Oh baby, you're SO talented and they are SO dumb (Blazing Saddles (DVD))

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	Blazing Saddles (DVD)
Date:	06/07/05 (177 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very silly, funny film with non stop gags galore

Disadvantages: Naff DVD extras, sophomoric humour

...in the immortal words of Bart, after fooling some really, really thick Johnsons.

Yes, Blazing Saddles is crude. It's sophomoric. It's juvenile. It's also very, very, funny.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Plot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To be fair, you don't really watch a Mel Brooks movie for its plot (except for, perhaps, The Producers, but that's another op). However, there is indeed a plot of sorts.

The movie is nominally a western (and apparently the highest grossing Western ever, would you believe). It's ably directed by, and co-stars (well, in a smallish role) Mel Brooks.

Hedley Lamarr (and that's Hedley - a joke that many of us younger folks won't understand anymore - apparently, there used to be a silent film star (female) called Heddy Lamarr. She sued. Mel Brooks settled out of court), the State Procurer/Attorney General/Assistant to the Governor, played by Harvey Korman* (oh, thank you Internet Movie Database for the details of his full title), is keen to build a railroad. The problem is, he wants to build it through the town of Rock Ridge (entirely populated by people who's last name is Johnson. There's even a Howard). Needless to say, the townspeople, who all own their own land, would, at the least object, and if not, demand large amounts of money for their land.

A dastardly scheme is dreamt up in order to scare the townspeople away. The townspeople complain to (the rather simple) Governor William J. LePetomane (Mel Brooks), asking for a sheriff to protect them. Lamarr figures that the best way to solve THAT problem is to hire a sheriff that the townspeople wouldn't accept for, well, all the tea in China. He's black, played by Cleavon Little**.

Bart (for that is the sheriff's name) has a difficult start in Rock Ridge. Fortunately, he is befriended by Jim, the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder***). Between them, they set out to save the town of Rock Ridge, despite the obstacles placed in the way by Lamarr and his cronies.

That is, really, the plot in a nutshell. Everything does come right in the end, with Bart and Jim riding (then subsequently driving) into the sunset.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Footnotes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
* Americans might remember Harvey Korman from the Carol Burnett Show - everyone else should remember him from other Mel Brooks films

** Before Blazing Saddles, he was mostly a stage actor - about the only thing I recognise that he did after Blazing Saddles was the TV series Baghdad Cafe. He died in 1992.

*** C'mon - you know who HE is - other films include The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Stir Crazy, The Woman In Red (where he met Gilda Radner, whom he later married, and outlived). He did quite a few films with Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor co-wrote Blazing Saddles. What goes around, comes around! Richard Pryor was the first choice to play Bart, but the studio wouldn't have it, both because his drug taking was fairly well known, and his stand up comedy was too close to the mark for comfort.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Humour
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does the plot seem a wee bit weak? Well, the plot is really just a vehicle for the gags. And they do come thick and fast. And yes, they are juvenile, with a distinct leaning towards toilet humour and innuendo.

One of the most famous scenes in the film is actually quite short. A bunch of cowboys are sitting around the campfire, eating baked beans. The results are...predictable, at least to any 11-year-old child. My (then) 11 year old was in stitches at this point.

Then we have Lili Von Shtupp*, the German bombshell with an atrocious German accent (think Jonathan Ross but somewhat Teutonic) clearly patterned on Marlene Dietrich in Der Blaue Engel. She laments that she is "tired of men always coming and going, going and coming and always too soon!" She is instructed by Lamarr to seduce Bart and then dump him, thus transforming him into a mass of dejected jelly. However, once she sees that he is...er...gifted, an a kind of stereotypical sort of way (think about it guys!)

The gags just go on and on an on. There's the 'bad guy' queue - Lamarr is recruiting nasty vagabonds and villains to storm rock ridge. Amongst those in the line are World War Two German Soldiers. And all in the line have an impressive CV of badness.

Then, there's the end of the movie (which is actually my least favourite part). The action overflows into the studio backlot, and subsequently into another studio making a Busby Barkley dance routine, complete with dancing, or should I say mincing...male dancers (clearly and stereotypically homosexual), directed by Buddy Bizzare** A fight breaks out, chaos ensues, further overflows into the canteen...anyway, you get the picture. And that is, coincidentally, more or less where the picture ends.

The point is, the humour is obvious, silly and crude. But it somehow works. I guess its style is almost a precursor to the Airplane films. A gag every scene (or multiple gags per scene). It's non-stop. It is, of course, a spoof, and it is extremely funny - but not in the slightest bit subtle.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Footnotes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*Madeline Kahn - Young Frankenstein, Nixon (I didn't know that!), High Anxiety - are we spotting a trend here? Mel Brooks does tend to use the same artists!

** Dom DeLuise - The Twelve Chairs, Silent Movie, Cannonball Run. He also, apparently, had a part in Fail-Safe - certainly NOT a comedy. This surprised me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Acting and Soundtrack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As well as those notables I've already detailed above, we also have Slim Pickens (Dr Strangelove) as Taggart, the chief henchman. There is also a cute cameo by Count Basie (ever wonder where background music comes from...it's a band in the middle of the desert).

The acting is over-the-top, as is to be expected in this kind of film, but it works. It's supposed to be. Probably the most 'subtle' (these things are relative) performance is by Gene Wilder as Jim - his character is a drunk (who does indeed reform) - he's quiet and soft spoken. He's really the only one in the film who is!

Although the film is not strictly a musical, the music (as in many Westerns) sets the scenes and provides atmosphere. Mel Brooks wrote most of the songs, and very funny some of them are, too - it's definitely worth listening to the lyrics. Thanks again to the good old Internet Movie Database, I learnt that originally, Brooks was trying to cast a Frankie Laine sound-alike to sing the title song. Imagine his surprise when Frankie himself contacted Brooks and offered to sing it himself.

Brooks talks about this in the interview on the DVD, which leads me neatly into...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Extras
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many folks buy a DVD for the extras - after all, you might think, why buy a film made in 1974 that appears on TV from time to time if not for the extras.

The extras on Blazing Saddles are a tadge disappointing.

There is an interesting 55 minute interview with Mel Brooks. In it, he talks about how he wanted to cast Pryor, how he got Laine on board, how he didn't originally cast Wilder in the part of Jim (the actor he originally cast actually shot a scene - the scene where Jim is hanging upside down on the bunk bed in the jail cell - but he was drunk. Really, very, very drunk. Brooks explains that he wanted to cast someone who LOOKED drunk...).

The interview really takes the place of the typical 'making of' segment one generally finds on a DVD. Of course, since the film was made so long ago, long before DVDs, and even before videos were a common household item, a making of segment was never...er...made.

What lets the interview down, however, is that it's audio only. On the screen, you get an edited version of the film itself, but mute (in fact, if you put the subtitles on, you get subtitles of the film, not of the interview). They don't even edit it so that the pictures you see match the scenes Brooks is talking about. So the picture is just, in my opinion, distracting.

There are the usual language soundtrack and subtitles (if you are so minded, you can watch subtitles in any one of nine languages and variations - including Arabic and. Italian for the Hearing Impaired. I assume that the difference between 'normal' subtitles and those for the hearing impaired is the subtitling of song lyrics and sound effects. But I haven't tried those subtitles out).

The original theatrical trailer appears (which is actually worth a quick look, since the movie came out so long ago), along with production notes and brief actor CVs (and you can get all that information and more from, you guessed it, the Internet Movie Database, or, indeed, any good movie reference book).

And finally, there is the usual scene selection, allowing you, via a menu, to jump to your favourite scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matty's Overall Opinion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the film...well...what can I say? I've seen it on telly hundreds of times. I watched it on DVD. I'd watch it again. It is, as I've said a few times before, amazingly funny. I do realise, however, the humour may not appeal to all (and a pox on you who don't like it *grin*). The film has hardly dated - largely, perhaps, because it's set in the past anyway. The costumes work (although I can't vouch for the accuracy), and the film spoofs and parodies the spaghetti westerns very, very well.
The extras are disappointing, and the 'super wide screen' (2.35:1) means you get very large black lines top and bottom - and my telly's not that big! I personally find that irritating.

Now, I borrowed this DVD. I'll have to return it. Will I buy it? Probably not at Amazon's advertised price of £12.99 for the 'normal' version, £16.99 for the deluxe boxed set (I haven't the vaguest idea what's so special about the boxed set, apart from the box). If I found it in a bargain bin for, say, £5.00, I'd snap it up in a minute.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE END CREDITS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First, I must credit and thank the Internet Movie Database for all sorts of useful information - not least of which is the spelling of both character and actor names. However, all opinions are mine and mine alone :).

Second, thanks to Chris for so kindly lending me the DVD.

And may I invite you to have a peek at this film, in the words of Lili Von Shtupp:
"Willkommen. Bienvenue. Welcome. C'mon in."


Cheers,
Kate

Summary: Silly. Fun. Silly. Funny. Sillier. Extraordinarly silly. Extraordinarly funny.