Blazing Saddles (1974) Warner Bros./Comedy-Western RT: 93 minutes Rated R (language, crude and sexual humor, racial epithets and bigotry, comic violence) Director: Mel Brooks Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor and Al Uger Music: John Morris Cinematography: Joseph Biroc Release date: February 7, 1974 (US) Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks, Burton Gilliam, Alex Karras, David Huddleston, Liam Dunn, John Hillerman, George Furth, Claude Ennis Starrett Jr., Carol Arthur, Richard Collier, Dom DeLuise, Count Basie, Robert Ridgely. Box Office: $119.6 million (US)
Rating: ****
Not only is Blazing Saddles the best work of director Mel Brooks, it’s one of my all-time favorite comedies! On the surface, it’s an outrageous spoof of 40s and 50s Westerns with no convention left upended. It functions beautifully on that level. HOWEVER, Brooks, being who he is, takes it a few steps further by making it an intelligent commentary about bigotry and racial stereotypes which is rather surprising considering the amount of bathroom humor it contains.
The plot of Blazing Saddles could have come from any number of old cowboy movies. The town of Rock Ridge is threatened by the construction of a new railroad. Due to a quicksand issue, the railroad has to be rerouted right through the bustling frontier town of Rock Ridge. The villain, greedy State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (Korman, History of the World: Part One), sends a gang of thugs to drive the townspeople out so the property can be bought cheaply. In the ensuing chaos, the sheriff is murdered. The townspeople wire dim-witted governor William J. Le Petomane (Brooks) to send somebody to replace him. Lamarr convinces the governor to appoint Bart (Little, Once Bitten) as the new sheriff. Bart, an African-American about to be executed for assaulting a white man, is saved from the hangman’s noose and given a badge. Lamarr assumes that the people of Rock Ridge- all of whom have the same surname Johnson- will be so offended that they will leave voluntarily.
At first, the townspeople aren’t accepting of their new head lawman. When Bart arrives in Rock Ridge, accompanied by his own theme provided by bandleader Count Basie (GREAT cameo!), the reaction of the townspeople is about as far from welcoming as you can get. They all pull guns on him intending to shoot him right on the spot. Bart, an intelligent, quick-thinking cat, bluffs his way out of the situation in a hilarious way. He appoints a new deputy, a drunk named Jim (Wilder, Stir Crazy) who was once known as “The Waco Kid”, a famous gunslinger who, in his own words, “must have killed more people than Cecil B. DeMille.”
Meanwhile, railroad officials learn that Rock Ridge has a new sheriff and decide to send somebody to kill him. Lead supervisors Lyle (Gilliam) suggests they send Mongo (Karras, Victor Victoria) to deal with Bart. In Jim’s words, “Mongo ain’t exactly a who, he’s more of a what.” He further advises Bart not to shoot him because it’ll just make him mad. When that fails to produce the desired results, they send in a more powerful weapon, singer Lili Von Shtupp (Kahn, Young Frankenstein). Modeled after Marlene Dietrich, the “Teutonic Titwillow” tries to seduce him. Finally, it’s decided the best way to kill the sheriff and clear Rock Ridge is to send an army of outlaws, killers, desperados and other assorted scumbags to do the job. This leads right into one of the best fight sequences ever captured on film, one that spills out into modern day Hollywood. It’s brilliant, imaginative and deliriously funny. Only Brooks could pull it off with such easy expertise.
Blazing Saddles is filled with hilarious moments; it’s difficult to say which ones are the best. The infamous campfire scene is a favorite among fans. I’m partial to the opening bit where Bart and his co-workers on the railroad look on in amusement as their white bosses make damn fools of themselves by singing and dancing around to “Camptown Ladies” (doo-dah, doo-dah!). This is the scene that tells us what Blazing Saddles is really about. Right way, Brooks shows us that the bigots with all their putdowns and epithets are actually the stupid ones. I’ll come back to this shortly.
To be completely honest, I think that Blazing Saddles is funny from start to finish. There are no gags that fall flat. Brooks hits the mark every time. He clearly loves the genre he’s spoofing. Fans will recognize elements of classics like Destry Rides Again, Once Upon a Time in the West and High Noon. It has a great theme song by Frankie Laine. The serious manner in which he sings it only augments the overall outrageousness. It’s filmed in an anamorphic format, a process that was also used in many classic Westerns. It adds to the brilliance of the movie. Brooks’ fondness for anachronisms is on full display- e.g. people keep calling Hedley Lamarr “Hedy” (as in the actress). It’s a great running gag that includes one of the movie’s funniest punchlines, “What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874, you’ll be able to sue her!”
In addition to all else, Brooks made excellent casting choices. Little is terrific as the hip and groovy sheriff who rides on a Gucci saddle. Wilder is at his best as Bart’s deputy/sidekick who steps up and does his thing when the occasion calls for it. Korman is always funny; he makes a perfectly sinister villain who isn’t as shrewd as he thinks he is. Kahn is just great as Lili von Shtupp. Her big number “I’m Tired” is classic as is her dead-on impression of Dietrich. Slim Pickens (Dr. Strangelove) is hilarious as Taggart, a dull-witted henchman who feels the business end of Bart’s shovel. Karras as Mongo, simply perfect! He steals every scene he’s in.
I’ve said a lot about the comedic elements of Blazing Saddles; now I’d like to discuss the social relevance of this movie. It was released in 1974, a time when the idea of Civil Rights was still fresh and the use of the n-word wasn’t unacceptable in some circles. In fact, it was still the norm in some parts of the country. The most popular sitcom on TV was All in the Family which featured a bigoted ignoramus as its lead character. Brooks examines this aspect of American society through the prism of a western, quite possibly the most American of all genres. He makes a statement about racism by approaching it dead-on with no filter. A movie like this would NOT be made today. No studio would even touch a movie that uses the n-word so liberally. In Blazing Saddles, it isn’t meant to offend or insult but to point out how stupid and ignorant the word sounds. Brooks is making fun of racists not black people who are shown to be smarter than ANY of the white characters.
Blazing Saddles is, in a word, BRILLIANT. In another word, it’s PERFECT. I’ve seen it many times over the years and still laugh like hell. I was 13 the first time I saw it. My parents took me and my little brother to see it during its 1981 re-release. At that age, I didn’t have deep thoughts about it or its message. I just thought it was a riot. When you add in its message, it rises to a new level. It’s comedy that makes a point albeit one served up with sides of slapstick and fart jokes.
TRIVIA TIDBIT: Brooks offered John Wayne a part in Blazing Saddles. The western icon turned it down because it was “too dirty” a movie but assured Brooks he’d “be first in line to see it”.
