Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Five years before "Airplane" changed the nature of comedy in the movies, "When Things were Rotten" presented the same anarchic, rapid-fire ambiance on the small screen.From the then-fertile mind of Mel Brooks, this Robin Hood spoof came at a time when television comedy was 1) presented before a live audience, which meant that it was stagy, limited, and had tired laughs from an audience that had already seen several takes of the same lines and possibly an argument about them; and 2) was geared more to advocacy serio-comedy in realistic situations.The creative 60s, which had comedy shows with genii, witches, and monsters, with settings on desert islands, western forts, and even World War II POW camps, had given way to mundane settings with scripts, from the mid to late 70s, that were nothing more than insults piled upon each other.Enter Brooks, co-creator of a successful "Get Smart." It sounded like a good idea: take the Robin Hood legend, the tropes of which everyone knows, give it a good cast, a few plots to act as skeleton on which to place jokes, and pile the jokes on. If you do enough jokes in a short enough space of time some of which are bound to get laughs. Oh, and the sillier, the better. And anachronisms are more joke fodder.Somehow, it misfired. The cast seemed pretty good on paper. Dick Gautier as Robin, Bernie Kopell as Alan-a-dale, Dick van Patten as Friar Tuck, and Misty Rowe -- best known from her skimpy costumes on "Hee Haw" -- as Maid Marion. Rowe is letter-perfect and Gautier was a good choice. But the usually reliable van Patten and Kopell don't seem to have their typical way with lines.For the other actors, Henry Polic II is a good sheriff. Young Ron Rifkin is not good as King John (was this before Brooks met Ron Carey?) In a dual role, as a supporter of the Sheriff and a twin brother in Robin's band, Richard Dimitri is every bit as annoying as Stephen Stucker later became in "Airplane!" only without once being funny in either role (unlike Stucker, who was funny once). David Sabin is Little John in a role that cries out for a Paul L. Smith.The generally dreary proceedings are brightened by the occasional guest shot. A few years before becoming a star in "10" Dudley Moore was particularly amusing in his episode. And he knew how to deliver a line without mugging.Unfortunately, some jokes that might have been amusing in 1975 simply don't translate well in a new century. In one episode Rowe thinks she has a vial of poison but every time she opens it, it says, "Perfume!" This is a take-off from an old Parkay commercial where someone opens its lid and the Parkay tub says "Butter!" So much for topical humor.Of course, there are a few great areas, like Rowe's cleavage, if you enjoy that sort of thing. And Gautier's gung-ho Robin. But the disappointments, such as Kopell's strangely lackluster showing, outnumber the successes. And that's too bad. "When Things were Rotten" was just the show television needed in the dead zone of 1975's comedy landscape. Perhaps that's why supposedly "serious" shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "The Rockford Files" more successfully filled the comedy void, even if they weren't laugh-a-minute.

I really thought that I was the only one who remembered this comedy, especially the theme song. Every so often I would sing it for someone to see if they remembered the show, with no luck. This was one of the funnier sitcoms on in the mid-seventies, and a bit before it's time, I think. There were a lot of sexual innuendos that today wouldn't even warrant a second thought, much less a gasp. (I had rather progressive parents who didn't really find anything wrong in letting me watch it.).The program was written by Mel Brooks; that should give you a good idea what the show was really like; full of pratfalls and slapstick, as Robin Hood(Dick Gauthier, who couldn't have been a better choice: Just handsome enough.)tried to get away from the sheriff of Nottingham. Each cast member had his or her own style and they were great.It was an ensemble cast,and they all played off each other perfectly "So when other legends are forgotten, we'll remember back when things were rotten....Hurray for Robin Hood!"

Mel Brooks is one of our true comic geniuses. He was overlooked for many years, but I am glad that he was able to make a comeback with the Broadway version of his original hit film The Producers. He started off in television with Carl Reiner and the 2,000 year old man skits and he also created Get Smart with Don Adams. When Things Were Rotten is another series that he created that I feel has been overlooked. It came along in a really bad tv season and was unjustly cancelled after only about half a season. Dick Gautier, Bernie Kopell, Dick Van Patten, Henry Polic 11 and Misty Rowe all made a great comic team. Unlike tv shows today, this one made you laugh innocently and not feel guilty about it. Mel Brooks has always been so creative and original in everything that he does. He brought that special quality to this series and I only wish that they would show it again. I was stationed in Korea and saw some episodes on videotape. Brooks made a film almost twenty years later in 1993 called Robin Hood: Men In Tights and he used a lot of the stuff that he used on this show (they pointed that out in a review they did of the film).

I don't know if the proper question is "Why do I remember this short-lived series so well, when nobody else has even HEARD of it?" or "With the writing & acting talent behind it, why didn't When Things Were Rotten make it big?"With Mel Brooks creating & writing the series and some of the top comedic directors of the 1970s behind the camera, it was a hilarious spoof of the Robin Hood legend. All I have seen of the show as an adult are three episodes on video, with guests Sid Ceasar, Dudley Moore and John Byner. These episodes, though, are as funny as I remember them being as a 12 & 13-year old.Start with the theme song. This is one of the classic 1960s-70s TV themes... "They laughed, they loved, they fought, they drank, they JUMPED a lot of FENCES... stole from the rich, gave to the poor -- except what they kept for EXPENSES!" :o)What about the cast? Well, Dick Van Patten (Friar Tuck) and Bernie Kopell need no introduction. Dick Gautier, who played Robin Hood, never quite made the big time. He did turn in good work as the robot Hymie on "Get Smart," though, and is solid as the straight man for countless bafoons in Sherwood Forest. Misty Rowe is an absolute sexkitten and quite funny at the same time, as the airheaded Maid Marian. Richard Dimitri, Hnry Polic, II and David Sabin are also great -- as are the guest stars.If you ever get a chance to rent or buy the video (or if Nick-at-Nite or one of the other cable channels comes to its senses & begins running these for the first time since 1975), be sure & give it a view! It's Mel Brooks humor at its best!