I read an article when that film came out which said that the version of Robin Hood we all know and love, the stealing from the rich to give to the poor and all that, is an invention of the swashbukling Errol Flynn days. And apparently the whole link with King Richard was tacked on at some other point in history. I'm no expert on the matter though. It seems RH was one of the characters that were probably cobbled together from a load of separate outlaws, who may have been noble but most likely weren't. I've even heard people saying the origin of the character is a pagan God of the Woods.