Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

This post is part of a series of posts on books and movies about the legend of Robin Hood. It discusses the 2006 movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/robin-hood-men-in-tights/id269854508

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Thoughts on Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Ah, Cary Elwes… This movie of his is not as good as The Princess Bride, but it’s got more jokes. More jokes than you can shake a stick at, some of them very funny.

In terms of the Robin Hood legend, it’s got:

  • the Crusades
  • Loxley Hall being taken over
  • Little Jon at a ridiculously little stream with a staff
  • Maid Marian, who has 80s hair
  • Friar Tuck (Rabbi Tuckman)
  • Will Scarlet (Will Scarlet O’Hara)
  • The Sheriff of Nottingham (Rottinghham)
  • Prince John
  • Guy of Gisborne (a Mafioso)
  • the archery contest where Robin competes in disguise
  • King Richard (played by Patrick Stewart doing a funny accent that is definitely not Norman)
  • a banquet scene like the one in the Errol Flynn movie, but with an English accent this time

It has random other stuff:

  • a witch/cook who is in love with the sheriff
  • a blind retainer of the Loxley family
  • a German lady-in-waiting
  • a couple of song-and-dance numbers by men in tights
  • a black sidekick called Ahchoo (played by Dave Chappelle)

I think the most surprising—and for me, most nostalgic—joke in the whole movie was the (cringingly un–politically correct) tomahawk chant (complete with arm motion) at the archery contest. Go Braves!

The Atlanta Braves baseball team suddenly got good in about 1991 or 1992… The Internet says 1991 was “The Braves’ worst to first season” and calls it a miracle. Since I was living in Atlanta, it was an exciting time, even for non-sports-fans like me, because the whole city felt proud.

Ah, the 1990s. If you forgot what they were like, watch this movie—preferably on VHS—and remember.