Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. The film was produced and directed by Mel Brooks, co-written by Evan Chandler, and J. David Shapiro based on a story by Chandler and Shapiro, and stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle (in his film debut). It includes frequent comedic references to previous Robin Hood films, particularly Prince of Thieves (upon which the plot is loosely structured), and the 1938 Errol Flynn adaptation The Adventures of Robin Hood. Brooks himself had previously created the short-lived sitcom When Things Were Rotten in the mid-1970s, which also spoofed the Robin Hood legend.

The film also features Brooks in a minor role – the first time he had appeared in one of his own films in which he does not receive top billing or play the lead role since Young Frankenstein. In addition to Brooks, it features Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise and Dick Van Patten (who had been a cast member on When Things Were Rotten) in minor roles, as well as Rudy De Luca in a cameo as a party guest.

Reflecting its spoof nature, while some character names (such as Robin of Loxley and Maid Marian) remain unchanged from the source material, other names are altered: Nottingham becomes "Rottingham" and one of the Merry Men is given the name Will Scarlet O'Hara, referencing the character from Gone with the Wind. Brooks, being Jewish, changed his cameo character from Friar Tuck to "Rabbi Tuckman".

Though the film received mixed reviews from critics, it was a box-office success,

  • Richard Lewis as Prince John
  • Roger Rees as Sheriff of Rottingham
  • Amy Yasbeck as Maid Marian
  • Dave Chappelle as Ahchoo, son of Asneeze
  • 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
  • Patrick Stewart as King Richard
  • Dom DeLuise as Don Giovanni
  • Steve Tancora as Filthy Luca
  • Joe Dimmick as Dirty Ezio
  • Dick Van Patten as The Abbot
  • Mel Brooks as Rabbi Tuckman
  • Megan Cavanagh as Broomhilde
  • Avery Schreiber as Tax Assessor
  • Chuck McCann as Villager
  • Brian George as Dungeon Maitre D' Falafel
  • Clive Revill as Fire Marshall
  • Carol Arthur as Complaining Villager
  • Kelly Jones as Buxom Lass
  • Clement von Franckenstein as Royal Announcer
  • Robert Ridgely as The Hangman
  • Corbin Allred as Young Lad
  • Chase Masterson as Giggling Court Lady
  • Steffon as Sherwood Forest Rapper
  • David DeLuise as Villager
  • Rudy De Luca as Party Guest

Reception

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Over time, the film has developed a cult following.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "What's missing is the kind of densely packed comic screenplay that helped to make Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety two of the most delectable movie parodies of the last 20 years. Men in Tights has the manner of something that wasn't argued over long enough. A few good gags are supplemented by dozens of others that still need to be worked on or tossed out entirely." Caryn James wrote, "Men in Tights is not as relentlessly clever and comic as his '70s films, but its funniest moments prove that Mr. Brooks has not lost his shrewd, nutty irreverence." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film half of one star out of four and called it "a most disappointing Mel Brooks movie parody that suggests that the once hilarious Brooks has lost his way. The pacing is agonizingly slow, and many of the jokes are recycled from his earlier, better work." On At the Movies, Siskel's colleague Roger Ebert criticized the jokes and pacing and said he "genuinely didn't laugh once," and compared Brooks's circumcision jokes to a "second rate Friars Club roast." Both critics gave the film a "thumbs down."

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called it "a pointless and untimely lampoon of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves from the increasingly creaky spoofmeister Mel Brooks." Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times was mixed, writing that "what's enjoyable about the best parts of Men in Tights is its grab-bag, throwaway style", but also finding "something a little dutiful and desperate about portions of the film, as if Brooks were trying to capture an audience he didn't really connect with." Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel called the film "crashingly unfunny" and a sign that "the 67-year old comedian's sense of humor isn't nearly as sharp as it once was." In his book, Reel Bad Arabs, Jack Shaheen saw the movie positively, describing it as a "funny fable" that spoofs Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, containing "harmless visual and verbal puns".

Box office

Robin Hood: Men in Tights debuted at number six at the weekend box office in the United States, with a gross of $6.8 million and a total of over $10 million, after opening on the previous Wednesday. Fox was reportedly "thrilled" with the film's performance. It is Brooks' fifth-highest-grossing film. Internationally it grossed $36.3 million for a worldwide total of $72 million.

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| "Men in Tights" || The Merry Men Singers<br /><small>(Steve Lively, Randy Crenshaw, Kerry Katz, Geoff Koch & Rick Logan)</small>|| rowspan="3" | Mel Brooks

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| "Marian" || Debbie James

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| "Sherwood Forest Rap" || Kevin Dorsey & The Merry Men Singers

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| "The Night Is Young and You're So Beautiful" || Arthur Rubin & the Merry Men Singers || Billy Rose, Irving Kahal (music by Dana Suesse)

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| "Marian" (end credit duet) || Cathy Dennis & Lance Ellington || Mel Brooks, Diane Warren

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| "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" || rowspan="4" | uncredited ||

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| "Hava Nagila" ||

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| "Bridal Chorus" || Richard Wagner

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| "Rule, Britannia!" || James Thomson, Thomas Arne

|}

Home media

Robin Hood: Men in Tights was released via Laserdisc and VHS in 1994 by Fox Video. A Region 1 DVD was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and was doubled-featured with Spaceballs on February 6, 2007. Columbia TriStar also released the film on DVDs, VHS and Laserdisc in other territories from 1994 to 2002, while Sony Pictures Home Entertainment re-released the DVDs from 2006 to 2016. The film was released on Blu-ray on May 11, 2010, and was re-released in a DVD Combo Pack on October 1, 2018, in the United States, Fabulous Films on April 22, 2019, in Europe, and Umbrella Entertainment on December 15, 2021, in Australia.

See also

  • List of films and television series featuring Robin Hood

References

  • Robin Hood: Men in Tights at AllMovie