Film

Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Name: Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1993
Cast: Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Roger Rees, Amy Yasbeck, Dave Chappelle

Mel Brooks takes on the Robin Hood legend with the gleeful shamelessness he'd already perfected on Frankenstein and Star Wars. It's a scattershot parade of puns, breaking the fourth wall, and songs nobody asked for, aimed squarely at Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves. Not clever so much as relentlessly silly — perfect for anyone who wants to switch their brain off and just enjoy the groans.

TMDb rating

6.6

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Blazing Saddles1974

Brooks at his most anarchic, tearing into Westerns with the same gleeful disrespect he brings to Sherwood Forest. Faster, ruder, and even more quotable than Men in Tights.

But Its racial satire, though pointed and deliberate, can land awkwardly for modern viewers unfamiliar with the target it's mocking.

Spaceballs1987

The same parody engine turned on Star Wars instead of Robin Hood — combs, Schwartz jokes, and Rick Moranis chewing scenery as Dark Helmet.

But If you don't know Star Wars reasonably well, half the jokes will sail past you unnoticed.

Young Frankenstein1974

Brooks' most disciplined spoof, lovingly recreating Universal horror right down to the black-and-white photography. Gene Wilder is magnificent.

But It's gentler and more affectionate toward its source than the raucous silliness of Men in Tights.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Adventures of Robin Hood1938

Men in Tights lifts its costumes, archery contest, and Robin's cocky charm almost directly from this film — watching it reveals just how much of the parody is loving homage.

Errol Flynn's swashbuckling original, all Technicolor swagger and impossible grins, is the film Brooks is affectionately roasting scene for scene.

But It plays completely straight, so the humor you're used to simply isn't there — this is the joke's target, not the joke.

Airplane!1980

The gold standard of deadpan disaster-movie parody, packed with visual gags and a cast playing every absurdity completely straight.

But The jokes come so fast and dated that some references will need a footnote for younger viewers.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!1988

Leslie Nielsen turns deadpan stupidity into an art form in this cop-movie spoof that never once winks at the camera.

But The plot is barely there — it exists purely to string sight gags together, which some find thin.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! poster

Monty Python and the Holy Grail1975

Another medieval England demolished by comedians, though with more absurdism and fewer show tunes. The template for anarchic historical spoofs.

But Its humor is dryer and more sketch-based, which can feel disjointed compared to Brooks' tighter narrative parody.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves1991

The earnest blockbuster Men in Tights is mercilessly ribbing — watch it first and every joke in Brooks' film lands twice as hard.

But It's a straight-faced action epic, so if you came for comedy you'll be waiting two hours for none.

Hot Shots!1991

Charlie Sheen spoofing Top Gun with the same shameless pun-density and slapstick energy that powers Brooks' Robin Hood.

But It leans harder into raunch and less into wordplay, which changes the flavor of the comedy considerably.

History of the World: Part I1981

Brooks romps through the Stone Age, Rome, and the French Revolution with the same episodic, groan-then-laugh structure.

But It's uneven by design — some segments are inspired, others feel like filler waiting for the next big joke.

Robin and Marian1976no page yet

Same folk hero, same forest, opposite register entirely: it asks what's left of Robin Hood once the youth, the jokes, and the bravado are gone.

Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn play an aging Robin Hood and Marian reuniting decades after the legend, in a quiet, melancholic drama about mortality and lost time.

But There's no comedy here at all — it's slow, sad, and deliberately deflates the mythic swagger Brooks is celebrating.

Robin Hood1973

Proof of how endlessly elastic the legend is: the same story, the same jokes about a cowardly Prince John, retold as a soft-edged family cartoon instead of an adult spoof.

Disney's animated take turns Robin and Marian into a fox and a vixen, with a laid-back, folksy charm and a genuinely great villain in Prince John.

But It's gentle and childlike where Brooks' film is loud and juvenile — a completely different comic register, aimed at kids first.