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Blazing Saddles: Sleazy politician Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) plans to build a railroad through the small town of Rock Ridge. But he needs to distract the townspeople. He decides to send them a black sheriff. He chooses Bart (Cleavon Little, FM), a railroad worker, to be the town’s new lawman. The townspeople are not very happy about all this and immediately despise him.
While visiting his new office, he finds a man called Jim (Gene Wilder, The Producers) who reveals himself to be The Waco Kid: the man with the fastest hands in the west. Bart is sceptical but Jim proves that he is the genuine article. They agree to join forces to convince the citizens of Rock Ridge to help stop Lamarr and his gang of criminals taking over the town.
Blazing Saddles is one of Mel Brooks’ best spoofs. His send-up of westerns is great although this film is not for the politically correct. There’s loads of tasteless stuff here which is still funny after all these years.
The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio and looks excellent for a film of this age. There is some sparkle throughout the film but this is due to the age of the film.
The sound is presented in the original mono and is very reasoanble. It could have been remixed but the film is not a sound showcase.
The extras are as follows:
- Trailer: A 2 minute trailer is included and is worth a look to see how well it was edited. It seems Warners were afraid of including a single tasteless punchline!
- Production Notes: There are bios for the film’s main actors as well as some notes about making the film.
- Audio Interview: The best thing on this disc is the 55-minute interview with Mel Brooks. This is not really a director’s commentary as it doesn’t last the whole film but it is still a fascinating listen. Mel reveals some interesting info including that Warner nearly cut the film to pieces! It’s a miracle he was given approval for the final cut.
The menus are silent and static, and there’s 25 chapters.
Overall, this is a classic comedy well presented on DVD. It could have had a 5.1 mix or a couple more extra features but this is still a great purchase. This is an essential film for comedy fans and casual viewers alike.
Blazing Saddles is out now on Blu-ray, Amazon Video and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 8 6 6 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 89 minutes
Studio: Warner Bros
Year: 1974
Released: 1999
Cat.no: D001001
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 25
Sound: Mono
Languages: English, French, Italian
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD9
Director: Mel Brooks
Producer: Michael Hertzberg
Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger
Music: John Morris
Cast:
Bart: Cleavon Little
Jim, The Waco Kid: Gene Wilder
Taggart: Slim Pickens
Hedley Lamarr: Harvey Korman
Lili Von Shtupp: Madeline Kahn
Governor: Mel Brooks
Osley Johnson: David Huddleston
Mongo: Alex Karras
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.