Robin Hood Movies Ranked
https://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/robin-hood/277786/robin-hood-movies-ranked
2. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)share
A film that’s better than you remember, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves remains the most exciting Merry Men movie this side of Errol Flynn. While Kevin Costner is obviously miscast as Robin (and with a silly ‘90s haircut to boot), he also plays the role with more gusto and appeal than the half-dozen or so actors who’ve portrayed Robin on film or television since. He also is luckily aided by a production that gets much more right than wrong.
Being the first major Hollywood film to shoot in actual English forests and rolling hills, Kevin Reynolds' movie snapshots an England countryside eternally cast in autumn’s brittle thrall. Like Robin and Marian, Prince of Thieves turns Robin into a Crusader, but this is the movie that first explores that concept as an origin story, with a younger Robin Hood using those experiences to inform his adventures. Every Robin Hood movie and TV show ever since has stolen the idea, including with Robin returning with a Saracen sidekick. It’s a facet that will likely remain in all Robin Hood stories to come too, although none have yet matched Morgan Freeman’s Azeem, who says more while silently refusing to bow before King Richard than a dozen speeches by Jamie Foxx about the evils of the West.
Of course the most striking reasons to remember this movie is Alan Rickman’s scene-stealing Sheriff of Nottingham, as well as Michael Kamen’s stirring musical score. On the first count, Rickman had free reign to do whatever he wanted as the Sheriff and arguably surpasses Hans Gruber in Die Hard with a performance that so happily chews the scenery that it’s a wonder Sherwood wasn’t deforested. Kamen’s score, meanwhile, evokes rousing medieval fantasies with vigor. Production company Morgan Creek Entertainment was even impressed enough to make it part of its title card, all while the romantic theme’s luscious sweep became one of the biggest Top 40 hits of ’91 after they added some dippy Bryan Adams lyrics to it. Throw in excellent action sequences that favored stunts over visual effects, the best Little John and Robin confrontation in movie history, and Sean Connery’s surprise reveal as King Richard, and you have a bonafide classic on your own hands, warts and all.
Just a tip: Stick with the theatrical cut; the extended cut only kills the pacing to magnify the film’s other weak element: the tacky inclusion of a witch (Geraldine McEwan) and her superfluous subplot with Rickman.