Blazing Saddles review

 Number 507 on the top 1000 films of all time is Mel Brooks' parody of the Western genre: Blazing Saddles.

Bart (Clavon Little) is a black railway worker in 1974 on the American frontier. When the townspeople of Rock Ridge realise they're going to be bullied out by the corrupt politician Hedley Lemar (Harvey Korman) they designate Bart to be the sheriff of the town. He is assisted by alcoholic gunslinger Jim the Waco Kid. (Gene Wilder)

My favourite Mel Brooks' film is his parody of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I thought it was absolutely hilarious and so clever. In many ways Blazing Saddles was his warm-up act - to a lesser extent, you also had Young Frankenstein. But Blazing Saddles shared the same meta-humour as Men In Tights. Men in Tights even hearkened back to its spiritual predecessor.

Granted, Blazing Saddles gets a bit ridiculous toward the end where it not only breaks the fourth but the fifth, sixth and seventh walls. Bart and Jim's posse fight with Hedley Lamar's posse spills out onto a neighbouring film set and the real world with Lemar escaping to a nearby cinema. The cinema is showing none other than Blazing Saddles. It was silly, but I didn't mind.

The film was full of tis funny meta-humour like when Lamar recruits a posse and everybody from the SS to the KKK and the Hells Angels turn up.

Yet this film wasn't all just humour. There was also some good performances from Cleavon Little - for the longest time I thought it was Richard Pryor in the lead role, but he just wrote the script. Gene Wilder also showed his comedic chops with a touch of emotional intensity as Jim.

Overall, I enjoyed Blazing Saddles. Sure it was silly at times, but it was just a warm up for Men in Tights. Mel brooks was a master of parody, wasn't he?

Bonnie and Clyde review

 Number 374 on the top 1000 films of all time is Arthur Penn's 1967 biographical crime drama 'Bonnie and Clyde.'

Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) were two bank robbers who terrorised the US during the Great Depression. This film dramatised their life, as well as the lives of their gang consisting of the dim-witted C.W Moss (Michael J. Pollard,) Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman,) Buck's wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons) and briefly undertaker Eugene Grizzard (Gene Wilder) in his debut role.

Bonnie and Clyde changed the way films were seen forever. It was one of the first films to embrace the changing of the production code, which allowed a lot more violence, swearing and sex in cinema. And Bonnie and Clyde was a violent film with gunfire galore especially in the film's most climatic sequences.

It also had two great performances from leads Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway who played the titular robbers. Beatty had all the charisma you would expect from a gang leader. He was handsome, charming but also a complete maniac. Far form being the Robin Hood type, he would do anything to protect himself and his family.

That includes his brother played by the always welcome Gene Hackman. Hackman was every bit Beatty's equal matching his charisma and manic energy, as well as being deeply devoted to his Blanche. She was the weak point of the film. When she becomes an unwilling accomplice to the Barrow Gang, she spends much of the film screaming, whining and fighting with Bonnie who wants her gone.

I was surprised to learn that actress Estelle Parsons won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, because the character was little more than a screaming mess. The real-life Blanche Barrow also criticised her portrayal saying it depicted her as a "screaming horse's ass." It's an accurate criticism. No disrespect to Parsons, but it was a bad characterisation.

Bonnie was a far better character played well by Faye Dunaway. Rather than a piece of plasticine to be moulded by Clyde, she was a willing accomplice in every sense of the word. Her unpredictable energy made her so interesting to watch.

And a quick shoutout to Gene Wilder whose small supporting role provided some much-needed levity to what was otherwise a violent, intense, but good film. 

Young Frankenstein review

Number 279 on the top 1000 films of all time is Mel Brooks' parody of the horror genre ‘Young Frankenstein.’

Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is the grandson of the legendary Victor Frankenstein. But he wants nothing to do with his grandfather, so much so, that he goes by “Fronkensteen.” However, upon returning to Transylvannia, he soon returns to his grandfather’s experiments aided by his deformed servant I-gor (Marty Feldman) and his love interest and assistant Inga. (Terri Garr)

Mel Brooks is well-known for his parodies from Blazing Saddles to the fantastic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Although primarily a loving pastiche of the Frankenstein films of the thirties, it also pastiches the horror genre of a whole. Mel Brooks utilised a number of transitions, such as the screenwipes that you would never see today.

He also made the unusual choice of rendering the film in black and white. Yet this stylistic decision coupled with the background scenery of houses painted at abstract angles, made for a delightful call-back to the German expressionist films of the thirties. Brooks’ scenery, music and camerawork wouldn’t have been out of place in a Fritz Lang film.

Wilder and Feldman were also brilliant. Wilder gave it his all, as the maniacal Frankenstein. He was delightfully over-the-top, just how you would expect in one of the horror films of old. Marty Feldman provided most of the laughs as the hapless assistant I-gor. Some of this came from his brilliant improvisational talents. I-gor has a hump which Feldman kept secretly moving from side to side. When Frankenstein questions him about this, I-gor replies “what hump?”

Lastly, I have to give some credit to Terri Garr who played Inga. She very much encapsulated the standard damsel-in-distress prone to standing around and looking pretty/scared. It’s a role you would commonly expect from the old horror films. And it’s a role that she did well.

Yet despite all this, the film felt lacking. Sure it was funny, but I wasn’t crying tears of laughter. I’m glad I saw it the once, but I don’t need to see it again.