it, but my personal favorite version was Robin of Sherwood (1984), where amongst other things, Robin is an avatar of the hunter and he fights off Lucifer Morningstar. Let's just say a lot of what makes Robin Hood Prince of Thieves work is based on. :D
I used to watch Prince of Thieves a ton when I was like 4 or 5. It was one of those things where Grandma just thought it was Robin Hood. Costner should have used an accent-double instead of a butt-double.
In terms of Bryan Adams. I mistook him for Joe Elliot of Def Leppard once. Heaven is a great song though. In terms of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. That movie will always have a special place in my heart. And yes, Kevin Costner could have done at least a basic English accent. Cary Elwes parodied that 2 years later in Men in Tights.
It's been a long time since I've seen this film but I remember enjoying it very much when it came out. One of my favorite parts was Morgan Freeman's character complaining about the English weather lol. "Does the sun never shine in this accursed country?" They had great chemistry.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is not good. It’s PHENOMENAL. It’s a silly popcorn flick with a charismatic core of actors, fantastic action scenes, memorable quotes, and a very simple, easy to follow plot. It’s everything you want out of a summer movie, or a good time. “No blades, no bows, leave your weapons here. No blades, no bows…” ““This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker and glory to his bounty by learning about... beer.” “Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?” “Fuck ME, he cleared it!” The movie is rife with great lines.
This movie is the first date I went on with my first actual girlfriend in my early teens, so it holds a special place in my heart, as does the song. Awwww...
I'm a black guy, 41....and I can sing "Heaven" from memory...but I can also sing "Endless Summer Nights" by Richard Marx, so I might just be corny like that.
27:42. "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" is definitely a spoof of "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." There a quote by Rabbi Tuckman... "You Prince of Thieves, you" & the ham of the Sheriff is off the charts.
"Prince of Thieves" is not the first "dark" Robin Hood movie; that happened when James Goldman adapted the Tale of the Death of Robin Hood into a screenplay called "Robin and Marian." Under the direction of Richard Lester, the film is just as dark, and just as rousing an adventure as "Prince," and its closing scene will break your heart.
I honestly liked the movie, and can even appreciate it more now that I know about the flaws. Of course my favorite line from the movie is Morgan freedman saying "There are no perfect people just perfect intentions". So deep and so inspiational.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was legit my favorite movie as an early teen, and I eventually (begrudgingly) adopted the same mild disdain so many others had for it. So this? This video? Vindicates my young-teen-self most gloriously.
Marian dressing up as a man and fighting Robin was first documented as a part of the legend in one of the Child Ballads of the late 1800s. Not exactly pandering to modern feminism there.
I generally enjoy this film as a fun, if silly blockbuster. One thing that does disappoint me (though it doesnt spoil the film as a whole) is the portrayal of the 'Celts' in the mid point battle. It comes of as pretty thoughtless and insulting, more worthy of conan the barbarian than anything with a real-world setting. I'm sure it wasn't intentional malice on the part of the creators, but to show the 'Celts' (Celtic describes a group of languages not a one culture of ethnicity) as unwashed, woad covered savages is a horrible stereotype that's been around for centuries. Medieval English writers might have considered Celtic speakers to be inferior barbarians, but its unfortunate that the film represents that bigotry as if they were true.
I didn't think of this until you brought it up and you make a good point. But what I always wondered was who are they actually referring too? This is supposed to be the dawn of the 13th century. The old pre-Roman Celtic speaking tribes were gone. After Christianization, Alfred the Great, the Vikings, Harold Hardrada, William the Conquerer et al., I think we should just be seeing Northumbrians who did not want to belong to any Kingdom, particularly the South.
Not sure it’s insulting it’s just a small part of a fun movie. That was actually my favorite part of the movie. The fall of the hero before his inevitable rise.
This is the only film with Sean Connery that I heard a full cinema hiss his appearance, because the baby-eating Celts had destroyed the bandit camp but one of the most famous Scots/Celts was playing King Richard
@@mikeoyler2983 if we assume Celts refers to people speaking a celtic language, then presumably they'd be Welsh or perhaps Gaelic speakers from Scotland or Ireland. Somehow I don't think the writers thought about it enough to be that specific though.
@@bigfootlochness Fair enough if it personally doesn't bother you, but the scene could keep the same narrative function without the 'celts' right? swap them for any armed group and it'd work fine. instead they chose to have the sheriff hiring foreign 'barbarians' as part of his villainy, with all the implications of that. suspect it had an unfortunate influence on Braveheart a few years later too, though again the stereotype has been about for centuries.
Oh man… I just went & listened to “Heaven” & although I didn’t recognize the title, I recognized the hook. It’s a banger, as the kids say. Let’s not tear it down in order to raise up the unsung heroes of the Bryan Adams catalogue. Also, the standout performances of Prince of Thieves had to be: Dude with the raspy voice who was also in The Crow… & Morgan Freeman.
Fun fact: no one in the time period the movie takes place in would have spoken with what we recognize as any sort of "English" accent because at the time the people of England spoke Middle English and most modern English speakers would only recognize certain words in Middle English. Many Middle English words that we still use today are even pronounced differently so it would prove to be quite the language barrier if you met someone who only spoke in Middle English today.
Had the opportunity to talk to the film’s writer/producer Pen Densham a few years ago and the BTS story was fascinating. It’s a miracle the film turned out at all.
I am 100% with you Steve(as usual). I was 16 when this movie came out, already a bit of a Costner fan and a lover of fantasy and medieval films and lore. I loved this movie unabashedly and it remains one of the fims I saw most in the theaters. I forget how many trips exactly, but at least four times, and I got the VHS tape for my birthday that year and watched that so many times I lost count. Even as the tiniest hint of an English accent drifted in and out of his performance, Kevin Costner, is and will likely always be "my" Robin Hood. Like you, as the 1990's came to a close, it was probably a decade and a half that would pass between my last viewing and my next one. I had, after all, gone to work for Blockbuster Video for 7 years and been easily distracted by the embarrassment of entertainment riches that provided. Before I left that job, a director's cut DVD was released and I hungrily snapped that up when it came through the store. Even though this is a rare instance where I feel the extended cut is inferior to the theatrical, It inspired me to order all my favorite movies from my late teens and early adulthood. "Robin Hood : Primce of Thieves", "The Hunt for Red October", "The Mask of Zorro", "The Fifth Element", "Starship Troopers", "The Rock", "Independence Day", and "Armageddon". Setting aside my beloved "Star Wars", "Star Trek", and "Aliens" franchises, this selected library of films made me the film lover I remain today. (I freely admit that not all continue to deserve my adoration beyond the category of guilty pleasure however).
I think the main thing I dislike about the early conversations between Costner and Freeman is that for some reason he waited until they got to England to say any of this. They'd have to have been traveling together for months by that point, an there's none of the normal familiarity you'd develop on a walking tour of Europe and Asia Minor.
I liked that Azeem loved so deeply. It really highlights how important the idea of Courtly Love is about to become after the Crusaders bring Middle Eastern love poetry back to Europe.
That was a fun trip down memory lane. I adored this film when I watched it, also as an 11-year-old. I fell hard for Christian Slater and wore out my tape of the soundtrack on my first walkman. It's camp AF but so what, good camp is delightful and Alan Rickman does camp as a high art. I think I need to rewatch the movie now.
Always liked it... I get it isn't perfect, but I legitimately enjoy it and am happy to put it on whenever or continue watching it if I find myself coming across it in mid-play. I remember McShanes Friar Tuck as a real stand-out in this film... clever, funny, and even a little badass. It's also the first take on Robin Hood that I recall having no Prince John, and I don't think it needed one.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Man, I love being a turtle. Also: Prince of Thieves is the best Robin Hood movie made to date. Never understood its detractors
It's funny to think that in the early ballads, Robin was sometimes the damsel in distress that Little-John had to save, because the pious Robin had to go to church to pray to St. Mary due his religious zest. Maid Marian didn't appear in the early ballads and originally comes from May Day plays, but in her debut and only ballad, Marian, disguised as a page, is a better swordfighter than Robin and easily defeated the crossbow hero until she recognizes Robin's voice when he begs her to surrender. Yeh, the ballads are different from the Robin Hood we know today.
It’s good as a comedy. There are some amazing comedy performances. Daniel Peacock as Bull, Mike McShane as Tuck, Alan Rickman of course. The geography is all over the place, white cliffs of Dover to Hadrians wall and back to Nottinghamshire… apparently according to Robin they would cover about 600 miles before dark. But I’ve watched it again recently and however flawed it is, it’s a fun movie.
Its not a terrible movie, the supporting cast keep it going It's also amusing for us here in the UK to see the locations. He claims to be 5 miles from home while standing on Hadrian's wall,which is near Newcasle in the northwest of England and yet his house is played by a castle in Dorset, in the South of England.SEVERAL HUNDRED MILES.
I was born in 1982. I love this movie. I had a huge crush on Kevin Costner and I also wore out the sound on my VHS re-watching it (a shame because the soundtrack SLAPS!).
I’d give a shout out to Christian Slater for the accent he cobbled together. I’ve always suspected that part of his job was to bridge the gap between Costner’s accent & any recognizable Brit accent. It was a thankless task, but he did it. Mike McShane (from San Francisco) was allowed to be positively Shakespearian in his delivery (and thank goodness, because American actors have an undeserved rep for being unable to do any other accent).
One if the first movies I ever really liked that wasn't a kid's movie. I had one of the Toys of Robin with the clothing on it. I loved that toy, heard there was crazy history to that line of figures.
Absolutely love this format of video, and I agree wholeheartedly that Kevin Costner , Alan Rickman and Morgan Freeman totally rocked that thing! What are your opinions on Waterworld and The Postman? I personally liked both of them.
The scene between Alan Rickman and BRIAN BLESSED is like seeing two titanic wrestlers verbally spar; one from the ring and the other from the main entrance.
Also, you beat Brian Adams' singing to death (and then continued to), but didn't elaborate on the score being a rousing goddamned master class? Seriously, I challenge anyone to listen to the opening credits theme and not feel your blood start to pump faster.
