Blazing Saddles

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Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles promotional poster
Directed by Mel Brooks
Produced by Michael Hertzberg
Written by Andrew Bergman (story)
Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger (screenplay)
Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman
Music by Mel Brooks, John Morris
Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc
Editing by Danford B. Greene, John C. Howard
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) February 7, 1974
Language English (with occasional use of Yiddish and German)
Budget $2.6 million USD
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
Alex Karras as Mongo in Blazing Saddles
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Alex Karras as Mongo in Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a Warner Bros. 1974 comedy directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. The film was written (in what Brooks called Your Show of Shows-style[1]) by a team of writers, namely Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger; it was based on Bergman's story and draft. Brooks appears in multiple supporting roles, including Governor Le Petomane and a Yiddish-speaking Indian Chief. Slim Pickens, Alex Karras, David Huddleston, and Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman are also featured. Musician Count Basie has a cameo.

The film is an over-the-top parody of the Western film genre as well as a satire about racism.

In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Blazing Saddles as #6 on its list of the all-time funniest American films. Also in 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 9th greatest comedy film of all time. The film is number 9 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story is set in the American Old West of 1874 (though it is filled with deliberate anachronistic references to the 1970s). Construction on a new railroad runs into quicksand; the route has to be changed, which will require it to go through Rock Ridge, a frontier town where everyone has the last name of "Johnson" (including a "Howard Johnson" and a "Van Johnson"). The conniving State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (Korman) — not to be confused, as he often is in the film, with actress Hedy Lamarr — wants to buy the land along the new railroad route cheaply by driving the townspeople out. He sends a gang of thugs, led by his flunky Taggart (Pickens), to scare them away, prompting the townsfolk to demand that the Governor (Brooks) appoint a new sheriff. The Attorney General convinces his dim-witted boss to select Bart (Little), an African American railroad worker, as the new sheriff. Because Bart is black, Lamarr believes that this will so offend the townspeople they will either abandon the town or lynch the new sheriff.

With his quick wits and the assistance of an alcoholic gunslinger Jim (Wilder), also known as "The Waco Kid" ("I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille!"), Bart begins to overcome the townsfolk's hostile reception. He defeats Mongo (Karras), an immensely strong subhuman sent by Taggart, then resists the seductions of wily temptress-for-hire Lili von Shtupp[2] (Kahn), before inspiring the town to lure Lamarr's newly-recruited army of thugs into an ambush.

The resulting fight between the townsfolk and the gunfighters is so devastating that it literally breaks the fourth wall; the fight spills out from the westerns lot in the Warner Bros. Studios and manages to destroy a musical set before culminating in a cream pie fight in the studio commissary.

The film cheerfully ends with the sheriff and the Waco Kid defeating the bad guy, rescuing the town, catching the end of the movie, persuading people of all colors and creeds to live in harmony and, finally, riding (in a limousine) off into a beautiful sunset.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Critical reaction

While the film is generally considered a classic comedy today, critical reaction was mixed when the film was first released. Vincent Canby wrote[3]:

Throughout Blazing Saddles I kept being reminded of Sleeper, both films being the work of men who had their first real successes as gag writers. Both worked for Sid Caesar, and both still appreciate the need for getting a joke to the audience fast and then moving on. However, Sleeper builds momentum through the continuing character played by Mr. Allen himself, and gives the impression of having been pared down to comic essentials.
Blazing Saddles has no dominant personality, and it looks as if it includes every gag thought up in every story conference. Whether good, bad, or mild, nothing was thrown out.
Mr. Allen's comedy, though very much a product of our Age of Analysis, recalls the wonder and discipline of people like Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. Mr. Brooks's sights are lower. His brashness is rare, but his use of anachronism and anarchy recalls not the great film comedies of the past, but the middling ones like the Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures. With his talent he should do much better than that.

Roger Ebert, in a review written during the year his work earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, called the film a "crazed grabbag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken. Mostly, it succeeds. It's an audience picture; it doesn't have a lot of classy polish and its structure is a total mess. But of course! What does that matter while Alex Karras is knocking a horse cold with a right cross to the jaw?"[4]

[edit] Themes and motifs

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In addition to spoofing the western genre, Blazing Saddles works as a satire on the way that Hollywood fictionalized and whitewashed American history. The film presents an intentionally stereotypical western story, but reverses several clichés to highlight the inherent falsehood of the western genre. For example, the innocent townsfolk in this case are far from innocent when a black man attempts to join them. Though they appeared helpless to resist the white outlaws, when confronted by a black man the entire town is suddenly armed. The villainous railroad tycoons in this movie are actually corrupt members of the American government who exploit ethnic minorities and victimize their own citizens for profit. By injecting the "real story" of the west into a clichéd western, the movie highlights the falsehood of the mythic Wild West, which was propagated most widely through cinema.

The movie makes use of many anachronisms, and breaks the fourth wall repeatedly to remind the viewer that they are watching a movie. For example, when newly-appointed Sheriff Bart is first seen beginning his journey to Rock Ridge, he is shown wearing Gucci cowboy gear. He is also accompanied by a jazz soundtrack which is assumed to be non-diegetic scoring for the benefit of the viewing audience. However, the camera pans left to show Bart riding by Count Basie's well-known Big Band jazz group, which is playing their hit "April in Paris" in the middle of the desert.

The movie also portrays a shared heritage of American immigrants and minorities. Chinese as well as black railroad workers are portrayed as equally oppressed. In the scene in which the Indian Chief speaks with Bart's family in Yiddish, three abused cultures are meshed together in harmony despite their obvious differences. Even as the townspeople are obliged to unite in order to fight their oppressors, Olsen Johnson announces, "All right! We'll give some land to the niggers, and the chinks. But we don't want the Irish!"

The film is also notable for pushing the boundaries of decency in cinema. The movie features racial epithets, vulgarity, and frank portrayals of sexuality and other bodily functions. One of the film's most famous scenes involves a group of cowboys sitting around a fire eating plates of beans. Throughout the scene, the soundtrack plays loud evidence of the most notorious side effect of beans.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Awards

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for Kahn for a Dietrich-like portrayal of the "Teutonic Titwillow" and one for the film's title song, co-written by Brooks and performed with complete sincerity by Frankie Laine.

1975 Academy Awards (Oscars)

1975 BAFTA Film Awards

  • Nominated - Best Newcomer — Cleavon Little
  • Nominated - Best Screenplay — Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger

1975 Writers Guild of America Awards

  • Nominated - Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen — Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Alan Uger

There was no nomination for Harvey Korman, despite his speech in the film predicting such a nomination.

[edit] Trivia

In order to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.
  • Brooks wanted Richard Pryor to play the sheriff's role given to Little, but the studio objected[5]. Warner execs expressed concern about Pryor's reliability, because of his heavy drug use at the time[5]. Pryor was, however, hired as one of the film's screenwriters.
  • Pryor was largely responsible for the character "Mongo".[1]
  • After screening the movie, the head of Warner Brothers Pictures complained about (among other things) the use of the n-word, the campfire scene and the punching of a horse. Brooks was advised to remove all these elements from the film. According to Brooks, he said "done, it's all out" when the execs were in the room. When they left the room, Brooks immediately threw their notes in the trash.
  • When the original title (Tex X) was turned down by the studio, one of his other choices was Black Bart[5]. Although that name also was not used, it became the name of a television pilot based on the film (produced without Brooks's participation)[6]. That pilot is included on the 30th anniversary DVD release of Blazing Saddles, along with a making-of interviews piece and a clip from Lifetime's Intimate Portrait series about star Madeline Kahn.
  • Hedy Lamarr sued Warner Bros. for the unauthorized use of her name; an out-of-court settlement was reached.[1] Prophetically, in the movie, the Governor calls his right-hand man "Hedy" to his face, and Lamarr sheepishly corrects him: "Hed-LEY". He answers, "What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874. You'll be able to sue her!"
  • Mel Brooks advertised in the show business trade papers that he wanted a "Frankie Laine-type" voice to sing the film's title song. Frankie Laine himself showed up at Brooks' office two days later, ready to do the job. Brooks did not tell Laine that the movie was planned as a comedy, and was embarrassed by how much heart Laine put into singing the song,[1] which was nominated for a "Best Song" Oscar.
  • Blazing Saddles also offers a rare look into the Warner backlot, with scenes spilling off the Laramie Street set into various stages and eventually out of Gate 3 onto Olive Blvd. in Burbank, California.
  • Dom DeLuise has a bit part as a Busby Berkeley-esque director, as does his wife (Carol DeLuise), making a rare film appearance as the schoolmarm.
  • Brooks believed the film would be the first from Hollywood to have a character apparently pass wind on-screen, which led him to suspect that the studio would want that scene cut[5]. In keeping with that theme, the surname of Brooks's character "Gov. William J. Le Petomane" is an obvious reference to the famous professional farter Joseph Pujol, known on stage as "Le Pétomane".
  • John Wayne was approached by Mel Brooks to be in the film, for the role played by Slim Pickens. After reading the script he said "I can't be in this picture, it's too dirty...but I'll be the first in line to see it."[1]
  • Mel Brooks originally wanted Gene Wilder to play the role of Hedley Lamarr. Wilder expressed a preference for playing the Waco Kid, but Brooks had already cast veteran actor Gig Young in the role. As it happened, the very first scene shot was the scene where the new sheriff Bart first meets the Waco Kid in jail. This scene involves the Kid being suspended upside down for a considerable time, and Young reacted adversely to this position, becoming violently sick, and was unable to finish the scene. Young was taken to a hospital for treatment. In desperation, Brooks shut down production for the day and called Wilder, who agreed on the spot to play the Waco Kid, flying across country the same night to reshoot the scene immediately on his arrival. Cleavon Little's reactions as Bart are from the footage shot with Young, and he re-played the scene with Wilder, helping him down from his inverted position. The two parts were combined in the editing room, and only one day was lost on the shooting schedule.[1]
  • As he did in his 1968 film The Producers, Brooks used his own voice for one of the singers backing Madeline Kahn's performance of "I'm Tired", speaking lines such as "Give her a break!", "Let her alone!" and, "Don't you know she's pooped?!" Brooks would use a German accent again in 1983's To Be or Not to Be.
  • The music that plays over the shot of the poster for Madeline Kahn's character is "Springtime For Hitler", from The Producers. The music for both films was written by long-time Brooks collaborator John Morris.
  • The Hebrew characters in the headband of Brooks' headdress, on the film poster and the DVD cover, are intended to resemble standard Jewish food labeling, "Kasher L' Pesach", that is, "kosher for Passover". In either an intentional or unintentional spoonerism, they actually spell out "Pasher L'Kesach". These characters are not present on the headdress he actually wears in the film.
  • Don Megowan is listed in the credits as "Gum Chewer," but the gum chewer was actually played by John Alderson. Megowan plays the man who is kneed in the groin by Lily.

[edit] Footnotes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f DVD commentary
  2. ^ homophone of "schtupp" (see Yinglish for more)
  3. ^ Review of Blazing Saddles by Vincent Canby
  4. ^ Blazing Saddles review by Roger Ebert
  5. ^ a b c d 2001 Review, mostly of Brooks's DVD commentary, from Salon.com
  6. ^ Black Bart at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] Other external links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Films Directed by Mel Brooks
The Producers | The Twelve Chairs | Young Frankenstein | Blazing Saddles | Silent Movie | High Anxiety
History of the World, Part I | Spaceballs | Life Stinks | Robin Hood: Men in Tights | Dracula: Dead and Loving It
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