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Rating:  - classic comedy
Blazing Saddles is such a classic. From "candygram for Mongo!" to "it's twoo! it's twoo!" it's nonstop laughs.
To save money, the railroad needs to go through the town of Rock Ridge, and governor's right-hand man, Hedley--not Hedy!--Lamarr (Harvey Kormann) come up with a solution to get the residents to leave: hire a black sheriff (Cleavon Little).
When Bart (Little) gets to his office, he discovers the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) sleeping off a drunk in his cell. They become friends and allies and save the day.
Brooks doesn't miss a trick with the humor, which, despite the famous campfire farting scene (which I saw once inexplicably edited for television as burping), is both sillier and smarter than most modern over-the-top comedies. I think it's because the jokes are all very pointed, and they're funnier because they're true.
The biggest point of the movie is, of course, racism, and it's treated in a way unheard-of today--by blatant ridicule. Those who are racist out of ignorance learn the error of their ways, and the outright bigots are shown to be idiots. It pulled out all the stereotypes and turned them around and demonstrated their foolishness. I don't want to turn this into an anti-PC rant, so I'll just point out that laughing at something helps it lose its power.
My sons, of course, loved it, and it sparked a lot of serious in-depth discussions about racism and about humor. They hadn't seen it before, because it's rated R, but there are R-rated movies, and then there are R-rated movies, and I don't think it was inappropriate for my 12- and 16-year-old sons.
Rating: - An old favorite with new sparkle.
This irreverent movie, is one of my favorite movies of all times. I think it is Mel Brooks' best; and he holds nothing sacred here. You'll laugh from the first scene until the final scene. The picture and sound are superb on this completely remastered HD-DVD. So... pop this in your player, settle in, and wonder "What in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin' on here?"
Rating:  - Cat Ballou Part Two But Too Bad About the DVD Though!
Mel Brooks is the Grandfather of the Spoof and especially of the kind that belong to the same category as films like "Airplane", "Hot Shots", "Top Secret" etc and so you know what to expect from this movie. Although many of the jokes don't quite have the same effect as they did at the time of release which is what you would expect from most comedies as society moves on and comedies are really from and of the time that they are made however, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself at least chuckling at quite a few of the gags.
As with any parody or spoof you get the most out of it if you have actually watched the original "spoofee" and I particularly enjoyed the gag about "we don't need no stinking badges" which unless you've seen the brilliant "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" you wouldn't even have a clue as to why this line should be funny. There are many parallels to an earlier Western spoof which I still think is the superior one "Cat Ballou" and I get the impression that Mel was even spoofing this spoof! Compare the Waco Kid here with Kid Shelleen for example and you'll see what I mean and even the horse gags are at least a little bit influenced by "Cat Ballou" too. As a fan of great music I was also pleased to see a cameo of the great Count Basie too and if you remember it was Nat King Cole in "Cat Ballou".
Another thing I liked about "Blazing Saddles" though is that it isn't just plain mindless spoofing like in "Hot Shots" for example but you also sense that Mel was also spoofing Racism, Ignorance and Hypocrisy both in Government/Politics and in everyday life which I found to be a very nice touch. In addressing these issues in this genre/manner, I thought it showed just how ridiculous these attitudes and behaviours really are. I mostly enjoyed this film all the way up until about 20 minutes before the end when inexplicably Mel loses it and shows the audience that the whole thing was just an acting job shot on a Hollywood set and then we get a food fight and everything which perhaps was funny for the audience of the 70s but it just spoiled the whole thing for me. For this reason, up until about that time, this film was the better spoof for me but because of this totally not-funny insanity at the end, "Cat Ballou" still holds the title as the best ever Western spoof.
Although the dvd comes with a Full Screen on one side and a Widescreen version on the other, you have to watch the Widescreen version as the Full Screen one actually cuts out too much material from the sides and so you don't get the full effect. The big problem though is with this version of the dvd which doesn't have any Special Features worth mentioning and it hasn't been restored picture or sound quality-wise rendering both of these qualities very, very poor indeed.
Fans should wait for a vastly improved picture and sound quality standard or Blu-ray version to surface and to give this particular dvd version a very wide berth.
Rating: - Even funnier in High Def!
If you're a Mel Brooks fan you'll love this movie. Transfer is very good. I had the original for the longest time. Glad it's finally on bluray.
Rating: - Mr. Brooks
Another great movie and it is very good! How could some one hate this movie?????? It is fun! :)
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