Robin Hood: Men in Tights

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Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mel Brooks[1]
Produced by	Mel Brooks
Screenplay by	Mel Brooks J. David Shapiro Evan Chandler
Story by	J. David Shapiro Evan Chandler
Starring	Cary Elwes Richard Lewis Roger Rees Amy Yasbeck Avery Schreiber Dave Chappelle Tracey Ullman
Music by	Hummie Mann
Cinematography	Michael D. O'Shea
Editing by	Stephen E. Rivkin
Studio	Gaumont Brooksfilms
Distributed by	20th Century Fox (US) Columbia Tristar Film Distributors International (Int'l)
Release date(s)	July 28, 1993 (1993-07-28) (United States) December 17, 1993 (1993-12-17) (France)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	France United States
Language	English
Box office	$35,739,755 (Domestic)[2]

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 English-American adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut. The film includes frequent comedic references to previous Robin Hood films (most particularly Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, upon which the plot is loosely structured, Disney's Robin Hood, and The Adventures of Robin Hood), early-1990s pop culture, and real-life subjects.

Plot

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Robin Hood, or Robin of Loxley (Cary Elwes), is captured during the Crusades and is imprisoned at Khalil Prison in Jerusalem. With the help of fellow inmate Asneeze (Isaac Hayes), who is in for jaywalking, he escapes and frees the other inmates. Robin is asked by Asneeze to find his son, Ahchoo (Dave Chappelle, in his first major professional role). Upon returning to England, he finds Ahchoo and discovers that Prince John (Richard Lewis) has assumed control while King Richard is away fighting in the Crusades. Unbeknownst to Richard, the prince is abusing his power. Robin's family home, Loxley Hall, has been repossessed by John's men. He vows to get it back before all his family's things are taken.

Robin meets up with his family's blind servant, Blinkin (Mark Blankfield), along with the large and ignorant Little John (Eric Allan Kramer), and his friend Will Scarlet O'Hara (Matthew Porretta), whom he recruits to help regain his father's land and oust Prince John from the throne. On his quest, Robin also attracts the attention of Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck), who wants to find the man who has the key to her heart (and chastity belt). While Robin is training an army, the spoonerism-spouting Sheriff of Rottingham, Mervyn (Roger Rees), hires the Mafioso Don Giovanni (Dom DeLuise) to assassinate Robin at the Spring Festival (with archery tournament). Maid Marian hears of the evil plot, and sneaks out of her castle to warn Robin, accompanied by her frumpy German Lady in Waiting Broomhilde (Megan Cavanagh). However, due to his pride, Robin cannot refuse a chance to participate in the tournament.

At the archery tournament, a disguised Robin makes it to the final round, where he unmasks himself. He then makes his shot but loses to his opponent. Robin calls this situation absurd and pulls out a copy of the script to discover that he gets another shot. The Sheriff and Prince John then pull out their own copies and confirm this (much to their annoyance). After winning the tournament, Robin is arrested. Marian agrees to marry the Sheriff in exchange for Robin's life. The ceremony reveals the Sheriff's unimposing first name. Before she can say "I do," the castle is attacked by the Men in Tights, led by Little John, Ahchoo, Blinkin, and Will. They quickly free Robin and a battle ensues. However, Marian is carried off to the tower by the Sheriff, who wants to "deflower" her.

Robin arrives and wins an intense swordfight, missing his sheath and accidentally running the sheriff through. Then the witch Latrine (Tracey Ullman), Prince John's full-time cook and part-time adviser, saves him by giving him a magical lifesaver in exchange for agreeing to marry her. Robin and Marian are preparing to celebrate the victory in a special way when Broomhilde arrives, insisting they get married first. Before the ceremony can be completed by Rabbi Tuckman (Mel Brooks), they are interrupted by King Richard (Patrick Stewart), who has returned from the Crusades. He orders John to be taken away to the Tower of London and made part of the tour. He also announces that, due to the foul stench the prince has left over the kingdom, all the toilets are to be called "Johns".

All being as it should be, Robin and Marian are married and Ahchoo is made the new sheriff of Rottingham. Everyone then exclaims "A black sheriff?" Ahchoo then retorts, "And why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles!" When the night comes, Maid Marian's chastity belt will not open with his key, so Robin calls a locksmith.

Cast

• Cary Elwes as Robin Hood ^[3]
• Richard Lewis as Prince John
• Roger Rees as Sheriff of Rottingham
• Amy Yasbeck as Maid Marian of Bagel (pronounces Bag-elle)
• Dave Chappelle as Ahchoo
• Mark Blankfield as Blinkin
• Eric Allan Kramer as Little John
• Matthew Porretta as Will Scarlet O'Hara
• Isaac Hayes as Asneeze
• Tracey Ullman as Latrine the Witch
• Patrick Stewart as King Richard
• Dom DeLuise as Don Giovanni
• Dick Van Patten as The Abbot
• Mel Brooks as Rabbi Tuckman
• Megan Cavanagh as Broomhilde
• Brian George as Dungeon Maitre d'
• David DeLuise as a Villager

Robin Hood appearances

Several of the people involved with the film were involved in other Robin Hood productions. Dick Van Patten, who played the Abbot in the film, had previously collaborated with Brooks in a television parody titled When Things Were Rotten, in which van Patten played Friar Tuck. While critically acclaimed, the show ran for only half a season in 1975.

Porretta (Will Scarlet O'Hara) would go on to play Robin Hood for the first two seasons of the television series The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Patrick Stewart, who appears briefly as King Richard, once assumed the Robin Hood role while portraying Jean-Luc Picard in the episode "Qpid" of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Comedic style

Many anachronisms are incorporated into the film for comedic effect, such as the "Hollywood"-styled sign upon Robin Hood's arrival in England, a rental horse, Ye Olde Port-o-Privy, an "EXIT" sign appearing when Robin escapes from the castle, an impression of Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech (immediately followed by an impression of Malcolm X's "You've Been Had" speech), a pneumatic jackhammer, a handheld semi-automatic crossbow, a remote-control portcullis, a man sounding like Lou Costello yelling "Hey, Abbot!" in greeting the abbot, Robin Hood making a crack about how the Sheriff of Rottingham avoided participating in the Crusades by having his father get him into the National Guard, a Life Savers candy used to save the life of the Sheriff of Rottingham, Ahchoo taking a "time out" while being attacked to pump his sneakers, Robin's merry men practicing jousting on dummies with Campbell's Tomato Soup, and V8 among other food products as the dummies heads, Prince John saying that Robin in his disguise "looks like Mark Twain!", a Twelfth Century Fox, etc. There are other anachronisms which may not have been intentional, such as the coat of arms on King Richard's tunic which would not have been used until the Tudor family came into power, particularly during King Henry VIIIs reign.

Will's full name is Will Scarlett O'Hara, which is a direct reference to Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, and his being from Georgia is an indirect reference, since that's where Scarlett O'Hara lived.

There are also many references to Brooks' previous films, especially Blazing Saddles (including a direct mention of the title), History of the World, Part I, and Young Frankenstein; Brooks himself appears as Rabbi Tuckman, a Jewish parody of the Friar Tuck character, who blesses people with Sacramental wine and offers circumcisions ("They're the latest craze! The ladies love it!").

Several plot and character references point to a previous film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Elwes' line, "Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent!", is a reference to the fact that Kevin Costner as Robin in an earlier film used his own (American) accent. References to Errol Flynn's actions in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood are included as well, such as when Robin enters with a boar on his shoulders, and also during the film's shadow fight, which was a gimmick Flynn often used.

Reception

Critics gave mixed reviews to the film, with many noting Brooks lacked as many humorous scenes as his earlier works.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

Rotten Tomatoes rated the film as "Rotten", giving it an overall 48% rating. Despite this, the film has since developed something of a cult following. Voters at the Internet Movie Database rated the film at a 6.2 out of 10. In an Entertainment Tonight review of the film before its release, test audiences did overall feel the film was a good spoof, but only about ¼ of those surveyed felt the film was strong enough to launch a sequel.

Box office

Robin Hood: Men in Tights was not one of Brooks' best grossing films.^[8]

The film debuted at #6 in the North American box office, with only $6,841,830.^[9] The film would go on to gross a domestic total of $35,739,755.^[2]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robin Hood: Men in Tights

• Robin Hood: Men in Tights at the Internet Movie Database
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights at AllRovi
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights at Box Office Mojo
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights at Rotten Tomatoes