Review: Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974)

This week my Bonnie Bride brought home a copy of Blazing Saddles (1974) to watch as, it surns out, she had never seen it. She new about the film, and that there are frequent references to the film via the very quotable Mongo – “Mongo only pawn in game of life”. This is also a film that frequently comes up in discussion within some of my social circles, and is often noted that this film could not be made today due to “Cancel Culture” and the frequent use of a certain word. The film itself is a commentary on the idiocy of racism, and how idioitic racists are, even, at one point, calling racists “morons”. The screenplay was written by a team led by Mel Brooks, with Richard Pryor, Andrew Bergman (who wrote the original story concept), Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger (I pulled the full list from – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazing_Saddles. Cleavon Little took on the starring role as Sheriff Bart, and, along with Pryor, was instrumental in getting the Black comedy, the parts conveying how stupid racism is, right, as well as making fun of racists.

Blazing Saddles poster - IMDB

There will be a few minor spoilers, so I hope ya’ll don’t mind.

Count Basie and Cleavon Little - IMDB

Cleavon Little was an actor who was previously known to me via a TV series, the SitCom Temperatures Rising, and had found him to be a good performer then, and he continued to deliver in Blazing Saddles. Sadly, the only other film I have seen hi in is Once Bitten (1985), where he continued to turn in a memorable performance.

Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little - IMDB

Rounding out the cast is Gene Wilder as The Waco Kid, the fast fun in the world; Harvey Korman as the lead villain, Hedley Lamarr, Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp, a character modeled after Marlene Dietrich, Slim Pickens as Taggart, Lamarr’s Lieutenant, and Alex Karras as the aforementioned Mongo. There are many other familiar faces in the cast as well.

What the film does is use Sheriff Bart as a means to disprove all the various negative stereotypes that Black people have to deal with, while making fun of those who hold those negative views of Blacks, and proving that these types of people with bigoted views are pretty darn gullible to believe such bull. There is one funny bit where Bart and Waco lure a couple of white-hooded schmucks away from the crowd of other schmucks, then Bart and Waco reappear in the garb of the schmucks that they lured away. Their plan – infiltration. It, of course, failed when Bart reached out to sign the recruitment forms for Lamarr’s army. Bart quips – “Now for my next impression, Jesse Owens” as he and Waco make like the Olympic Athlete and run for the hill’s. Jesse Owens was a track and field runner in the 1936 Olympics in Munich, beating out his White competitors (especially the German athletes) for four Gold Medals.

Slim Pickens and the Toll Booth bit - IMDB

The film is littered with anachronisms and culture references long before they would have shown up in the era the film is depicting, but not surprising as the film ends in utter chaos as it not only breaks the fourth wall, but demolishes it completely. In one scene we have Sheriff Bart riding across the range to a lovely piece of music, only to find Count Basie and his orchestra performing the piece, “April in Paris”. Cultural references also include the bandits from “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, Hedy Lamarr, WW2 German soldiers, among others. Anachronisms included a toll booth in the middle of nowhere, candy-grams, and Kahn’s stage performance as Lili singing “I’m Tired” was a tribute to Marlene Dietrich. Oh, and Indians speaking in German.

Blazing Saddles contains substantial amounts of profanity and some suggestive naughtiness, as well as funny. Best way to describe the film, in addition to shaming bigots, is controlled chaos. It’s been quite a long time since last the last time I had watched this film, and it was a hoot to watch again, especially with Little and Wilder performing together in what is a classic Mel Brooks film. And as long as you keep the context usage of one certain word, you will probably find it a very funny, anti-racist film.

Thanks for stopping by.

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