Blazing Saddles

1974 comedy

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A Wild West town inhabited by a bunch of people with the surname Johnson is conveniently or inconveniently right where somebody wants to put railroad tracks. Some bad guys try to run off the Johnsons, and when that doesn't work, they appoint a black sheriff with the hope of offending them right out of town. The new sheriff has to win over the people with the help of a gunslinger named the Waco Kid.

I don't really think this is a very funny movie. The humor's dated, the meta stuff at the end isn't as cute as Mel Brooks thinks it is, Mel Brooks isn't as funny as he thinks he is and of course gives himself two roles, and the lowbrow comedy is completely unironic in an almost disturbing way. Yeah, I'm looking at you fartin'-and-burpin'-around-the-campfire scene. It's bold in the way it addresses race, but its jabs at homosexuality are antiquated. Brooks and the other writers seem to be attempting to mash together smart and stupid, slapstick and satire, and it only works occasionally. Then again, it's hard to argue with explosions that lead to flying and flailing horses, a pie fight that involves Hitler (a pie fight, Mel? Really?), Gabby's mumbling, and the demonstrations of the Waco Kid's shooting skills. There are also some clever anachronisms, and I like the cheesy Western theme music stuff that they use. And Gene Wilder and Slim Pickens in the same movie? You can't argue with that either. Well, you could argue with that, but you would lose. Hearing Slim Pickens say things like "What in the wide world of sports is going on here?" or "We'll make Rock Ridge think it's a chicken that got caught in a tractor's nuts" or "You use your tongue prettier than a twenty-dollar whore" makes up for the stuff in this that doesn't work. Gene Wilder seems high in the majority of his scenes here. Harvey Korman and Cleavon Little are also good. Korman's finest moment is the list he gives for who he wants in the army being put together while Little's would be when he holds himself hostage.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

1973 western

Rating: 16/20

Plot: The times they are a-changin'. Yeah, I realized I've already referenced that song this year on this blog. But it fits here because Bob Dylan is in this movie, and changin' times is exactly what this movie is about. Dylan's songs are in this movie, but that one isn't. It could have been though. Would have fit in nicely during the opening or closing credits. The first Bob Dylan album I heard in its entirety, by the way, was Desire which was released a few years after the soundtrack to this movie came out. It's got more instrumentation but a similar feel to Dylan's soundtrack. I didn't listen to Bob Dylan at all until I was eighteen, despite being named after him. I didn't see my first Peckinpah movie until I was in my early 20's. I hadn't really given Westerns a chance. I wonder what would have happened if I had started watching Westerns in high school. I bet I would have started sporting a cowboy hat and maybe even boots. My peers would have looked at me and wondered what was up. I would have probably shrugged and said, "The times they are a-changin'." But I digress. This movie is about the breakup of two legendary homosexuals.

I really like this movie although it should have ended up much better than it did. And I'm not completely sure which version I watched or whether it was the definitive version. I don't think Peckinpah ever got to see a version that matched his vision. This is a great story (obviously since it's been filmed fifty times) and I dig Peckinpah's retelling of it as a meditative elegy for the Old West. Very good cast. Sadly, the weakest link is none other than Dylan uneven performance as Alias, but he actually nails the mysterious, antsy character during most of his scenes. James Coburn is perfect as Garrett. There's despair with every gesture, even when he's engaging in coitus with five women at once, and every word he utters is accompanied with a heavy sigh. Kristofferson is also very good, and all the minor players (mostly, it seems, actors with experience as character actors in westerns) help fill in the details and bring an authenticity. As expected, Peckinpah's settings and period details have that authenticity already. I can imagine this movie would frustrate anybody looking for a solid narrative structure. It almost works more like an allegory. There's great scene after great scene, but the character's motivations don't always make a lot of sense and some of those great scenes don't really seem to belong. But the greatness of the character development is undeniable, and all of those scenes that the film's producers probably wanted on the cutting room floor are indispensable. On the surface, a scene with Coburn being shot at by a guy on a passing boat does nothing for the advancement of the plot, but without using any words at all, it manages to add so much thematically. That's only one of my three favorite scenes though. The scene where Garrett makes Dylan's character read the labels on cans is so wacky that it's good, and Slim Pickens' death scene with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is touching stuff. And while I'm on the subject of Slim Pickens--it's quite possible that he's the greatest actor of all time.