The Man in the Hood – Part 2

The third Hood film was released not only in the wake of Prince of Thieves: it was a parody of Costner’s film. I’m speaking of Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

There’s no shortage of film parodies this year, what with all the bargain bin productions like Epic Movie, Date Movie, Super-Hero Movie, Disaster Movie and its likeness.

But of all these film parodies I watched over the decades, Men in Tights takes it all – the funniest, the most memorable, and delightful. Only Hot Shots 1 and 2 come close. I mean, when you have a movie poster like the one I’ve included here, you know you’re in for a treat.:)

But if that wasn’t convincing, consider this. Men in Tights was produced and directed by the Godfather of comedies, Mel Brooks. It had Brit actor Carl Elwes as Robin, a role he’ll become very remembered for alongside his turn as Westley in The Princess Bride.

And rounding up the trio was countryman Roger Rees as the bad Sheriff. Rees was costumed and made-up to look like Rickman’s Sheriff, and it helped that there was some personal resemblance between the two actors too. And what a hoot Rees was. The Sheriff here is dyslexic, stuttering, and mangles up his words when he’s nervous LOL.

The film was a little uneven in spots though and the dance numbers I thought were unnecessary.

But when the film was in its jokes mode, there was no let-up. There’s a hilarious opening scene where Robin is inducted into a Middle-Eastern prison, or luxury hotel as the prison warden called it. And all the jokes about the Marian’s literally iron-clad chastity belt.

All this said, the film doesn’t seem to be universally enjoyable. Ling thought it was boring, but my dad loved it LOL. So, .

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There was also a much older film adaptation of Robin Hood from the mid 70s, titled Robin and Marian and starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. I bought the old VHS tape of the movie but haven’t seen it since the 80s. Not much recollection of the film anymore.

I haven’t remarked on the various TV series of the legend either, but will do so if I ever get my hands to rewatching them again.

All this said, Ridley Scott (hooray!) is directing a new Robin Hood film, to be released next year and starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Mark Strong. The two male leads are stalwarts in Scott’s acting roster – I especially liked Strong’s performance in Body of Lies, blogged here recently – so this is one film I have high hopes for.:)