Blazing Saddles (1974)

150th Review Special!!!

Among my favorite movies of all time, one of them is the Mel Brooks science fiction parody film Spaceballs (1987). The way it follows a simple familiar premise while throwing jokes and funny references to many science fiction properties from that time (such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, etc.) provides a lot of entertainment. The amount of fun that all of the actors were having was very evident through their hilarious performances (including the great Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet). To celebrate the milestone of reaching my 150th review, I've decided to check out one of Mel Brooks' other classics, Blazing Saddles, which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in. It has been on my radar for a while and the only thing I knew regarding it was the infamous campfire farting scene that tends to come to mind. I was ready to see how much of his quirks would be utilized in it and was left both impressed as well as ecstatic by the quality of humor found in the Western film.

What's it about? Taking place on the American Frontier in 1987, the story follows a newly hired black sheriff who must protect a town from thugs sent to clear that area for the construction of a rail road. It's not afraid to play around with the stereotypes many commonly associated with the genre such as casual racist slurs and corrupt evil business tycoons. The amount of humor is abundant throughout either through visuals means (such as store signs) or one liners that catch you off guard. The pacing is rather smooth for the most part as it does a swift job of establishing the characters in question before jumping into the shenanigans. The amount of satisfaction in seeing the interactions doesn't slow down that much and certain troupes people have found with Spaceballs are seen here. One part that really surprised was third act climax where a brawls gets massive to the point that something kinda wild and wacky happens (those of you familiar with the movie know what I'm referring to).

How are the characters? The people to focus on are Bart (Cleavon Little) and Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). Cleavon is an entertaining presence to watch as he uses clever and hilarious tactics to make the most out of tense situations he finds himself in. The way he brings his own enthusiastic swagger to adapting to the silly people around him is delightful. Harvey is having plenty of fun as this conniving villain as he bumbles through finding schemes to harm the town. The determination on his face for each new plan he comes up with feels like that cartoon bad guy you enjoy watching suffer in failure. Honorable mentions go to Jim (Gene Wilder), Taggart (Slim Pickens), and Lyle (Burton Gilliam) since the former had great scenes with the main protagonist while the latter two were entertaining henchmen.

Overall Consensus: Blazing Saddles is a memorable Western satire that thrives from its funny jokes, solid acting, and lovable spoofing of the genre. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2🍿 Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes PG

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You enjoy genre satire movies. You want to see spoof of Hollywood Westerns. You want to see some of Mel Brooks great works.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You hate genre satire movies. You hate comedies that parody Hollywood films.