This superb spoof western is one of Mel Brooks's finest efforts. Made in 1974, it stars Cleavon Little as Bart, a railway worker, who, through a scam devised by a state attorney, is reluctantly appointed as the first black sheriff of a hell-raising frontier town. Here Bart befriends Jim, the Waco kid, a booze-sodden gunslinger played brilliantly by Gene Wilder, and all hell - and a lot of wind - is let loose as they try to subdue the attorney's thugs (including the gargantuan Mongo, played by Alex Karras), and convince the town to accept a black sheriff.
Forget subtlety. There's just downright un-PC slapstick here as Brooks cranks up the action and lets fly with that extraordinary campfire bean feast.
Blazing Saddles is a Film programme that first aired in 1974 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
