IF nothing else, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (Pearl, 9.30pm) is resolutely politically correct. Maid Marian (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is a feminist and Robin (Kevin Costner, with a ridiculous accent) is a man of the people who battles racism and religious intolerance. In his initial escape from a hell of a prison in the Holy Land, Robin is paired with the young nobleman Azeem (Morgan Freeman). Azeem does not share the pigmentation of most young noblemen in Anglo-Saxon England. This is Robin Hood done to death by Hollywood. It was released theatrically at the same time as Fox's Robin Hood (With Patrick Bergin) and while it is not as good, is more elaborate and became a far bigger hit. It has the bonus of a theme tune by Bryan Adams, a famous Canadian. First that accent. Director Kevin Reynolds (Fandango) seems to have made no effort to unify the cast, so the acting styles and the accents differ wildly, and obviously. Costner is said to have attempted an English accent, but gave it up during production. What is left is a Robin Hood who sounds like a cross between Bart Simpson in tights and Prince Charles. When Robin of Loxley gets back to Blighty after being jailed for his part in the crusades, a rude surprise awaits him. His father (Brian Blessed, the British Shakespearian actor) has been done in, Richard the Lionheart is in exile and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman), who rules with the guidance of a cackling witch, has laid siege to the countryside. While travelling through Sherwood Forest (Sheeeerward Far-rest), Robin is set upon by Little John and his gang of merry men. Except they are not so merry; they are honest men who have been driven from their homes by Nottingham's cruelty. Robin defeats Little John in hand-to-hand combat, wins his trust and becomes the group's leader. Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves falls somewhere between the tally-ho adventures that Errol Flynn always seemed to star in and the revisionist versions released in the 70s which tried to highlight the squalor and deprivation of ancient times. The best thing about the film is Rickman (Truly, Madly, Deeply) who swaggers his way through his scenes in sinister black, hissing one-liners and basically acting up a storm. He is so theatrically vile that he seems to be in a different film altogether, and one can't help but think it's a more enjoyable one than Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. THERE are some laughs in Crocodile Dundee II (World, 9.30pm), but not as many as there should have been. Still, it is a nice enough follow-up to the runaway hit of 1986, this time with the unflappable trapper (Paul Hogan) caught up with a drug kingpin who kidnaps his girlfriend (and wife in real-life) Linda Kozlowski. The story was written by Hogan and his son Brett. FOR diehard romantics Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (Pearl, 2.10am) is the supreme swoon, thanks to the appearance of Ingrid Bergman, quivering lips and all. She's shady, aggressive and alcoholic. Cary Grant is untrusting, passive and unsympathetic. It's a dangerous cocktail. Alicia Huberman (Bergman), daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, has an international jetset reputation as a playgirl, causing American agent Devlin (Grant) to fall in love with her. He enlists her help in Rio de Janeiro where, to avoid blowing her cover, she must marry shady dealer Claude Rains. It's a blistering on-screen romance between Grant and Bergman and the camera swoons right along in dizzying manner. The best shot is the key; you can't miss it. IN Macau you get Looking For Mr Goodbar (TDM Channel 1, 11.05pm), with Diane Keaton as a repressed teacher of deaf and dumb children who lives under the thumb of her macho father. She sets out to find Mr Right, but she looks in all the wrong places. Keaton had just scored in Woody Allen's Annie Hall and this showed she could get out from under Allen's wing and make it on her own. Tuesday Weld got an Oscar nomination, but didn't win, for Best Supporting Actress.
