Tuesday 11 August 2009

Blazing Saddles

1974 - Dir.: Mel Brookes

Shown at the FeckenOdeon on 30th November, 2002

"NEVER GIVE A SAGA AN EVEN BREAK!"
Perhaps the greatest of all cowboy parodies. Mel Brookes takes a sledgehammer to crack a million gags and the pace is frenetic. The plot, for as much as it matters, concerns the appointment of a new sheriff in the wild, untamed town of Rockridge. When the new appointee turns out to be black there's a bit of a problem - until the races unite against a common enemy. To sensitive souls this may seem to be a crass and crude movie but it is also very, very funny - even if some of the gags get lost in the mayhem. It's also a very brave film - made barely a decade after the American race riots of the '60s it tackles bigotry and intolerance head on and some of the points even hit the mark. The result may not seem very PC by today's standards but at least it calls a spade a sp....

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