Wouldn't watch again, but better than newer comedies. ( )

An Old West railroad baron arranges the appointment of a black sheriff.

Half the jokes aren't funny, but they just keep coming. It's too shamelessly silly to not be enjoyable.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 2.8/4 ( )

Despite some very funny bits like the (in)famous campfire scene, the cameo by Count Basie and Mongo punching the horse, I just can't rate this one higher than 2 1/2 stars. Too much of the movie drags, there isn't much in the way of a plot and there're way too many racial slurs (okay, we get the point, people were prejudiced then...but this is a movie that's supposed to be a comedy). And feel free to zap through Madeline Kahn's painfully bad attempt at being Marlene Dietrich.

Also, the ending didn't really work. Whether Brooks was trying to be Ernie Kovacs or maybe Monty Python here (not sure if 1974 is too early for that), well, sight gags and fart jokes Mel Brooks can do. Not surrealism. ( )

My second favourite Brooks movie. The ending is a bit odd though- it is as if Brooks couldn't come up with an ending and had to resort to sheer silliness. ( )