Blazing Saddles

December 11, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 93 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

DVD Quick Take

This 1974 classic along with Young Frankenstein represents Mel Brooks at his very best. This is Mel’s answer to the classic Hollywood westerns.

The movie itself, and it’s humor are just a tad dated in some regards. The racial jokes and the idea of a black Sheriff in the old west, or even just a black star in a western, was shocking and timely when this movie was released. Now, we’ve had Will Smith play James West in a major summer release of Wild Wild West, and the fact that we is black was not really even an issue. Most people didn’t even think about it. That’s not to say racism is dead, but it’s not near the issue it was 25+ years ago.

Timeliness of jokes aside, there are still some side splitting scenes in this movie. I only wish the campfire scene had been in Dolby Digital 5.1. Unfortunately this movie is Dolby 1.0 and mono, everything comes right out of the center speaker.

Surprisingly, the video is widescreen enhanced. And although it being anamorphic helps alot, it lacks sharpness in many scenes. The color is also a bit hit and miss, in some scenes it’s gorgeous while in others it loses quite a bit of luster. However, overall when you consider the age of the movie, the video is pretty darned good.

This isn’t going to be the DVD you demonstrate your home theater to your friends with. However, if you’ve never seen Blazing Saddles uncut, this one is definitely at least worth a rental to see what you’ve been missing in the TV version all these years.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Cleavon Little, Comedy, DVD, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Mel Brooks, R