Saturday, December 5, 2009

Excuse Me While I Whip This Out...

The next chapter in this saga is Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles." I was really confident about this one. "Spaceballs" is one of my favorite movies and my sense of humor can be really depraved at times, so Mel Brooks' style of humor is right up my alley.

It started off like a punch in the stomach - the racist humor began right off the bat (when I saw Richard Pryor's name in the credits I knew I was in for it). I'm not one to shy away from a dirty or uncouth joke, so I wasn't worried.

It's a western, but it's not a western like I would normally expect. The movie was absolutely hysterical. It's been a long time since I was so completely satisfied by a comedy - there are so few "good" comedies being made in this day and age. People are too PC nowadays; it's refreshing to see a movie that doesn't take itself so seriously and really pushes the envelope.

All the characters are great - Gene Wilder shines as the jailed (and then mysteriously not jailed) Waco Kid (I met him...it was one of the best moments of my life) and Mel Brooks delivers his classic womanizing cameo. Madeline Kahn's ridiculous accent- priceless. The whole cast was hysterical - they had great comedic timing.

My favorite part of the whole film was the last 15 minutes or so. It was also my favorite part of Spaceballs. When the film is taken out of the film and just kinda dropped into "real life" - that is amazing to me. In Spaceballs it was when they watched the VHS of the film on the ship and promoted all the movie merchandise. In Blazing Saddles it was when they literally drove off the set and you saw that it was all a soundstage. There is a fight on screen that makes its way to the commissary in the studio, and the characters drive out of the movie, down the street, and to a movie theater where they go see "Blazing Saddles." Watching them watch themselves on screen is crazy, and awesome.

I am really excited to watch "Young Frankenstein" now for this project- a lot of people tell me it's their favorite of his films. I was really, really impressed by this one - it'll be hard to top.

5 of 5 stars.

3 comments:

  1. This is Jay's favorite movie. I hear numerous quotes from this movie on a daily basis.

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  2. young frank is a little less spoofy, in my opinion, which is why I love it. It's more a comedic retelling of the frankenstein tale than a spoof of it, is what I mean. Have you seen History of the World, Part One?

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  3. Eskie, I haven't seen that one either. Heard it's great! I hope to see it!

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