In order to facilitate a land scheme, a black railroad-worker (Cleavon Little) is installed as sheriff of a small old western town...and hilarity ensues.
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Oh to have been alive in 1974 and to have experience the one-two punch of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein firsthand! Mel Brooks was really firing on all cylinders. Not only were the films funny, they were well made. In later years, the production values on his films would crumble to barely above television quality, but not here. Shot in Cinemascope on the Warner Brothers back-lot, Saddles bares more than just a passing resemblance to the genre it's spoofing. Though the fancy restorations and re-releases are usually reserved for stuff like Lawrence of Arabia, I would love to have the opportunity to see this film in a crowded theater on a big-screen. Maybe in 2014, when it turns 40 years old!
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