Blazing Saddles (1974) is a satiric
Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, it was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman,
Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and 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 as himself.
Plot summary
The story is set in the American Old West of 1874 (though it is filled with
anachronistic references). 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", a "Van Johnson" and an "Olson Johnson".) The conniving State Attorney General Hedley Lamarr — 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, to scare them away, prompting
the townsfolk to demand that the Governor appoint a new sheriff. The Attorney General convinces
his dim-witted boss to select Bart, 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, also known as "The
Waco Kid" ("I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille!"), Bart works to
overcome the townsfolk's hostile reception. He defeats (and eventually befriends) Mongo, an immensely strong (but only marginally
sentient) henchman sent by Taggart, and bests German seductress-for-hire Lili von Shtupp at her own game, 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 such that it literally breaks the fourth wall; the fight spills out from the film lot in the Warner Bros. Studios into a neighboring musical
set, makes its way to the studio commissary where a pie fight ensues, and finally spills out
into the streets.
The film ends with the sheriff and the Waco Kid defeating the bad guy, saving 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 the sunset.
Cast
- Brooks dubbed in 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?!"
Production
Blazing Saddles was Mel Brooks' first movie shot in anamorphic format. To
date, this film and History of the World, Part I are the only films
Brooks has shot in this format.
Brooks wanted Richard Pryor to play the sheriff's role, but the studio objected. Warner
executives expressed concern about Pryor's reliability because of his heavy drug use at the time and the belief that he was
crazy.[1] Pryor was eventually hired as one of
the film's screenwriters. In a similar vein, Gene Wilder was the second choice to play the character of the Waco Kid. He was
quickly brought in to replace Gig Young after the first day of filming because Young was
suffering from delirium tremens on the set due to his alcoholism.[2]
After screening the movie, the head of Warner Brothers Pictures complained about the use of the word "nigger", the campfire scene and the punching of a horse, and told Brooks to remove all these elements from the
film. As Brooks' contract gave him control of the final cut, the complaints were disregarded and all three elements were retained
in the film.[1] When asked in a television
interview if anything was so offensive it had to be cut from the movie, however, Mel Brooks confided that one bit between
Madeline Kahn and Cleavon Little had to be edited. In the darkened dressing room when Lili asks Bart if it's "twue" what they say
about black men and then she says "it's twue, it's twue!", he cut Bart's punchline of "You're sucking my elbow..."
Mel Brooks wanted the movie's title song to reflect the western genre, and advertised in the trade papers that he wanted a
"Frankie Laine-type" sound. Several days later, singer Frankie Laine himself visited Brooks' office offering his services. Brooks had not told Laine that the
movie was planned as a comedy, and was embarrassed by how much heart Laine put into singing the song.
In an interview included in the DVD release of Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks claimed
that Hedy Lamarr threatened to sue, saying the film's running "Hedley Lamarr" joke infringed
her right to publicity. This is lampooned when Hedley corrects Governor Le Petomane's pronunciation of his name, and Le Petomane
replies with "What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874, you'll be able to sue her!". Brooks says they settled out
of court for a small sum. In the same interview, Brooks related how he managed to convince John
Wayne to read the script after meeting him in the Warner Brothers studio commissary.
Wayne was impressed with the script, but politely declined a cameo appearance, fearing it was "too dirty" for his family image.
He is also said to have told Brooks that he "would be first in line to see the film, though."
Influences
Madeline Kahn's role is a parody of Marlene Dietrich's in the 1939 western film
Destry Rides Again, while "I'm Tired" is a parody of Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)", a song written by Frederick Hollander. 'Shtup' is close to German 'stopfen' for 'to stuff' and is a Yiddish vulgarism
for sexual intercourse.
The bead work on Brooks' Indian headdress in the movie poster says "Kosher for Passover" in Hebrew (kosher l'pesach)
(although misspelled; it actually reads "Posher for Kassover" (posher l'kesach). When
Brooks is speaking 'Indian', he's actually speaking Yiddish. The use of the language may be a nod to the rumour that various
ethnic groups cast as Indians---Jews, southern Italians, Greeks, or Indians (often not of the nation being portrayed)---have used
the opportunity for non-English dialogue to insult their employers in Yiddish, Italian, Greek, Crow/Mandan/... and so on.
Right before the "I'm Tired" scene, after Jim tells Bart about Lili Von Shtupp, the tune that is playing in the background is
the theme from the fictional play Springtime For Hitler which appears in
Mel Brooks' first film The Producers. Another reference to the previous film
is when Governor Le Petomane echoes Max Bialystock's line "Hello Boys!"
The name of Harvey Korman's character, Hedley Lamarr, is regularly mispronounced by others as Hedy Lamarr (in reference to the actress). In History of the
World, Part I (a later Mel Brooks film), he plays Count De Monet (Mo-nay) another character whose name is often
mispronounced as "Count De Money".
Themes and motifs
In addition to spoofing the western genre, Blazing Saddles works to satirize the way that Hollywood has portrayed the
history of the American West. The film presents a western story but reverses several
clichés to suggest an inherent falsehood in the western genre. For example, the seemingly 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 the sake of profit. By injecting the
"real story" of the west into a clichéd western, the movie suggests a falsehood in the mythic Wild West, a portrayal most widely
propagated through cinema. The overall theme and many scenes (including the climactic brawl) are directly inspired by the 1939
Errol Flynn western Dodge City; Andrew Bergman, who created the original story, is a
well-known student of 1930s Warner Bros. films and even wrote a book on the subject, "We're In The Money."
The movie makes use of many anachronisms and breaks the fourth wall repeatedly to remind
viewers that they are watching a movie. For example, when newly-appointed Sheriff Bart is 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. Perhaps the largest use of such a theme, however, is the final battle, which takes place in the Warner
Bros. studios lot and commisary, as well as Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood. As Bart and Jim later go into the theatre to watch the end of the movie,
the scene inexplicably switches back to the western setting, though Jim clearly still has his popcorn from the theatre.
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 cultures are meshed together in harmony despite their obvious differences. When the
townspeople announce that they will give land to the black and Chinese railroad workers, but continue to persecute the Irish, the
workers withhold their support until all minorities are included.
The film is known for pushing the boundaries of "good taste" in cinema. The movie features racial epithets, sexual innuendoes,
and many references to bodily functions. One of the film's most famous scenes involves a group of cowboys sitting around a
campfire while eating plates of beans and farting loudly.
Certain versions of the film obscure the farting sounds with amplified sounds of horses neighing; other versions remove the scene
entirely and substitute blackout scenes of Bart using various tricks to defeat Mongo.
Nominations, awards and honors
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1975 (Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Madeline
Kahn, Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Original Song) and two BAFTA awards (Best Newcomer for Cleavon
Little and Best Screenplay).
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.[3]
In 2006, Blazing Saddles was among 25 films named to the National Film
Registry by the Librarian of Congress.[4] Films
chosen for inclusion in this registry are rated on several criteria, including historical significance. The American
film critic Dave Kehr queried if the historical
importance of Blazing Saddles lay in the fact that it was the first film from a major studio to have a fart joke.[5]
Critical reaction
While the film is widely considered a classic comedy today, critical reaction was mixed when the film was first released.
Vincent Canby wrote[6]:
| “ |
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 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?"[7]
TV pilot
A television pilot was produced for CBS based on Andrew Bergman's initial story, titled Black Bart.[8] It featured Louis Gossett Jr.
as Bart and Steve Landesberg as the drunk sidekick. 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.
Footnotes and references
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
