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Blazing Saddles Movie Review

Blazing Saddles is a 1974 western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. It is a celebrated 1970s comedy, but the one that is only okay to me.

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“God darn it, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue

prettier than a twenty dollar whore.“

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It follows a newly appointed black sheriff in an all-white town. Now, the story itself is lacking. It is interesting and timely in its premise and I like how it makes fun of many western tropes, but it isn’t particularly engaging and is never that entertaining. The first half I really did like and it was pretty funny and enjoyable at times, but the second half was pretty mediocre in my opinion. It starts and ends well, but the whole middle and especially the second half is very uninteresting and forgettable.

The characters are okay. Some are flat, but some are quite solid. I liked the protagonist and I liked the Waco Kid a lot. The relationship between the two is so good and is the highlight of the film. But others aren’t that well established and fail to become engraved in memory.

The acting is very good. Cleavon Little did a stupendous job in the main role and Harvey Korman is also good. And of course Gene Wilder is excellent as he was at the height of his powers in the early and mid seventies.

I liked the ending with its score a lot. And yes, Blazing Saddles is phenomenally scored. I also liked the first act as it is so playful and funny. But the rest of the picture is unfortunately not as funny and it doesn’t particularly succeed as a comedy. The western elements are much better realized. And the musical elements really made me bored as I did not find them neither enjoyable nor necessary for this particular movie.

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The imagery is really solid with many pleasant sequences. It is a well shot, acted and directed movie that is visually great and has its moments. The dialogue is also okay, but could have been better. The tone is uneven and the pacing is problematic as it was pretty boring at certain times. It does have its heart, but only in a handful of scenes. And its satiric elements are rare and should have been more present. They could have done a lot more with the premise which is why it is a lost potential and an overrated movie in my book. It is a passable diversion, but nothing more than that and the whole flick never has a lasting appeal.

Blazing Saddles is well shot and acted with a couple of really funny and enjoyable scenes, but it is mostly pretty boring and uneven with boring musical sequences, inferior second half, weaker humor later on and it is overall a lost potential as it never executes its premise particularly well. It is an okay picture, but a forgettable and overrated one.

My Rating – 3