Retrospective Film Review

Blazing Saddles (1974) • 50 Years Later — hilarious and thought-provoking comedy rides high

In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

As if touched by a red-hot branding iron, the celluloid burns away to reveal a vast Western plain. Frankie Lane’s smooth crooning, an anthem of the American frontier, rings out. It tells the tale of a man who rode a fiery saddle, ridding the world of evil. The cracking of a whip punctuates the end of each bar, whisking us away to the Wild West. The song is so compelling that you would be forgiven for thinking that you were watching a genuine genre piece — after all, Frankie Lane did.

Blazing Saddles is one of the best spoofs ever made. The story follows Bart (Cleavon Little), an African American working on the railway in 1874. After being roped into a corrupt politician’s plot to secure a small town, he’s appointed Sheriff of Rock Ridge. As one might expect, this doesn’t go down well with the town’s inhabitants.