Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft.^[3] The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, and is ranked No. 6 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Laughs list.

Brooks appears in two supporting roles, Governor William J. Le Petomane and a Yiddish-speaking Indian chief; he also dubs lines for one of Lili von Shtupp's backing troupe. The supporting cast includes Slim Pickens, Alex Karras, and David Huddleston, as well as Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman. Bandleader Count Basie has a cameo as himself.

The film satirizes the racism obscured by myth-making Hollywood accounts of the American West, with the hero being a black sheriff in an all-white town. The film is full of deliberate anachronisms, from the Count Basie Orchestra playing "April in Paris" in the Wild West, to Slim Pickens referring to the Wide World of Sports, to the German army of World War II.

Plot

In the American Old West of 1874, construction on a new railroad led by Lyle (Burton Gilliam) 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," a "Dr. Samuel Johnson," a "Van Johnson" and an "Olson N. Johnson"). The conniving State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) – who constantly has to correct people who call him "Hedy", the name of a movie star, instead of "Hedley" – wants to buy the land along the new railroad route cheaply by driving out the townspeople. He sends a gang of thugs, led by his flunky assistant Taggart (Slim Pickens), to scare them away, prompting the townsfolk to demand that Governor William J. Le Petomane (Mel Brooks) appoint a new sheriff. Lamarr persuades the dim-witted Le Petomane to select Bart (Cleavon Little), a black railroad worker who was about to be hanged, as he believes a black lawman will so offend the townspeople that they will either abandon Rock Ridge or lynch the new sheriff, with either result paving the way for him to take over the town.

With his quick wits and the assistance of drunken gunslinger Jim (Gene Wilder), also known as "The Waco Kid" ("I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille"),^[4] Bart works to overcome the townsfolk's hostile reception. He defeats and befriends Mongo (Alex Karras), an immensely strong, slow-thinking (but surprisingly philosophical) henchman sent by Taggart and Lyle to kill Bart, and then beats German seductress-for-hire Lili von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) at her own game. Lamarr is furious that his plans keep failing and decides to destroy Rock Ridge with a newly recruited and diverse army of thugs.

Bart gathers the town, along with the railroad workers, three miles east of Rock Ridge to build a fake town as a diversion. The workers labor all night to build a perfect replica, but with no people in it Bart realises it won't fool Lamarr's villains. Ordering the townspeople to make "exact replicas of themselves," Bart leaves with Jim and Mongo to construct a tollbooth. The booth delays the raiding party when they have to go back for "a shitload of dimes."

Once through the tollbooth, Lamarr's villains attack the fake town populated with dummies, which Bart boobytrapped with several dynamite bombs. Bart tries setting off the bombs but is unsuccessful as the detonator does not work. Jim is given the task of exploding the bombs, and fires his pistol at them. After the bombs explode, launching bad guys and horses skyward, the Rock Ridgers attack the villains.

The resulting fight between the townsfolk and Lamarr's army of thugs breaks the fourth wall, literally. The fight spills out from the Warner Bros. film lot into a neighboring musical set being directed by Buddy Bizarre (Dom DeLuise), then into the studio commissary, and ultimately into the surrounding streets (specifically, Olive Avenue in Burbank). The citizens chase the villains back to Rock Ridge to destroy them, but Lamarr takes a taxi ". . . off this picture." He arrives at Grauman's Chinese Theatre to watch the "premiere" of Blazing Saddles. Unfortunately, he sees on the movie screen that Bart has arrived outside the theatre. Bart ends up killing Lamarr by shooting him in the groin. Bart and Jim then go into the theatre to watch the end of the film, where Bart decides to leave Rock Ridge, much to the sadness of the townspeople and the railroad workers, for his work there is done. As he rides off, he finds Jim (who still has the popcorn that he bought at the theatre), and the two decide to go off to "nowhere special." They ride a short distance out of town, hand their horses off to the movie's wranglers and are driven away in a limousine into the sunset.

Cast

Cast notes

• Count Basie appears as himself in a cameo, with his band, which plays "April in Paris" in the middle of the desert, as Bart rides by on his way to Rock Ridge.
• Besides appearing as Governor Le Petomane and a Yiddish-speaking Indian chief, Mel Brooks appears in a cameo as one of Hedley Lamarr's thugs, an aviator wearing sunglasses and a bomber jacket.^[5] He also dubbed the voice for one of the German chorus boys backing Madeline Kahn's performance of "I'm Tired",^[5] speaking lines such as "Give her a break!", "She's not a snake" and, "Don't you know she's pooped?!"
• Sally Kirkland and Janice Whitby appear in uncredited bit parts as the studio cafe cashier and the studio tour guide.

Production

The idea of Blazing Saddles came from an original story outline written by Andrew Bergman, which Brooks described as "hip talk — 1974 talk and expressions — happening in 1874 in the Old West". Brooks was immediately taken by the story, and despite having not worked with a writing team for some time, hired a group of writers, including Bergman, to expand on the script, reminding them "Please do not write a polite script".^[6] Brooks described the writing process as chaotic in an interview with Creative Screenwriting, recalling, "Blazing Saddles was more or less written in the middle of a drunken fistfight. There were five of us all yelling loudly for our ideas to be put into the movie. Not only was I the loudest, but luckily I also had the right as director to decide what was in or out."^[7]

Brooks explained in the DVD commentary that the original title of the film, Tex X (as in the name of Black Muslim leader Malcolm X), was rejected, along with Black Bart and Purple Sage. Finally, Brooks concocted the title Blazing Saddles while taking a shower.^[8]

Blazing Saddles was Brooks' first film shot in anamorphic format. To date, this film and History of the World, Part I are the only Brooks films in this format.

Brooks had repeated conflicts with studio executives over the cast and content. They objected to both the highly provocative script and the "irregular" activities of the writers (particularly Richard Pryor, who reportedly led all-night writing jams fueled by loud music and drugs). Brooks wanted Pryor to play the sheriff, but Warner executives expressed concern over Pryor's heavy drug use and alleged mental instability.^[8] Cleavon Little was cast in the role, and Pryor continued as co-screenwriter. In the midst of shooting, Gene Wilder — who had previously turned down the Hedley Lamarr role — was brought in to replace Gig Young, who collapsed during his first scene from what was later determined to be alcohol withdrawal syndrome.^[9][10]

After an in-studio screening, Warner Bros. executives objected to constant use of the word "nigger", the flatulent campfire scene, and Mongo appearing to punch a horse, and asked Brooks to modify those scenes. Brooks declined, as his contract gave him control of the final cut. He did remove the final line of Bart's response to Lili's attempt to seduce him in the dark: "I hate to disappoint you, ma'am, but you're sucking my arm."^[11] To an interviewer's query about his frequent use of "nigger" in the script, Brooks responded that if Blazing Saddles were to be remade today, the controversial word would have to be omitted ("and then, you've got no movie..."). He added that he had received consistent support for its use from writer Richard Pryor, and lead actor Cleavon Little.^[12]

Brooks wanted the movie's title song to reflect the western genre, and advertised in the trade papers for a "Frankie Laine-type" sound. Several days later, Laine himself visited Brooks' office to offer his services. Brooks had not told Laine that the movie was a comedy: "'Frankie sang his heart out... and we didn't have the heart to tell him it was a spoof — we just said, 'Oh, great!' He never heard the whip cracks; we put those in later. We got so lucky with his serious interpretation of the song."^[13]

In an interview included in the DVD release of Blazing Saddles, Brooks claimed that Hedy Lamarr threatened legal action on grounds that the film's running "Hedley Lamarr" joke infringed on her right to privacy. This is lampooned in the film itself when Hedley corrects Governor Le Petomane's pronunciation of his name, and Le Petomane retorts, "What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874; you'll be able to sue her! " Brooks said that he and the actress settled out of court for a small sum. In the same interview, Brooks related that John Wayne was offered a cameo role. After reading the script Wayne declined, fearing the dialogue was "too dirty" for his family image, but told Brooks that he "would be first in line to see the film".^[14]

Reception

While the film is widely considered a classic comedy today, critical reaction was mixed when the film was first released. Vincent Canby wrote:^[15]

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. Woody 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 gave the film four stars and called it 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?"^[16]

The film grossed $119.5 million in the box office, becoming only the tenth film in history up to that time to pass the $100 million mark.^[17]

On the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 90% positive reviews based on 49 reviews.^[18]

Awards and honors

In the scene where Lamarr addresses his band of bad guys, he says, "You men are only risking your lives, while I am risking an almost-certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor!" Harvey Korman did not, in fact, get an Oscar nomination, but the film did receive three other Academy Awards nominations in 1974: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Madeline Kahn, Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Original Song. The film also earned two BAFTA awards nominations, for Best Newcomer (Cleavon Little) and Best Screenplay.^[19][20]

The film won the Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" for writers Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger.^[21]

In 2006, Blazing Saddles was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.^[22]

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - #6 ^[23]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Excuse me while I whip this out." - Nominated^[24]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated ^[25]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated ^[26]

Legacy

TV pilot

A television pilot was produced for CBS based on Andrew Bergman's initial story, titled Black Bart,^[27] which was the original title of the film. It featured Louis Gossett, Jr. as Bart and Steve Landesberg as his drunkard sidekick, a former Confederate officer named "Reb Jordan". Mel Brooks had little if anything to do with the pilot, as writer Andrew Bergman is listed as the sole creator. The pilot did not sell, but CBS aired it once on April 4, 1975. It was later included as a bonus feature on the Blazing Saddles 30th Anniversary DVD and the Blu-ray disc.

Musical adaptation

With the production of musical adaptations of The Producers and Young Frankenstein, rumors spread about a possible adaptation of Blazing Saddles. Brooks joked about the concept in the final number in Young Frankenstein, in which the full company sings, "next year, Blazing Saddles!" In 2010, Mel Brooks confirmed this, saying that the musical could be finished within a year. No creative team or plan has been announced.^[28]

Soundtrack

The first studio-licensed release of the full music soundtrack to Blazing Saddles was on La-La Land Records on August 26, 2008. Remastered from original studio vault elements, the limited edition CD (a run of 3000) features the songs from the film as well as composer John Morris's score. Instrumental versions of all the songs are bonus tracks on the disc. The disc features exclusive liner notes featuring comments from Mel Brooks and John Morris.^[29]

See also

• List of American films of 1974

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Blazing Saddles

• Blazing Saddles at the Internet Movie Database
• Blazing Saddles at the TCM Movie Database
• Blazing Saddles at Box Office Mojo
• Blazing Saddles at Rotten Tomatoes