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Blazing Saddles does a better Westworld impression than Westworld

Blazing Saddles does a better Westworld impression than Westworld

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'Mongo only pawn in game of life'

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Stop me if you’ve seen this one already: it's a Western, set in a small town with strange visitors, plagued by the machinations of a ruthless businessman and his cronies, and ultimately brings up questions of existential crisis wherein everyone and the town is revealed to be mere actors on a grander stage? No, not HBO’s latest TV series, Westworld. I’m talking about Blazing Saddles.

Turning the madcap humor of Mel Brooks into the crazy, robot-filled horrors of Dolores’ world

Yes, the same 1974 movie starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, and the best theme song ever written. Cafe’s Dominick Nero has mashed together footage from Blazing Saddles with HBO’s Westworld, turning the madcap humor of Mel Brooks into the crazy, robot-filled horrors of Dolores’ world.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink the classic film — usually considered a more light-hearted comedic pastiche of the Western genre, like the original 1973 Westworld — in a different, darker, and more serious dramatic light.

The analogy isn’t quite perfect, though: at least Blazing Saddles’ wild, fourth-wall shattering finale through the Warner Bros. studio actually made some sense, which is more than some of the endless mysteries that plague Westworld can say.