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Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Copyright Disclaimer: under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Copyright Disclaimer: under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
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00:00I think good stories endure, and Robin Hood has always seemed to be a really good story.
00:30Robin Hood!
00:55List and hearken, gentlemen, that be of freeborn blood.
00:59I shall tell you of a good yeoman.
01:02His name was Robin Hood.
01:06Good evening, I'm Pierce Brosnan.
01:09He is a legend that goes by many names.
01:13The Earl of Huntington, Robin of Loxley, Robert Fitzsuth, and Robert Hood.
01:19But to centuries of storytellers, he is simply Robin Hood.
01:25Who was this outlaw?
01:27Did he actually exist?
01:29Was he real or just a medieval myth carried on for 800 years?
01:35It is a question that scholars still debate today.
01:39And for the next hour, we will explore the myth of the Hooded Man.
01:44Was he fact?
01:45Was he fact?
01:46Or fiction?
01:47Tonight, we will find out.
01:50Journey back in time through historic England to unravel the mystery behind the legend of Robin Hood.
02:03Robin Hood.
02:04I do believe that Robin Hood existed and that I am related to Robin Hood.
02:08May I ask you to readdress me as sheriff, please?
02:10I'm only one that has seen Robin Hood's grave.
02:13Who was Maid Marian?
02:15Is this the grave of Little John?
02:16And is this recently discovered 700-year-old document the final proof that Robin Hood was real?
02:26Go on location behind the scenes of the most anticipated movie of the year.
02:30The stars, the filmmakers, an exclusive look at the making of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
02:45And finally, meet Hollywood's hottest leading man, Kevin Costner.
02:49He's just one of those actors that grabs you, you know, you like him.
02:52I would just give him a 10?
02:54Well, I hope I don't bring a whole end of the legend.
02:56That's what I'm like hoping.
03:09I know I caught Robin Hood really early in my life.
03:12I was really taken with it.
03:16Who is that?
03:17Who is that?
03:18What can you see now?
03:19Come on!
03:20Come on!
03:21I love you.
03:23To the trees!
03:24Come on!
03:26Come on!
03:27Come on!
03:28Come on!
03:29How many?
03:32How many?
03:34Many.
03:40He is a hero.
03:41He's a larger-than-life character.
03:43I mean, there's even some question as to whether or not he really existed.
03:46If he was just something that people created, because they needed a hero.
03:49You know, a guy who's witty and he's talented, he's strong, and he comes from sort of the upper classes, but he supports the underdog.
03:57And he does everything right.
03:59And that's what most heroes are like.
04:01It's one of the most famous legends in the world.
04:03You know, they say there's seven basic stories, and I don't know what the other six are, but I'm sure one of them is Robin Hood.
04:09Other legendary figures like King Arthur, William Tell, and even Jesse James have become part of our modern culture, but none with the romantic flair of Robin Hood and his band of merry men from Sherwood Forest.
04:23He robbed the rich, defeated the poor, waged war against corruption and injustice, and won the heart of the fair Lady Marion.
04:34And when it came to bows and arrows, it is said that Robin was the best in all of England.
04:43He could pinpoint a target at 300 yards and hit it dead center.
04:47We do know that 800 years ago, another forest needed to be saved, and a legend was born.
04:56The story begins when a wealthy nobleman was murdered in Nottingham, a city ripe with crime and corruption.
05:01His son adopted a secret identity and vowed to avenge his father's death.
05:05He gathered a few loyal friends to fight against the wicked forces which ruled England at the time.
05:10Operating from a secluded hideaway, they would appear out of nowhere to help innocent victims of injustice.
05:16Where was King Mitchell? He was away at the crusades.
05:20Well, that's the familiar tale, but is it true? Was Robin Hood himself real?
05:26Most historians agree that the story of Robin Hood is based in truth, but the tale is a fascinating blend of fact and fiction.
05:37James Holt is a retired Cambridge University professor and the world's leading authority on Robin Hood.
05:42He studied the legend of the Hooded Man for 30 years.
05:46The first reference to Robin Hood comes from the year 1262.
05:52And in that first reference, there's no real doubt about it, Robin Hood was used as a criminal Elias or nickname.
06:02In other words, the name was imposed on a known criminal.
06:06This court document from either the years 1261 or 1262 was discovered just a few years ago.
06:12One of the outlaws listed is named Robin Hood.
06:15But during the next 40 years, court records throughout England mentioned at least a dozen more rebels with the same name.
06:21What that tells you is that already by 1261, the term he's a Robin Hood was being used to describe an outlaw, like he's a Hood in the States.
06:29And he's a Hood in the States comes from it, of course, and it's based on the Robin Hood legend.
06:33The legend of an English Hood may have started even earlier with the exploits of a tenant farmer turned outlaw, Robert Hood, mentioned in this record of the Court of York on July 25th, 1225.
06:44The name reappeared the following year as Hobby Hood and soon after as Gilbert Robbie Hood.
06:51So if Robin Hood really lived, he must have lived long enough before 1261 for his stories to be in circulation.
06:59And the legends and the stories that developed from that time are perhaps an amalgamation of several of these characters who received the nickname Robin Hood simply because they were outlaws.
07:10It all started as a result of the taxes imposed by the Sheriff of Nottingham, I believe, wasn't it?
07:15I mean, I tend to be a bit of a romantic, so I think, yeah, he's going to be dashing, nice clothes, you know, a really nice character that everybody looked up to.
07:25He used to come in here with Maid Marian and sit by the fire and have a beer, you know, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, of course, he got himself in a fight here one day, so rumour has it, and he was banned from the inn and told never to come back again.
07:37So Robin Hood was quite safe here with Maid Marian. This all really happened.
07:41Storytelling in Nottingham continues even today. In the 12th century, it was the primary means of communication.
07:48And long before the invention of the printing press, travelling minstrels spread the news through their ballads and stories.
07:56Basically, somewhere between information being passed between villages and people who are good at storytelling adding to that information to turn them into stories, that's where the Robin Hood legend began.
08:08Stole from the rich and gave to the poor. That was what it was about, wasn't it?
08:14That doesn't enter into the legend until 200 years after we first have knowledge of it.
08:23In the 15th century, the May Day Festival was carnival time in England. Young people dressed up as two fantasy figures, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, the King and Queen of May.
08:33Robin and Maid Marian pressured the folks to give money to the church. These collections led people to later say that Robin Hood took from the rich to give to the poor.
08:43She was really pretty and she was in love with Robin Hood.
08:47Maid Marian first appeared in the late 15th century at the May Festival. The outlaw's devotion to this spirited young maiden made their love story one that would last through the ages.
08:59She vies chastity until they become married and therefore she takes the near Maid Marian.
09:04It is said that Robin's closest friend, Little John, lies buried in a 14-foot long grave dating back to medieval times. When exhumed in 1784, all that remained was an extremely large human thigh bone.
09:17Today in Sherwood Forest, the last remaining physical link to the legend of Robin Hood is a giant oak tree, said to be Robin's actual gathering place. In Nottingham, a few special citizens keep the spirit and the legend alive in their own unique way.
09:33I do believe that Robin Hood existed and that I am related to Robin Hood.
09:39May I ask you to readdress me as sheriff, please? That's my title, if you don't mind.
09:44Many experts claim to have seen the grave, but I am only one that has seen Robin Hood's grave.
09:50He's a symbol again of right and wrong, so that will keep him alive, I think.
09:56Now, it may be fiction, it may be escapism, but he's always going to be with us. It's none the worse for what it is.
10:06They started writing the ballads, then they were turned into prose, then they became plays, then they became silent movies.
10:14You know, each generation would add to it.
10:17At the turn of this century, cinema was a new phenomenon.
10:20Even then, filmmakers were looking for a blockbuster film to bring people to see their product.
10:26What better idea than Robin Hood?
10:33Now, many people think that the first Robin Hood was the 1922 version starring Douglas Fairbanks.
10:40In fact, there were five silent Robin films prior to Fairbanks.
10:43Three were British films, and two were from Hollywood.
10:50Bringing Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves to the silver screen was just about as difficult as...
10:55Well, it was just about as difficult as Robin Hood's legendary fight with little John to gain control of the band of merry men of Sherwood Forest.
11:04The props, the costumes, the weapons, all had to create a strikingly authentic 13th-century England.
11:10Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, was shot on location throughout England, including historic grounds that have been protected since the time of William the Conqueror.
11:21The city of Nottingham was faithfully recreated on the backlots of Shepparton Studios.
11:36Oh, please, go cameras.
11:38This undertaking was no small task. It took four months of grueling filming, and an army of workers in merry old England had rivaled the once mighty Sheriff of Nottingham.
11:57To reproduce an accurate portrayal of 12th century England, including realistic clothing, Robin Hood's traditional costume became an unrealistic choice.
12:11When you see pictures of Robin Hood and the merry men, you know what I mean?
12:16And the guys in the little tights and the green pixie shoes and the little hats and feathers, it's not likely.
12:21People assumed, for some bizarre reason, that he would be wearing tights in this movie. We'd have agents of actors expressing interest or disinterest in the movie based on how they felt their clients were looking tights.
12:36I was expecting to see a whole new direction on the Robin Hood costume.
12:39I had just in the fitting room, on the fitting room floor in there, a pair of green tights and a pointed hat with a feather. And I said, well, Kevin. And he looked at me and said, well, John.
12:48I had just been told that this guy had a very good take on, on, and a new take on how Robin should be. And so they all got a very good laugh out of, out of that.
12:57Yeah, we just wanted to horrify him.
12:59And it honestly never occurred to any of the filmmakers for a single second to put our Robin Hood in tights. It just isn't that kind of movie.
13:06The clothes make the man.
13:09The filmmakers' goal was to create an authentic 13th century world, paying close attention to even the smallest of details.
13:17For instance, all the bows and arrows, well, they all had to be made to the actual sizes, which were five foot six inches, true to the period.
13:26Also, at that time, a full grown cow would have been the same size as a Great Dane.
13:32Well, even though some of these cows were only going to be in the background of a few of the shots, the filmmakers searched for weeks for, well, short cows.
13:46It was tough. There's no question. It was the hardest picture I've ever worked on.
13:53When you're shooting a sequence, one of the best feelings is when you watch something unfold before your eyes and you really get excited and into it and you see it working.
14:02I mean, that's why I do it. It's because those sort of ephemeral moments that are there and then they're suddenly gone and hopefully you've captured them on film.
14:08Go. When he fires, boom. He was making a film and I wanted to come out here and help. Boom. First one, back on him. Pulls the second one over his shoulder. Boom.
14:25Boom. We're lucky because when we work together, we can speak in a certain kind of shorthand that only comes with knowing someone.
14:35And it's great because we can just be completely open with each other and say, no, I don't like that or, yeah, that's great.
14:42Boom. Then you turn here. Whack. And then he goes on up the hill.
14:48This isn't the first time the Kevins have worked together. Previously, they teamed up for Fandango, Costner's first leading role.
14:56Well, it's funny because I had actually known Kevin a couple of years before we did Fandango. When I was doing a student film at USC, he came in and read for it. Yeah. And it was between, the role was between he and another guy and I cast the other guy.
15:10I'm not very good at this.
15:11How are we going to cook it?
15:20Kevin's a real visionary and has a real force of will that's very attractive to me. It's magical and it's fun and I find him really inventive and we kind of have the relationship that's if he can think of it, I can do it.
15:33I'm proud of a lot of the work that we did. It was very grueling. It was very difficult. Yeah. Yeah, I'd say I'm proud of what we did.
15:45Cut.
15:46Flashing.
15:48808, take three.
15:49Okay. Print all three, please.
15:53Very high on the harp.
15:55E, F, A, B.
15:57I need a G to D pickup as if you're in bar 110.
16:00You probably don't know his name, but you definitely know his music.
16:05Michael Kamen has composed musical scores for some of Hollywood's most successful films. Among them, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard.
16:13The music is the last ingredient that can help to extract the emotions from the characters. If they're falling in love, you gush for them and if they're crying, you weep silently for them.
16:25And you, that's why it's called underscore. It's more like underlining an emotion.
16:30Here we go.
16:41Capturing the emotion required some dedicated musicians, 110 to be exact. Here, they are creating a romantic feel for a pivotal scene between Robin and Maid Marian.
16:53The basic theme is really simple. It's just...
17:05Very rarely gets any more involved than that. I play it on this and then put it on score and turn it into musical instruments.
17:30It's big. It's full of heroics and power and real compassion. I've carried an idea of who Robin Hood is in my mind since I was six, so that's a pretty strong vision to have musically.
17:52Let's go listen to it. So this is how I do it. They give me the picture with these bar of timings underneath it. That's how I know when I'm supposed to be in, when I'm supposed to stop and when I'm supposed to hit something.
18:11The orchestra loves playing flat out for long periods of time. They'll play anything, but they love just running. It's like getting on a horse and galloping. So this is what it feels like to us on the floor.
18:23There's this lovely episode where Maid Marian follows Robin Hood into his camp in the woods.
18:35He sees her off by the lake. Robin asks her for two favors. She says, yes, okay, I'll do the first one. And he said, I need you to get a message. Will you do this for the king? And she looks at him hard and she goes, no.
18:57I'll do it for you. And we've been building it up. Pages and pages and pages of music. And finally she kisses him. And that's where the score turns black with notes and everybody goes, no.
19:27This is a work of love. This has come from the heart. This is something that I really, really care about. Music is a real substance. It's a very powerful substance. And it's got to be taken seriously.
19:48I guess I guess I was in love with Maid Marian and just looking at Kevin Costner, giving her a big kiss and thinking, oh man, that's as close as I'll get to him. I love that.
19:57My personal reason for doing Robin Hood was that genuinely inside me was a desire to create the myth of Robin Hood again as I believed it could have happened.
20:27This is your sort of childhood dream of making movies is to make an action movie. You know what I mean? Sword fighting and shooting bows and arrows and riding horses and jumping fences and, you know, that's fun.
20:43Join us now!
20:45Morgan Freeman portrays Robin's trusted friend, Azeem, a wise warrior from North Africa.
20:52Join Robin Hood!
20:53It's his opinion. I saved his life and his religious beliefs are such that he dedicates his life to repaying that debt, the debt of life.
21:02Azeem! It's time to redeem that vow!
21:05Well, he of course feigns uselessness, but he's always got an eye on me and from his point of view would not have let anything happen to me.
21:13Any great ideas?
21:15Get up!
21:15Move! Move faster!
21:18Move faster!
21:20I can't do this with all that racket!
21:24Alan Rickman portrays a truly evil sheriff of Nottingham who dabbles in murder and black magic.
21:30I'm not playing a villain. I'm just playing somebody who has a certain checklist of things that he wants in life and he goes after them.
21:39And other people say, like Robin Hood decides, that's appalling and it must be stopped.
21:46I constantly wanted the sheriff of Nottingham to be something more than a one-dimensional Darth Vader bad guy.
21:51He brings a lot of humor to the part but a lot of wickedness at the same time so that he's a lot of fun to watch.
21:57Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans. No more merciful beheadings.
22:05And call off Christmas.
22:08There's a price on your head.
22:10How much?
22:11One hundred gold pieces.
22:13Is that all?
22:15Soon it will be a thousand.
22:16For a thousand I would turn you in myself.
22:19Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays a very independent maid Marion.
22:23She isn't much like him. I don't think she much trusts any man anyway so and there's no reason to, you know, they've all gone off and left him.
22:32So she's, uh, and they, little by little I guess there's something about him that she kind of fancies.
22:40Yes! Beautiful!
22:42And Christian Slater rounds out the cast as the mysterious Will Scarlet.
22:46We're not really like expert robbers, you know, Robin sort of teaches us the, the, the, the skills that we, we, we haven't yet acquired, you know.
22:55Recognize this?
22:56I shall never fear my father's sword.
22:58I'd like to believe there was a guy like that, yeah.
23:02I don't know anybody that wouldn't.
23:03What is it that has allowed this character of Robin Hood to exist for seven centuries?
23:10Well, for one thing, he stood up for the common man.
23:13He was fearless in battle, but yet he was a compassionate friend.
23:17He was a free-spirited adventurer, but had a pledge for only one woman.
23:22And yet he was considered a rebel with the cause.
23:26It can be said that Kevin Costner, the new Robin Hood, is also a rebel with the cause.
23:34He bucked the Hollywood system, didn't he?
23:37Fearless in battle.
23:39And made Dances with Wolves.
23:41A film given, uh, not much chance of succeeding at the box office.
23:46Well, hmm.
23:48Seven Oscars later, Kevin is still a family man.
23:51And has garnered huge popularity by his on-screen portrayals.
23:58This is a story about an unusual actor who loves to do his own stunts.
24:03As long as he's doing the action, I think he's, uh, he's happy.
24:06And he wants to be up there amongst it.
24:08So you have to make sure that he's safe while he's doing it.
24:11But he has tremendous courage and, uh, a great deal of the swashbuckling attitude that, uh, Robin Hood needs.
24:18He's got it.
24:21I do a lot of bareback riding because I steal the horse.
24:35The sea carving on a horse is, is, is great.
24:38I mean, he is such a brilliant rider.
24:40And we've thought up a couple of new inventions where I run over the backs of four standing horses,
24:44which is not easy, and then jump into the saddle of another one, or the sheriff's horse, actually, a white stallion,
24:51and kick the man that's holding it and burst out of town, steal a bag of sack of things and swing it and knock it out.
24:58But it's a big music stuff.
24:59Okay, Kev.
25:02Yeah?
25:02Is the reason I haven't delivered a bull myself is because his sword is so powerful?
25:06Yep.
25:07That's it.
25:08You're so big.
25:09I haven't got a lick in.
25:11Kevin had done most things before in his life, but, uh, swords, I don't think was one of them.
25:15And that's not even hard.
25:18Right.
25:19Well, it felt kind of silly because you guys had your camera on me, and I was thinking,
25:22geez, that's funny.
25:24People film me practicing.
25:26People don't see the work behind what goes into the finished product,
25:29so you see all the clumsiness and all that stuff.
25:32Let's try it one more time.
25:36Where is she?
25:41The lady.
25:45Pick a slower man.
25:47Pick a smaller man.
25:51Uh, pick a dumber man.
25:53And you usually can win.
25:55And action!
26:07Kevin is so right for the role.
26:09We never really questioned it for a second.
26:11When you see him with the bow and arrow in his arm,
26:13then you just know Kevin Costner is Robin Hood.
26:15It's the one of recognition whenever you think of Robin Hood.
26:18It's the, it's the weapon of choice, I guess.
26:21It's the one he's the most proficient at.
26:23And you fire one arrow like that, and then you take off down the hill looking over your shoulder
26:26and head that direction.
26:27Okay?
26:28Day two, and we were burning the village, and, uh,
26:31Kevin was there, and he was showing me his new bow and his new outfit,
26:34and he was so proud of it.
26:35And I said, well, do you know how to shoot that thing?
26:37And, uh, he said, sure.
26:39So he just pulls an arrow out of his quiver, and he turned around,
26:42and there was a rabbit hanging on a hut about, I don't know,
26:45it had to be 30 yards away, and I said, shoot that rabbit.
26:47So he turned around, and he just nonchalantly drilled this, you know,
26:51stuffed rabbit from about 30 yards.
26:52I couldn't believe it.
26:54And, uh, I said, well, do it again.
26:56So he laughed and declined, just like that.
26:59Do you think he'd do anything, like, stylistic,
27:01where he'd take three and go, boom, into the ground, go one,
27:03boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
27:04pull off the ground?
27:04Do you think he'd do anything that was very much like the crusade?
27:07Do you realize what he was doing?
27:08Yeah.
27:08He just takes three out and goes, boom, boom, you know,
27:11and he takes one, boom.
27:16Ah!
27:16Ah!
27:17Ah!
27:17Ah!
27:18Ah!
27:18Ah!
27:19Ah!
27:19Ah!
27:20Ah!
27:20Ah!
27:21Ah!
27:21Ah!
27:22Ah!
27:22Ah!
27:23Ah!
27:24Ah!
27:24Ah!
27:25Ah!
27:26We were shooting the sequence between he and Little John,
27:33where they battle in the river.
27:35Done a lot of things in my career, uh, none any harder than that.
27:39You can't really tell when you see the scene now,
27:41but that water was about 32 degrees.
27:44You're talking about 10 hours a day in the water.
27:46And we shot for four or five days.
27:48From the get-go, I fall in the water.
27:51Between takes, he was so cold that his hands would cramp up.
27:54It was really cold.
27:55Oh!
27:56Oh!
27:57Oh!
28:02We're in the background.
28:03OK now.
28:04Roll, please.
28:04390, take four.
28:06Please.
28:07Action!
28:08Oh!
28:09Look at that coffee fucker.
28:11Never seen so much.
28:12Performing stunts as Hollywood's leading man has other pitfalls as well.
28:17I get to kick him in the face, you know, it's kind of strange, you know, you know,
28:25just sitting there and go, hi Kevin, how are you, bam, you know, and then you go running off.
28:29We have much to celebrate.
28:33If you wish to share the good Lord's brew, you must best be for it.
28:38Ah, my Lord, eh?
28:41And cut.
28:44I didn't say I get the shit out of me.
28:47It's a horrible story.
28:50Even though Kevin Costner has struck Oscar gold and his career is exploding,
28:56he remains a man with a strength of character not unlike the roles he chooses to portray.
29:02He can pull it off.
29:03It's not like he'll stand there for the close-ups and then calls for the double, you know, for the difficult stuff, you know.
29:09He does it all, you know, with a certain amount of panache.
29:12He's really good at what he does.
29:14I don't know.
29:14He's just one of those actors that grabs you, you know, you like him.
29:18I would just give him a ten.
29:19Well, I hope I don't bring a whole end to the legend.
29:34That's what I'm, like, hoping.
29:35Amidst the darkest glades of Sherwood Green, in the deepest part of the wood,
29:54some say can still be seen the ghost of Robin Hood.
30:02So, did Robin Hood really exist?
30:06Do we really want to know, after all, if it were to be proven that he did not exist,
30:10and that has never been proven,
30:12who would fight for the underdog?
30:14Who would wage war against corruption and tyranny?
30:17Who would prove that chivalry is not dead?
30:22Robin was not only a celebrity, but also a character of mystery.
30:26He lives on in our children and in our children's children.
30:30Eight hundred years ago, in a dark forest, in medieval England, there lived a hero.
30:40A man so remarkable that his name and his story became a legend.
30:47A legend that will live on forever.
30:49And tomorrow night, with the premiere of Robin Hood, The Prince of Thieves,
30:55Kevin Costner will be the next to string the bow,
30:58ignite our imaginations, and continue the legacy.
31:02Long live Robin Hood.
31:06I'm Pierce Brosnan.
31:10Good night.
31:19Good night.
31:49Good night.
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