Robin Hood: Men in Tights

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Robin Hood: Men In Tights
Poster from the film
Directed by	Mel Brooks
Produced by	Mel Brooks
Starring	Cary Elwes Richard Lewis Roger Rees Patrick Stewart Dave Chappelle Mark Blankfield Megan Cavanagh Amy Yasbeck Eric Allan Kramer Matthew Porretta Tracey Ullman
Distributed by	20th Century Fox (USA) Columbia Pictures (non-USA)
Release date(s)	July 28, 1993
Running time	104 min.
Language	English
Budget	?
IMDb profile

Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993) is a film parody of the story of Robin Hood, particularly parodying Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Other Robin Hood films, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Disney's Robin Hood, are also parodied. It was directed by Mel Brooks and stars Cary Elwes in the title role. The film is reminiscent of Brooks's 1975 Robin Hood based sitcom When Things Were Rotten.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Trivia
4 Technical data
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Robin Hood (Cary Elwes) is captured during the Crusades and is imprisoned. With the help of fellow inmate Asneeze (Isaac Hayes), he escapes and makes his way back to England. He is asked by Asneeze to find his son, Achoo (Dave Chappelle). When he arrives, he discovers that Prince John (Richard Lewis) 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. With the help of his bumbling blind servant Blinkin (Mark Blankfield), the big, strong, and rather dumb Little John (Eric Allan Kramer), Little John's friend Will Scarlet O'Hara (Matthew Porretta), and exchange student Achoo (Dave Chappelle, in his first major role), he attempts to form a band of thieves to right the wrongs of the Prince. At the same time, he attracts the anger of the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees), as well as the love of reluctant virgin Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck). His band of thieves turns out to be a large contingent of village idiots, so he must train them for battle, with great difficulty.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters

Robin Hood, the titular character, is portrayed by Cary Elwes. His character makes a specific reference of Kevin Costner's character in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves when Robin says that "Unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent," which mocks Costner's obvious American accent in the aforementioned film. The joke is modified in translated versions of the film so as to make the connection to Costner more obvious. In German, it was changed to "Because I, unlike some other Robin Hoods, do not cost the producers 5 million", while in French and Italian versions it is given as, "Because unlike other Robin Hoods, I do not dance with the wolves", referring to another Costner movie Dances with Wolves.

Amy Yasbeck plays Maid Marian, the chaste object of Robin's desire. The film puts heavy emphasis on her virginity ("the greatest treasure in all the land") and her strong desire to lose it, which is a parody of the usual Marian character in other films, who, while sexually desirable, is mainly focused on finding love, not lust.

In keeping with Mel Brooks' fondness for jokes relating to Judaism, the familiar character of Friar Tuck is replaced by Rabbi Tuckman, purveyor of sacramental wine and moyel extraordinaire. Tuckman is portrayed by Brooks himself and his few scenes in the movie revolve around circumcision jokes. Upon meeting Robin for the first time, he offers to circumcise the Merry Men and, for the wedding scene at the end of the film, he has to finish a circumcision before performing the wedding ceremony. Tuckman also delivers the familiar Brooks line "It's good to be the king" as King Richard exercises his right to kiss the bride at the end of the film. This line had previously been used in Brooks' film History of the World Part I.

The character of the Sheriff of Nottingham, present in all Robin Hood legends, is here given the title of Sheriff of Rottingham, an obvious pun. He is played by Roger Rees, a veteran British actor. He is Robin's main rival for Maid Marian's hand, even to the point of blackmailing her into marrying him to save Robin from hanging. He also has a speech impediment which causes him to rearrange all the words in a sentence when frustrated, which elicits confusion from everyone, including his own men. The Sheriff, despite his obvious attraction to Maid Marian, is sexually pursued by another character, Latrine, played by Tracey Ullman, though her desirability is questionable at best.

Prince John, the usurper of the throne, is played by Richard Lewis, a well-known comedian. Though he plays a British monarch, Lewis has a heavy New York Jewish accent. John is a constant worrier, due mainly to his stealing the throne from his brother Richard. This is shown when he asks the Sheriff of Rottingham to tell him bad news in a good way so as to make it less stressful. John also reuses a previous Mel Brooks joke as his mole constantly changes position on his face, just as Igor's hump constantly changed sides in Young Frankenstein. The Sheriff of Rottingham points this out to him, to which John responds incredulously, "I have a mole?"

The Merry Men in the film are numerous, but the familiar characters are present: Little John, played by Eric Allan Kramer and Will Scarlet, played by Matthew Porretta, though in this film he is known as Will Scarlet O'Hara, as a combination of the names Will Scarlet and Scarlett O'Hara, the heroine of Gone with the Wind. Other Merry Men include Blinkin, played by Mark Blankfield, and Achoo, played by Dave Chappelle in his feature film debut. Achoo is a parody of Azeem, Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Achoo's jokes focus on stereotypes of American black men. When he's being beaten by the Sheriff of Rottingham's men, he asks if it's being videotaped, a reference to the Rodney King beatings in Los Angeles. Also, when Achoo is appointed the new Sheriff of Rottingham, everyone gasps, "A black sheriff?!", to which Achoo responds, "Why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles", another Brooks film (Chappelle delivers the line in a canny impersonation of Cleavon Little's voice). In another scene, Achoo quotes Malcolm X, the radical black leader, in an attempt to rouse the Merry Men to action.

Ironically, several of the people involved with the film were involved in other Robin Hood productions. Mel Brooks and Dick van Patten, who plays the Abbot in the film, previously collaborated in a Robin Hood 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. Van Patten also appeared as King Roland in Brooks's 1987 comedy Spaceballs. Dom DeLuise appeared in the Mel Brooks movies Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World: Part I and Spaceballs. Matthew Porretta would go on to play Robin Hood in the television series The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Finally, Patrick Stewart, who appears briefly as King Richard, once assumed the Robin Hood role while portraying Jean-Luc Picard on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (episode "Q-pid").

There are also several other references to previous Brooks films, in addition to those already mentioned. The musical number, "Men in Tights", recycles the tune used for the musical number, "Jews in Space", from the film History of the World: Part I. Also used is a joke in which the film refers to its own sequel, in the reprise to the "Robin Hood Rap". This had previously been used by Brooks in History of the World: Part I and Spaceballs. Another recycled joke is the "Walk this way" gag, here delivered by the Sheriff of Rottingham. This had previously been used in Young Frankenstein and History of the World: Part I.

[edit] Trivia

Despite demand from fans, the film remained unavailable on Region 1 DVD until April 2006 when a Mel Brooks box set became available. The film was released as a stand-alone Region 1 DVD on 2006-09-05. Region 2 and Region 4 versions have been available for several years.
A wedding guest shouts out, "Hey, Abbot!" in an imitation of Lou Costello to Dick Van Patten's Abbott character. This is a gag based on comedians Abbott and Costello, where Costello's catchphrase was "Hey, Abbott!", in reference to Bud Abbott.
The scene where Latrine tries to get the Sheriff of Rottingham to sleep with her was entirely improvised by Tracey Ullman (Latrine) and Roger Rees (Sheriff).
Despite being portrayed as a sickeningly old woman, Tracey Ullman (who plays Latrine) was born in 1959, while Roger Rees (who plays Sheriff, someone meant to be much younger than Latrine) was born in 1944, making her fifteen years younger than Rees.