Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 comedy of the story of Robin Hood. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle. 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) and real-life subjects.
Plot
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), he escapes from the prison, and frees all the other inmates. He is asked by Asneeze to find his son, Ahchoo (Dave Chappelle, in his acting debut).
When he arrives home in England, he finds Ahchoo and discovers that Prince John (Richard Lewis, whose girlfriend was played by a then-unknown Chase Masterson) has assumed control over England while King Richard (Patrick Stewart) is away fighting in the Crusades and, unbeknownst to Richard, John is abusing his power. Robin Hood meets up with his family's blind servant, Blinkin (Mark Blankfield), the large and ignorant Little John (Eric Allan Kramer) and his friend Will Scarlet O'Hara (Matthew Porretta), whom he recruits to help him regain his father's land and oust Prince John from the throne. On his quest, Robin also attracts the attention of the lovely 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 dyslexic Sheriff of Rottingham, Mervyn (Roger Rees), hires Don Giovanni (Dom DeLuise), to assassinate Robin at the Spring Festival Archery Tournament. Maid Marian hears of the evil plot, and sneaks out of her castle to warn Robin, accompanied by her grumbly German Lady in Waiting Broomhilde. Robin goes to the archery tournament, and makes it to the final round where he unmasks himself. He then makes his shot but loses to his opponent. When Robin notes that the situation is 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, he is arrested, and Marian agrees to marry the Sheriff in exchange for Robin's life, the ceremony also 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. While a battle ensues, Marian is carried off to the tower by the Sheriff, who wants to "deflower" her.
Robin enters the chamber, and the two have an intense swordfight in which the evil sheriff is defeated because Robin, missing his sheath, ran him 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 prepare to celebrate the victory when Broomhilde arrives, insisting they get married first. Before the ceremony can be completed, 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 announces that, due to the foul stench he's 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. When the night comes, Maid Marian's chastity belt will not open with his key and Robin calls the locksmith.
Comedic style
Hundreds of anachronisms are incorporated into the film for comedic effect, including tinned fruit being seen during the jousting practice, an "EXIT" sign appearing when Robin Hood escaped 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 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, Prince John saying that Robin in his disguise "looks like Mark Twain!" etc. There are also many references to Mel 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.
Cast
Mel Brooks films
There are many references throughout the film to previous works by Brooks.
A few examples: The musical number, "Men in Tights", recycles (with slight modifications to the melody) the tune used for the musical number "Jews in Space", from the film History of the World: Part I; in the training sequence Will is given a treat after demonstrating jousting, just like the monster is given a treat after performing a demonstration of basic motor skills in Young Frankenstein; a joke in which the film refers to its own sequel, in the reprise to the "Robin Hood Rap"; Brooks also delivers a line out of the same movie, "It's good to be the king," after King Richard delivers a kiss to Maid Marian upon his return from the Crusades; the "Walk this way" gag, here delivered by the Sheriff of Rottingham, and the moving hump joke from Young Frankenstein is reused when Prince John's mole keeps moving all over his face. Also, when Ahchoo is made the new Sheriff of Rottingham and everyone simultaneously exclaims "A black sheriff?!", Ahchoo says, "And why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles!", a Mel Brooks film also involving a black sheriff (albeit an American Old West one).
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 Mel 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.
Matthew 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.
Other Mel Brooks collaborations
Reception
Although not one of Brooks' best grossing films, Robin Hood: Men in Tights did fairly well at the box office. Critics[specify] were generally displeased with the film, noting Brooks lacked as many humorous scenes as his earlier works. Rotten Tomatoes rated the film as "Rotten", giving it an overall 43% rating. Voters at the Internet Movie Database rated the film at a 6.2 out of 10. In an Entertainment Tonight review of the movie 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.
References
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