Reviews (207)

The Quintessential Comedy Movie
I love this movie! From the opening scene, where Cleavon Little sings the negro work song, "I Get a Kick Outta You", ala Nat King Cole, and he is corrected by the white men shoing him how to sing "Camptown Ladies", to the absurd surrealist ending (when was the last time you've seen a movie burst out of the movie, this is beautiful comedy.

Sight gags flying by at the speed of light, you will have to watch it hundreds of times to get them all, one liners that would make the Marx Brothers proud ("Bart, I heard you was hung." "You heard right!) This is absurdist comedy at is best (A toll booth on the William J LaPetomaine Freeway). The Mel Brooks choreography is wonderful when Lili Von Schtup sings "I'm Tired." When was the last time you saw German Soldiers tango with their rifles. This movie is filled frame to frame with humor, and no one gets away not insulted (Okay, we'll take the Irish too!)

The cast was perfection, either just over the top, or way over the top Harvey Korman is hilarious as the nefarious Hedley Lamarr. Cleavon Little is fantastic as he makes fun of his own stereotypes, it is absolutely one of the funniest movies ever made by humans on the planet earth.

Until a Special Edition comes along ...
... this will have to do. But that ain't all bad.

Politically incorrect and loving it, "Blazing Saddles" holds up as a comedy nearly 30 years after its release, and maybe even has gotten funnier as Americans get more uptight. Heaven help us if we lose our ability to laugh at the outrageous.

And while the bathroom humor (and the campfire scene) gets all the notice, there are some very subtle jokes in the film, such as the "laurel and hardy handshake" and "Thank you, Van."

As for extras ... there's not much. A trailer, both widescreen and cropped versions, and an monologue by Mel Brooks that plays over the first half of the movie. It's not scene-specific, but it's worth listening to. For instance, Gene Wilder wasn't even supposed to be in the movie. To find out who was, and why Wilder got the part ... listen to the interview.

This film cries out for a special edition. A scene-specific commentary by Brooks and co-writers Andrew Bergman and Richard Pryor. A making-of documentary. The scenes that were edited into the TV version of the movie (like the diving scene and the governor's visit to the fake Rock Ridge)...

Tasteless But Funny
Plays like an ennactment of one of those tasteless joke books set to a Western theme. Not for everyone. Even fans of this sort of thing have to be in a certain mood.

The funniest western ever made
Cleavon Little plays a black railroad worker condemend to death for assaulting his white foreman. At the last minute he is reprieved by the governor who has the devious idea of making him sheriff of Rock Ridge, a town the governor wants destroyed so they can run the railroad through the area, he thinks a black sheriff will finish the town off. When Little arrives in Rock Ridge he is nearly lynched by the outratged inhabitants but manages to outwit them. Safe in the sheriff's office, he finds the town drunk (Gene Wilder) just waking up in the cells, and they strike up a friendship. Together they set about the task of winning over the folk of Rock Ridge ("simple, wholesome, country folk - you know, morons" as Wilder says), and trying to save the town from destruction. This blissfuly funny film is packed with hilarious episodes. There's the wonderful scene where Little, asked to sing a negro song, obliges with 'I get a kick out of you', the scene where he arrives in Rock Ridge, there's Madelein Khan's hilarious Marlene Dietrich impersonation, the wonderful scene where Little and Wilder infiltrate the baddies' gang disguised as Klu Klux Klan members, and my favourite scene of all, the bit where the townsfolk, asked to give some land to the minority groups who are to help them build the fake town, reply "All right, we'll give some land to the niggers and the chinks, but we DON'T want the irish!" The film is utterly delightful, with hilarious performances from all concerned. There's just one thing that I wonder about. Cleavon Little is such a wonderful comic actor, not to mention being drop-dead gorgeous as well, why has so little been seen of him since this film was made? Never mind, if you're only going to be famous for one film, this is a great one to be remembered for.

Even the "Making-of" was recycled!
Five stars for the movie itself as well as the presentation. The movie looks and sounds great.

BUT--- as noted by many, the "30th Anniversary Edition" supplements are basically a hack job. This is easily one of the most influential comedies of all-time, it deserved to really be given the Special Edition treatment.

The "Commentary" is not a traditional commentary at all; not only is it simply the audio from a 55 minute interview with Brooks, it was issued on the previous dvd. This has been mentioned by many reviewers.

What hasn't been as well-reported is that even the half-hour retrospective doc has been recycled. The "Back in the Saddle" program, which is admittedly a decent if unspectacular show, was previously issued on the 2001 VHS edition! Basically, this featurette was issued on the 27th Anniversary video cassette release. Yes, this is the first time it has appeared on dvd, but still a rather lazy choice.

The "Additional Scenes" are, somewhat annoyingly, not accessible scene-by scene. They play as one approx. 10-minute piece. These scenes were added to the TV broadcast version. It's nice to have them, though most of them are shown in the "Back in the Saddle" featurette.

The only other significant supplement is the "Black Bart" pilot episode. This 24-minute show is a real curiousity, a great archival piece even though the show itself is excruciatingly BAD. Still, its interesting viewing, and very easy on the eyes. This show, quite simply, looks amazing! Very well preserved.

There are a couple other bits, like the trailer and an excerpt from a Madeline Kahn documentary (only about 4 minutes or so).

Really, all things considered, Warner really dropped the ball on the supplementals for this edition. The movie itself looks fantastic and the new 5.1 mix isn't anything special but it sounds better than the old disc. The movie is what really counts, and in that area the presentation can hardly be faulted. But in the end, they didn't actually produce any NEW supplemental material for this set. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The saga of George Plimpton, NFL Quarterback
Ah, I have fond memories of this 1968 movie, which speaks to the unspoken dream of every armchair quarterback who would like to take a few snaps as a NFL QB and make the big play just once in their life. The film is based on the book by the late George Plimpton, who made his reputation as writing stories for "Sports Illustrated" about his first-hand endeavors in the world of sports. Plimpton fought bulls in Spain with Ernest Hemingway, played goalie for the Bruins, played basketball with the Boston Celtics, played tennis with Pancho Gonzales, joined the high wire trapeze act of the flying Apollos, played golf with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, played bridge with Oswald Jacoby, played in Leonard Bernstein's percussion section in the New York Philharmonic, entered an amateur night contest at the Harlem Apollo Theatre, survived a few rounds with champion boxer Archie Moore, and played football with the Detroit Lions.

In 1968 a film version of "Paper Lion" with a young Alan Alda in his first starring role as Plimpton. What made director Alex March's film interesting is that beyond Alda's girlfriend Kate, played by Lauren Hutton and a few minor players, the rest of the cast consisted of the real Detroit Lions. Of course when Plimpton actually played with the Lion Joe Schmidt was the middle linebacker, but in the film he is now the coach. However, Alex Karras was still around, showing he was a natural performer. Other prominent Lions were John Gordy, the 300 pound Roger Brown (who gets traded to the Rams during the film), and the man with the scariest eyebrows this side of Eugene Levy, Mike Lucci.

Among the things I remember fondly about this film are Vince Lombardi suggesting Plimpton try to go to training camp with an AFL team, how beautiful Lauren Hutton looked (and how sexy the gap between her two front teeth was and is), how skinny Alan Alda was back then, and how good the football players do as actors (granted, they were playing themselves, but you trying doing that on camera). The film has its comic moments (when George gets his big moment at the end of a preseason game he lines up behind the guard) and you get a sense of what it is like at a NFL training camp in the old days (making the rookies sing their college fight songs and pulling pranks on each other), but there is also some serious side: when the players find out George is a reporter they confront him about making what they do a joke.

Football fans should check "Paper Lion" out at least once in their life. Between the Marx Brothers' "Horse Feathers" and Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H," this was the funniest football game you could find in a movie. Several years after this film Plimpton again did the football training camp bit, this time with the Baltimore Colts. There was a television special about his experiences and when he got into the game that time a hole opened up in front of him, he tucked the ball under his arm, started to fun through the hole, and tripped over the foot of one of his linemen.

Aren't you jealous?

What skinny reporter would not want to be an NFL QB?
Ah, I have fond memories of this 1968 movie, which speaks to the unspoken dream of every Monday morning quarterback who would like to take a few snaps as a NFL QB. Specifically, (1) how Vince Lombardi made an AFL joke, (2) how beautiful Lauren Hutton looked, (3) how skinny Alan Alda was, and (4) how good some of those NFL players were as actors, especially Alex Karras. The film was based on the book about the true story of George Plimpton, who was never quite as skinny as Alan Alda, and who went to summer camp with the Detroit Lions to play quarterback and write about his experiences (he had pitched against baseball all-stars and boxed with a pro for earlier stories). When you watch this film today you can see how in a sense it was ahead of its time in showing the camaraderie and high jinx that exists in the locker room of a professional sports team (remember Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" had not come out yet). The film contains some real moments because it was filmed during another training camp with the Lions (the trade of 300+ lbs. Roger Brown, who was the biggest football player in the world way back when). As with any sports film the movie comes down to the climax of the game. In this case, it is the final possession of the Lions in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Cardinals. A total meaningless game, but we have invested an entire film in rooting on good old George who goes out and, well, has a couple of moments. The action is dated but the fun is not. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

story of normal human fears and emotions
This movie is incredibly well made. It is an original story about a typical guy who kind of makes a mess out of his life and must live with that fact. It was written and directed by Vincent Gallo, he also stars and did the music.

It's not an extremely high budget movie, but that doesnt matter. the writing and acting are better than most big budget movies. the look and feel of the actors and sets are perfect. the slightly low quality of the film actually adds to the movie(this may be due to the type of film purposely chosen, not that it is poor cinematography, just grainy film)

anyway, if you are someone who needs an over the top story or lots of action, you will probably not like this movie. but if you can appreciate an honestly written story based on normal people living in a real world, you will love this movie. it is very funny and well... uh, its good. here is a plot summary:

THIS M0VIE IS GREAT NOT KNOWING WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. ITS COOL BECAUSE YOU CANT EVEN TELL IF ITS GOING TO BE A COMEDY OR DRAMA OR WHAT. READ THIS IF ONLY IF YOU MUST KNOW. ITS BETTER WATCHING WITHOUT KNOWING.

Vincent Gallos' character has grown up in middle America with a slightly rough child hood. nothing extreme, but very neglectful parents. anyway in his early adulthood he makes a very big mistake and places a huge bet on a football game with money he doesnt have. he loses the bet and cant pay, so he is offered a choice: admit to a crime and do time in prison in place of a friend of the gangster he owes the money to... or else.

he does the time, but while he's gone he has a friend send letters back home and he tells his parents he is gone working for the govt. the movie starts with his release from prison.

very funny, very sad, but ultimately exteremely uplifting and inspiring. ... Read more