Film Credits

Screenplay by: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger

Directed by: Mel Brooks

Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens, David Huddleston, Alex Karras, Burton Gilliam, Mel Brooks, John Hillerman, Liam Dunn, Carol Arthur, Dom DeLuise, Robert Ridgely, George Furth, Patrick Labyorteaux

Review

As most of you are probably aware, Warner Home Video has been doing an excellent job with their laserdisc releases - the prints and transfers are generally of top quality and many titles are being released with their original aspect ratio intact.

But every so often, Warner manages to bungle a disc release, and it's usually confined to their digital remasters. Such botched remasters include Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, Never Say Never Again, The Road Warrior and , not to mention the first-time disc release of Looker. With each of these films/discs, rather than taking the time, effort or expense to make a new high-quality laserdisc master, Warner instead opted to use a newly-made low-quality master done specifically for a videotape release/reissue. Worse, each of these the maligned "remasters" mentioned above were originally widescreen Panavision films, but Warner's use of a "videotape" master guarantees that the widescreen imagery/framing won't be there. The result of this is that faithful laserdisc buffs will have to suffer with an inferior-quality release, usually featuring a grainy, blurry, pale and panned & scanned image, rather than the beautiful letterboxed digital remaster they deserve.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because Warner Home Video has blown it again - this time with their upcoming digital "remaster" of Blazing Saddles. Put simply, Warner's remaster is a monstrosity of epic proportions. Blazing Saddles' original Panavision 2.35:1 imagery was composed to highlight the film's many comedic elements/moments to their fullest; however, due to the severe panning & scanning present on this transfer (not to mention the many false edits/cuts also present), those compositions and comedic setups are entirely wasted. The film's now-enlarged image is generally fairly soft and grainy, and while the color isn't too bad, it seems paler than it should. At least the CX-encoded digital mono soundtrack is in fine shape. The disc was pressed at WEA Manufacturing, Inc and is encoded with 18 listed chapter markers. Another thing you may wish to know is that our player vibrated heavily during the first few minutes of both sides of the disc. This problem is apparently caused by the actual disc formatting/pressing, and while it doesn't affect the quality of the picture or playing the disc, the rumbling is annoying.

If you're one of the few people on the planet who hasn't seen Blazing Saddles, it's a hysterical Mel Brooks parody of the Western genre. An unscrupulous railroad wants to build tracks right through the center of Rock Ridge, and they send in their toughest, meanest men to drive the locals out of town. The town's only hope is to support their newly-appointed, and very unwelcome, black sheriff (Cleavon Little), who saves the day with the help of the Wacko Kid (Gene Wilder, back when he could act), the fastest gun in the West. Also starring are Slim Pickens, Mel Brooks, Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn. The film will have you rolling on the floor in laughter, but I can't recommend that anyone watch Warner's disc remaster. I suggest waiting until it screens at your local revival theatre or at least until Warner Home Video has the sense to reissue the film in a properly-letterboxed disc edition.

Editor's Note: Nearly 5-1/2 years after this review, "Blazing Saddles" will finally be making its letterboxed debut...apparently on DVD only.