1. Blazing Saddles (1974)
Out of all the responses to the DGA screening of
Django Unchained, the one incredibly surprising consensus is that it is a movie filled with humor, and incredibly crowd-pleasing humor at that. And if you are going to mention any western comedy, there's only one name that should come up:
Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks' landmark satire is a rapid fire assault of one-liners, each one more hysterical than the last. The chemistry between Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder is impossible to reproduce, and it makes the parallels between
Django Unchained's pairing of Jamie Foxx with Christoph Waltz look like even more of an homage. Regardless of its affiliations with Tarantino's new movie,
Blazing Saddles happens to be the best of Mel Brooks' prolific filmography and stands as one of the greatest comedies ever filmed. If
Django Unchained is even half as funny as
Blazing Saddles, that'd be the most I've laughed in a theater in a long time. Are you going to be brushing up on your westerns in the lead-up to
Django Unchained? The genre has countless other classics and gems waiting to be discovered. What are some of your favorites? Sound off in the comments below!