Blazing Saddles Family Review

In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar (Harvey Korman), a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor (Mel Brooks). Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople.—John Vogel <[email protected]>In this raucous parody of the Western film genre, greedy land developer, Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) greases palms of insane Earl Long/Blaze-type governor ('Mel Brooks') to induce his help to snatch land to build Hedley's railroad. A key piece of land, Rock Ridge, is inhabited by a flock of Johnsons, all deeply entrenched in the town. The governor tries to help Hedley rid himself of the townspeople; first, he appoints black sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) for Rock Ridge. Next, Hedley sics Lili von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn), "Teutonic Twit" on Bart. With the help of his sidekick, The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), Bart fights for his new town. But, the politicos (and the WB studio) fight back.—LA-LawyerIt's 1874 in the American frontier of the wild west. Because of geological problems, a railroad under construction needs to be rerouted through the town of Rock Ridge, where general lawlessness prevails, that lawlessness which led to the town sheriff being murdered. Upon learning this information from Taggart - the railroad construction boss and secretly his right hand man - Hedley Lamarr, the state attorney and assistant to hapless Governor William J. Le Petomane, senses an opportunity to make millions by acquiring as much property in Rock Ridge as possible before the news of the railroad gets to residents of the town which would encourage them to stay despite the lawlessness. Hedley's ultimate plan, which he has to devise upon learning that the residents have decided to stay and which he is able to enact, is to get the Governor to appoint a new sheriff - the town elders having asked him to do so - so offensive to the townsfolk that they will voluntarily leave town without any prompting. Hedley's choice of that new sheriff is a man named Bart, who was part of the railroad construction gang, and who Hedley was going to hang on Taggart's initiative solely because of an antagonistic encounter between the two. The reason why Bart would be so offensive to the townsfolk?: he's black. Unlike most of the white men on the construction crew who are uncouth and backward, Bart is an urbane intellectual. With the help of Jim, one of the town's drunks whose drinking hides his much different past, Bart is able to win over most of the townsfolk by using his intellect. As such, Hedley, with Taggart by his side, uses one tactic after another either to discredit or kill Bart, who eventually is able to figure out Hedley's scheme for the town. What eventually happens in the standoff is affected by some twentieth century Hollywood mentality and goings-on.—HuggoIntent on running a new railroad through the dusty and God-forsaken frontier town of Ridge Rock, the conniving, greedy, and ruthless land speculator, Hedley Lamarr, has the nerve to drive its peaceful inhabitants out of town. As law and order is the last thing Hedley wants, before long, he talks the town's lecherous Governor, William J. Le Petomane, into appointing the first black sheriff, the unsuspecting nobody named Bart, hoping for chaos, disorder, and above all, a hasty exodus. Of course, there's no such thing as a foolproof plan, and when Sheriff Bart signs up the Waco Kid, the washed-up gunslinger with the obscure past, as his deputy and right-hand man, the townspeople will finally summon up the courage to make a stand. But, can they foil Hedley's mad scheme?—Nick Riganas