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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Blazing Saddles" has no
plot -- just a pretext: It's that a railroad must
come through the town of Rock Ridge and that the
residents there must be driven from their land. To
this end, the despicable Hedley Lamarr (Harvey
Korman) sends in a gang of desperadoes to
assassinate the newly appointed sheriff (Cleavon
Little).
Gene Wilder cuts a hilarious swath as Deputy Jim,
the Waco Kid, a drunken idealist whose wit and
respect are restored after he decides to sober up
and join forces with the Sheriff; the result, a
muddling through from one fiasco to the next. Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp (a
wicked spoof of Marlene Dietrich) is the town
madam, whose song "I'm Tired" quite simply has to
go down as one of the funniest bits of double
entendre ever put on film. Once director, Mel
Brooks gets started, logic is lost in a cavalcade
of outrageous, wacky/tacky lunacy, so utterly
juvenile and crude that one cannot help but
willingly surrender to its audacity. There are
just too many gags to mention and such a waste to
spoil the full breadth of hilarious depravity in
this film for the first time viewer. I'll not be
the reviewer to ruin the experience of witnessing
this masterwork of farce and slapstick. See it now
and remember it forever more.
"Blazing Saddles" has been remastered for this
30th Anniversary Edition. While the prior release
was marred by age related artifacts and a
considerable amount of edge enhancement, this new
release seems to have been minted from a pristine
camera negative. Colors are rich, vibrant and
startlingly three-dimensional. Most of the scenes
exhibit richness in fidelity that many films of
the same vintage wholly lack. Truly, there is
nothing to complain about here. Contrast and black
levels are bang on. The picture is remarkably
solid with limited film grain and no digital
anomalies for a very smooth visual presentation.
The audio has been cleaned up and remixed to 5.1
with a very nice -- if dated -- spread. Extras
include two documentaries on the making of the
film -- one actually an excerpt from a larger
documentary on Madeline Kahn, scene specific audio
commentaries, the original television pilot for
the television series that was supposed to be
based on the film but never materialized, stills
and a theatrical trailer. Warner Home Video has
done a very, very nice job on this disc. It's a
pleasure to have Mel Brook's insulting satire back
where it belongs! |
