When Things Were Rotten
When Things Were Rotten
| 10 September 1975 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 1
  • Reviews
    SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
    TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
    Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
    Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
    trobinson32 It killed me that this show was canceled so quickly. I remember laughing my head off during every episode. Most of the other comments have described the premise and the cast, so I'll just describe one of the scenes I remember best. King Richard, who was off at the crusades, was required to set foot on English soil once a year or else lose the crown, so word got out that he was sailing to England. Of course his brother, Prince John, was plotting to prevent the king from reaching shore, while Robin Hood was determined to help the king. At dawn, a ship appears near shore and the king begins wading toward the beach. The prince is then shown running down the beach and then Robin Hood starts running up the beach from the other direction. The camera keeps shifting to each man as they converge. Finally the king reaches the beach and steps on a home plate in the sand and immediately does a U-turn and heads back to the ship while an umpire screams "Safe." Then the prince runs at the umpire and starts to argue. The ump says he was safe and the prince says "Well I say kill the umpire" and pulls out his sword. Then Robin Hood shows up and battles him. Typical Mel Brooks craziness.
    londonman This was a funny show, and I have fond memories or watching it. It was off the air before most of the people I knew had even seen it, although I do recall some schoolyard conversations about the show. Would love to see the show again to see if it is as funny as I recall. This may have been my first experience of realizing that good material doesn't mean the show will be popular. Police Squad died a similar death a few years later. Interesting that both shows later spawned successful movies. Maybe this kind of "stupid" humour is too smart for TV, or maybe it just reaches their expectations more clearly. Because there were a ton of unfunny comedies in that era that lasted much longer ...
    stingray-21 When I heard Mel Brooks was making a television show of Robin Hood, I couldn't wait to see it - and the wait was worthwhile. "When Things Were Rotten" was way ahead of its time.This was a really funny t.v. show and I am not sure why it was cancelled. It gave me many laughs and I wish there was a channel on television for failed TV shows and pilots etc. so we could relive some of our youth through laughter, and share my experience of this show with my children. I felt the cast was perfection but haven't seem much of them since. Dick Gautier as Robin Hood was superb. He seemed to have the right combination of good looks and dopey-ness. Richard Dimitri in his dual role of good guy/bad guy was priceless. Silliness is very appealing and this show was silly.
    Frockgirl I too cannot understand why this series has not been re-run. I was only about six when I used to watch it on Saturday afternoons with my mum who absolutely loved the show. I would love to see it again, this time round at 31 I might get more out of it!