Review of Blazing Saddles (1974) by Travis R — 29 Aug 2010

If we pretend for a second that this movie could have been made in todayâ??s day and age, thereâ??s no doubt that the polarizing finale would have been about twice as long, cost four times as much to pull off and result in its own spin-off on â??Comedy Central.

â?? Fortunately, we are all spared that fate (though I suppose if you are one of the maybe six people who thought the finale to this was wonderful, you might be a little upset) and we are left with a movie that Iâ??m wondering if my copy did not come with the seemingly requisite pair of rose-tinted glasses to watch it through.

This is a funny movie and Mel Brooks is great at what he does but either it has not aged well (probably) or the jokes were not that side-splittingly funny to start with (possible, save for any time Madeline Kahn is onscreen since she could never do wrong if you forced her to).

Thereâ??s a new sheriff in town (Cleavon Little) and much to the chagrin of quite a few locals, his skin color does not instill much confidence, let alone respect. Nonetheless, heâ??ll whip this town into shape with recovering sidekick Wilder and everyone will learn a valuable lesson along the way (while offending as many people as possible, of course).

Itâ??s a fun movie to be sure but if youâ??re not onboard with the climax and the ludicrous finale (have you gathered that I cannot harp on how much I did not enjoy the ending enough?), youâ??re going to be left with a bad taste in your mouth.

And this comes after the fact that everyone here puts in top-notch performance (though it is probably one Korman would rather not remember) and the entire thing is directed in a competent manner (far more competent than the caricature of a leader Brooks plays, that is).