This all-singing, all-belching western spoof remains one of Mel Brooks's finest creations. Cleavon Little stars as the smart-as-a-whip railway worker who is appointed the first black sheriff to a hell-raising western town; Gene Wilder plays the Waco Kid, the drunken gunman who helps him out. The two stars are great together, but there are even better performances from Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp (sending up Marlene Dietrich in an Oscar-nominated performance), Alex Karras as dumb strongman Mongo and the crazed Harvey Korman as slimy villain Hedley (not Hedy!) Lamarr. Brooks also turns up as the easily swayed Governor Lepetomane. There's not a lot of subtlety here, but loads of slapstick and more jokes about bodily functions than you'll find in the average Farrelly brothers movie. Mongo say enjoy.

A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.