Blazing Saddles | Teen Ink

Blazing Saddles

January 17, 2019
By MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
678 articles 0 photos 8 comments

 Blazing Saddles is a comedy/satire that manages to poke fun at stereotypes while taking place as a Western. In a world in which extreme racism takes place, a crafty, clever worker named Bart breaks barriers when he becomes the sheriff of Rock Ridge. Bart is the first African American sheriff of the town, and at first, nobody trusts him because of the color of the skin, but Bart meets a drunk gunfighter, who has the fastest shot in the world. Together, the unlikely duo try to stop a group of thugs that want to make the people of the town leave, and if they fail , the people of Rock Ridge will be forced to abandon everything they know. Bart must use his wits to stop the thugs, and saving the town of Rock Ridge proves to be no easy task, especially because no one in the town is supportive of him. Bart must gain the people's trust and respect and attempt to stop the powerful thugs. 

 Blazing Saddles has an intriguing plot in that most of the movie doesn't seem to all connect in the beginning, but then as the movie progresses, it is able to connect the dots and create a fairly cohesive story. The beginning of the movie does a solid job of taking audiences to the movie's universe in the wild west and is really able to set the stage for the rest of the movie to follow as it introduces all of the major characters and concepts that the movie later expands on. The middle of the movie does an alright job of progressing the movie along, but this portion of the movie does have some faults, since certain parts really aren't that interesting or able to capture the attentions of viewers. However, the enticing ending of the movie is able to make up for this and truly conclude the movie in a manner that is quite fantastic and leaves audiences feeling, at the very least, contentment with the movie, regardless of how they felt previously. 

 Although Blazing Saddles is definitely a funny comedy, the movie would most likely not be able to be created today. The language used would probably not be considered acceptable by today's terms, even though it's showing how life was back then and how outlandish some opinions were. However, the movie does manage to use stereotypes to its advantage and poke fun at just about anyone and everyone. Although parts of the movie and certain references are slightly outdated, there are still a fair amount of scenes that are still comical and worth a good few laughs. Secondly, the movie is able to benefit greatly from a talented cast that is seemingly able to have fun with their roles. Gene Wilder plays his role phenomenally and provides great entertainment, helping to craft a complex character that is definitely one of the movie's finest creations. Cleavon Little does a tremendous job of playing Bart and living up to the expectations of playing the protagonist and is really able to get into the entire psychology and mindset of the character. 


 Not only do viewers seem to enjoy Blazing Saddles, but critics were also able to find satisfaction with the moive. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie an impressive 90%, and IMDb gave the movie an outstanding 7.8/10, which is actually a pretty triumphant score, since they are known for generally giving lower marks to comedies. A whopping 91% of Google users liked the movie, demonstrating that the movie really isn't that outdated for the most part and can still be appreciated to this day, which is nothing short of a testament of how much this movie was able to accomplish. 

 There aren't many movies out there like this one, making Blazing Saddles that much more unique, creative, originative and able to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Blazing Saddles is a well done film that is certainly worth seeing for those who want to seek a satirical bent on what would normally be a more fairy tale-type story. 


The author's comments:

"My name is Jim. But most people call me......Jim." - Jim the Waco Kid


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