Directed by Mel Brooks
Written by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger
Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman
What happens? A Good Sheriff goes up against the Bad Guy.
Boy, is this a funny movie. Mel Brooks talks about how he put everything of himself in into this movie and you can tell. It has that kind of loaded, out-of-control feeling that distinguishes the very best comedies. It's got more great lines in its trailer than most comedies have in their entirety. Everyone in it is hysterically funny (though Harvey Korman stands out for me personally -- "Why am I asking you?"). It's like an encyclopedia of jokes and comic styles.
And all the material about bigotry puts it front and center, where you can't pretend you're just watching a silly comedy. In some sense, this is a movie about our American history. And while some of that history is very ugly, this movie finds a way to make it funny without making it vapid.
Obviously, a member of the Pantheon.
Blazing Saddles at IMDB.
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