Customer Reviews

When Things Were Rotten [VHS]

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These episodes from Mel Brooks' short-lived 1975 television series are good, wacky fun. Brooks and his team present a gag-filled, often hilarious send-up of the Robin Hood legend, some two decades before the feature film, "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (which suffers by comparison with this series). Talented Dick Gautier is well cast as the dashing hero, while Dick Van Patten displays admirable comedic skills as the portly and always hungry Friar Tuck. Among the cast (many of whom will be recognizable to fans of 1970's television) are Sid Caesar as a French nobleman and Misty Rowe as a ditzy, sexy, and scheming Maid Marian. Watch for Dudley Moore's guest role, which includes a turn at the piano, as a visiting sheik who plans to wed Marian!

Overall, this is fun television -- complete with sight gags, nutty dialogue, over-the-top anachronisms, a silly theme song, and skillful comedic acting. For fans of Brooks, historical parody, and 1970's television, this is highly recommended.

In the back of my mind, for DECADES, I have wondered why "When Things Were Rotten" was cancelled so quickly. As a kid, after all, I loved it. After buying this tape, though, I now know. Despite the wonderful site gags, the off-topic lines by characters directly to camera, the much-beloved comic geniuses who guest-starred, and despite the fact that it came from my hero Mel Brooks -- it's just a lot more stupid than funny. Even the theme song isn't as funny as I remembered it. And the sets look like a high school play. Oy!

So should you buy this? If you love Mel Brooks as I do, then yes you should. After all, there are a ton of funny gags and lines that even Richard Gautier's really poor delivery can't kill. The potential was here, but didn't really come to fruition until "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" many years later.

A disappointment? Yes. But some pain can only be exorcised by putting yourself through it.