Friday, June 13, 2014

.@VickiBatman - #Movie Maniac: Comparing a very new and an older Western, A Million Ways to Die in the West & Blazing Saddles


#Movie Maniac
 
A Million Ways to Die in the West & Blazing Saddles
 
There's nothing like a good Western. Hero with a gun and a horse, Heroine with sass, dirt, cows... Today, I've picked a new release, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and an older one brought to us by the fabulous Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles.

You may be wondering what these two movies have in common:

1.     Outrageous

2.     Funny

3.     Good acting

4.     Modern references in the West

5.     Despicable bad guys

6.     Make fun of everything--I mean everything.

7.     Good bar fight.

A Million Ways to Die in the West stars Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neesom, and a cast of special guests. In 1882 in the town of Old Stump, Arizona, a cowardly sheep farmer prepares to leave for San Francisco, believing that the frontier holds nothing for him until a beautiful woman teaches him how to shoot and they confront her husband.
 
The biggest difference in this movie is the gratuitous blood. In a comedy, I don't need to see someone's head blown to smithereens. I don't need to see poop in a hat. Cut away and let's see the nasty look on the characters' faces and their snappy remarks. Stick with what you do best--good comedy.

I'm sure eighth grade boys are rolling on the floor during A Million Ways. It could have been a tad more sophisticated. Peel away the silly stuff and there's movie. FMI: A Million Ways to Die in the West

Blazing Saddles stars Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, and Harvey Korman. A black railroad worker who was about to be hanged becomes the sheriff of Rock Ridge and saves the townspeople from the conniving state attorney general who wants to buy land along the new railroad.

 
I have to add the first time I viewed Blazing Saddles was with my girlfriend and a group of young men in their early twenties. They were rolling in the aisles, punching each other, etc. My friend and I were rolling our eyes to the heavens and wondering what in the world??? However, as my family grew to include men of my own, there's a lot more charm, especially when the lead actors ride off in the sunset in a limo. And the sarcasm is spot-on. There's no spurting blood. FMI: Blazing Saddles

Are you a fan of Westerns?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saw the movie....the poop was bad. lots of raunchy humor and comments. Blazing saddles will always be a fav! Jeanne

Vicki Batman, sassy writer said...

Hi, Jeanne Lou. Truly, this was meant for eighth graders, not big people. Cut that down to what it should be and the movie had some good stuff. Thanks for stopping.

Angela Adams said...

I can't picture Liam Neeson in a comedy -- let alone a western. To me, he'll always be remembered as Oskar Schindler.

Unknown said...

I'm 55 and my husband is 56, and we have been married 38 years this year. The very first movie he ever took me too was Mel Brooks, "Blazin Saddles" and to this prissy-priss girl it was a shocker! The campfire with the beans and farting! OMGosh We laugh about it now and even own the movie of yes, VHS.
I love Westerns, always have and love reading western themed books. One of my favorite is "mail order brides (grooms)" books.