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Movies / On DVD / Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles

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Blazing Saddles (1974)

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Reviews Counted:45

Fresh:40

Rotten:5

Average Rating:8.1/10

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: A madcap spoof of the classic Hollywood Western, BLAZING SADDLES is also one of the most gleefully anti-P.C. films ever produced by a major studio. When the sheriff of a small frontier town is... A madcap spoof of the classic Hollywood Western, BLAZING SADDLES is also one of the most gleefully anti-P.C. films ever produced by a major studio. When the sheriff of a small frontier town is killed, convict Bart (Cleavon Little) is appointed the first black sheriff of all-white Rock Ridge by the evil Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), who hopes this will chase the townspeople from their homes. The naive Sheriff Bart soon catches on, realizing from the less than cheery welcome that the townspeople (who all seem to be named Johnson) aren't prepared for a black sheriff and that he was never meant to succeed at all. Enlisting the help of the sensitive town drunk (Gene Wilder), formerly the Waco Kid, Bart embarks on a plan to save Rock Ridge. A scathing spoof that deals with racism, sexism, and bodily functions, BLAZING SADDLES offers a contrast between picture and words that is shocking, subversive, and hilarious. Director Mel Brooks makes two memorable appearances--as both the sleazy governor and a Yiddish-speaking Sioux Indian chief--while Madeline Kahn does a sidesplitting Marlene Dietrich imitation as the town floozy. Featuring fabulous comic turns by Alex Karras and Slim Pickens, BLAZING SADDLES is raunchy, lovable, and uproarious. [More]

Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman

Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Mel Brooks, Slim Pickens, Burton Gilliam, Alex Karras

Director: Mel Brooks

Director: Mel Brooks
Screenwriter: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Unger
Producer: Michael Hertzberg
Composer: John Morris

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 5, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Blazing Saddles
  • The railroad's got to run through the town of Rock Ridge. How do you drive out the townfolk in order to steal their land? Send in the toughest gang you've got...and name a new sheriff who'll last about 24 hours.
  • But that's not really the plot of Blazing Saddles, just the pretext. Once Mel Brooks' lunatic film - many call it his best - gets started, logic is lost in a blizzard of gags, jokes, quips, puns, howlers, growlers and outrageous assaults upon good taste or any taste at all.
  • Cleavon Little as the new lawman, Gene Wilder as the wacko Waco Kid, Brooks himself as a dim-witted politico and Madeline Kahn in her Marlene Dietrich send-up that earned an Academy Award nomination all give this sagebrush saga their lunatic best. And when Blazing Saddles can't contain itself at the finale, it just proves the Old West will never be the same!
  • Source: Warner Home Video
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Blazing Saddles

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    1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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    I laughed and laughed while viewing this again. Maybe part of it was nostalgia, but part of it came from a refreshing feeling of being shocked once more.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    05/26/06
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    [The] huge popularity of this film, still uncontested after so many years, really shouldn't be that surprising.

    Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Dragan Antulov
    Dragan Antulov
    rec.arts.movies.reviews

    A great cast is eclipsed by the hilarious performances of Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn, who plays a Marlene Dietrich-like chanteuse.

    Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
    03/10/03
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Marjorie Baumgarten
    Austin Chronicle

    Chalk up Blazing Saddles as only a lampoon of Hollywood westerns and you miss the point by a Texas mile.... Its humor is the palliative that lets Brooks mock prejudices and, with gloves off, prejudiced people.

    Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
    04/05/06
    Mark Bourne
    Mark Bourne
    DVDJournal.com

    Truth be told, Young Frankenstein holds up far better... [but] that's not to infer that this Western spoof doesn't deliver its share of hilarity.

    Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
    06/30/04
    Matt Brunson
    Matt Brunson
    Creative Loafing

    Blazing Saddles has no dominant personality, and it looks as if it includes every gag thought up in every story conference. Whether good, bad, or mild, nothing was thrown out.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
    05/20/03
    Vincent Canby
    Vincent Canby
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It's tough to beat as an outrageously phlegmy deposit in Hollywood's spittoon.

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    04/02/08
    Jonathan Crocker
    Jonathan Crocker
    Channel 4 Film

    One of Mel Brooks' funniest and most popular films, an unsubtle spoof or parody of all the cliches from the time-honored genre of westerns

    Full Review Source: Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Tim Dirks
    Tim Dirks
    Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

    One of the funniest awful movies ever made.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    04/02/08
    Don Druker
    Don Druker
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It's a crazed grabbag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 1 Comment
    10/23/04
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    A limp, shapeless mess of a film trades in a genuine respect for westerns’ tropes for purile vulgarity and joy-buzzer showmanship.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment 2 Comments
    06/16/04
    Eric Henderson
    Eric Henderson
    Slant Magazine

    Madeline Kahn was nominated for the Supporting Actress Oscar for her wonderful parody of all the cabaret singers that Dietrich used to play, including the comedy-Western Destry Rides Again.

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    04/29/06
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    The finale offers the most daring 15 minutes in cinema history

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Christopher Null
    Christopher Null
    Filmcritic.com

    Still good for a few chuckles, but I find it somewhat overrated.

    Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | comment Comment
    10/21/05
    Chuck O'Leary
    Chuck O'Leary
    FulvueDrive-in.com

    ...at once a parody of old Western movies and a social satire on race and prejudice.

    Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    05/21/06
    John J. Puccio
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com

    Blazing Saddles is not for everyone -- but there are great pleasures here for anyone willing to seek them out.

    Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
    11/07/02
    James Rocchi
    James Rocchi
    Netflix

    Goldarned if the whole fool enterprise is not worth the attention of any moviegoer with a penchant for what one actor, commenting on another's Gabby Hayes imitation, calls 'authentic western gibberish.'

    Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
    08/22/08
    Richard Schickel
    Richard Schickel
    TIME Magazine
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Somehow the raunchy humor seemed to pass me by.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment 1 Comment
    08/14/05
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    Brooks' wholehearted embracing of rank vulgarity, together with his innovative quickfire sketch structure, titillated crowds more used to sophisticated Hollywood humour.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    07/07/04
    Adam Smith
    Adam Smith
    Empire Magazine

    Although Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder head a uniformly competent cast, pic is handily stolen by Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn. Kahn is simply terrific doing a Marlene Dietrich lampoon.

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    04/02/08
    Variety Staff
    Variety Staff
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
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    Latest News for Blazing Saddles

    August 27, 2008: Certified Fresh Picks from the WB Vault
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