# Robin Hood: Men in Tights - not a good movie, but I still get the urge to watch it about once a year **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536 "2011-02-07T16:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/21 "2011-02-08T17:07:10Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > “A toll’s a toll and a roll’s a roll. And if I don’t get no tolls then I don’t get no rolls.” > > Beat. > > “I thought of that meself.” > “Fascinating.” > > Cracks me up every time. I guess I have a juvenile sense of humor. I’m with you there. Anytime I’m having a meal and someone offers me a roll I quote that line, and get strange looks. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/22 "2011-02-08T17:27:37Z")
“Let’s get out of these ladies clothing and get into our tights!” “Blinkin! Fix your boobs; you look like a bleedin’ Picasso!” (Oh, and it was Rottingham who was “jackhammering” Marian. Not Robin. Robin had to “Call a locksmith!”) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/23 "2011-02-08T18:20:02Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > And Dracula: Dead and Loving It had one great scene that almost makes the whole thing tolerable. When they kill Lucy in the crypt and a geyser of blood shoots out of her, you can see it on Steven Weber’s face that he had no idea it was going to be that big and Mel Brooks did. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWzzX4lLPnU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWzzX4lLPnU) That’s the one time I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/24 "2011-02-08T19:41:47Z")
WHAT? This movie is great, y’all. My favorite Brooks movie. Richard Lewis’ neurotic Prince John (“I have a _mole_?!”), Rottingham taking a jackhammer to Maid Marian’s chastity belt, and of course Cary Elwes as the dashing Robin Hood. The movie holds up fine on its own, but is extra funny if you see \*Prince of Thieves \*beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/25 "2011-02-08T19:45:18Z")
It’s my fourth favorite Mel Brooks movie (after _Young Frankenstein_, \*The Producers \*and _Blazing Saddles_). The “Men in Tights” number cracks me up every time. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/26 "2011-02-08T20:03:50Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > There’s one line in the movie that I’ve always loved, although not quite enough to ever watch the movie a second time. In the scene with Dom Deluise as the mafioso, Dom blows his nose in a kleenex, and hands it to his flunky. The flunky, in a perfect dead-pan parody of Luca Brasi, says, “I take this handkerchief from your hand and put it in my pocket.” That just killed me, > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > “A toll’s a toll and a roll’s a roll. And if I don’t get no tolls then I don’t get no rolls.” > > Beat. > > “I thought of that meself.” > “Fascinating.” > > Cracks me up every time. I guess I have a juvenile sense of humor. I thought the film was pretty decent. Both those scenes made me laugh. I also laugh just thinking about the scene where Robin goes to the archery contest disguised as an old man. The sheriff recognizes him, and says to the prince, “The old man is Robin!” Prince John replies in a skeptical tone, “Are you sure? He looks like Mark Twain.” I don’t know why but that gets me every time. I guess it works well because Elwes does look like Mark Twain in the disguise, and just how little sense it makes for Prince John to know what Mark Twain looks like. I wonder if that line was in the script, or if Elwes just came out looking like Mark Twain and they decided to throw that in there. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/27 "2011-02-09T02:37:40Z")
HAY ABBOT!!! Ughh, I HATE that guy… ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/28 "2011-02-09T05:32:40Z")
The night is young, and you’re so beautiful, lady! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/29 "2011-02-09T07:17:05Z")
It’s a great movie! The OP pans everything except Elwes and Rees, but that’s like saying a hamburger was awful except for the meat and bun. And, of course, “it’s good to be the king.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/30 "2011-02-09T15:37:11Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > And, of course, “it’s good to be the king.” That’s from **History of the World, Part 1** , not **Robin Hood: I’ve Lost Any Talent I Once Possessed.** ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/31 "2011-02-09T16:47:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s from **History of the World, Part 1** , not **Robin Hood: I’ve Lost Any Talent I Once Possessed.** It’s in both. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/32 "2011-02-09T17:28:53Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > It’s in both. [Indeed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgOfudoufDE) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/33 "2011-02-09T18:02:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s from **History of the World, Part 1** , not **Robin Hood: I’ve Lost Any Talent I Once Possessed.** As others pointed out, it’s in both, because Brooks uses Robin Hood: Men in Tights to riff on his own movies. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536/34 "2011-02-09T18:09:23Z")
I think you mean “rip off for ideas I had back before I lost all talent for writing and directing,” not “riff.” 😃 The movie hurts me so much to watch, no wonder my mind blanked out the duplicate dialogue. Brooks, unfortunately, is a person who has gone downhill from the very start, IMO. **The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles** and **Young Frankenstein** are all legitimate works of genius. Each movie thereafter marked a drop in quality/funny/originality, usually geometrically. Oh, well. as my grandfather once said “If we all had the same tastes, everybody would be hot for your grandmother.” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-hood-men-in-tights-not-a-good-movie-but-i-still-get-the-urge-to-watch-it-about-once-a-year/570536.md?page=1)