Made for Tv Version of Blazing Saddles Edited Funny
"Excuse me while I whip this out." Dead-pan funny
Blazing Saddles is one of the funniest movies to not only to come from Mel Brooks, but from cinema itself. Film stars Cleavon Little as a regular black laborer, but then a villain (Heldey Lamarr is perfectly played by Harvey Korman) wants to move a community out of the town Rockridge. So, he brings Cleavon in to make the people leave (the people in town are racist including the line: "The sherrif is a nig! "What'd he say?" "He said the sherrif's a near). Funny story, funny jokes (the farting sequence is ahead of it's time for 1974) and 2 breakthroughs- Madedline Kahn in a Oscar nominated performance as Von Shtupp and shines through. The other is Richard Pryor, who co-writes the script with Brooks and Andrew Bergman. Hilarious, forever. A+
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Trailblazing "Saddles"
A few years ago, Broadway producers decided to adapt a Mel Brooks comedy and made a bundle. Could it happen again with 'Blazing Saddles?' The movie already has four great songs; a half-dozen more of similar caliber would make for a strong score. 'Blazing Saddles' has a ready-made cast of over-the-top characters, strong audience identification, and some minor problems for a theatrical production (like blowing up the phony Rock Ridge) which are easily overcome.
But 'The Producers' was a cult film that never made it to Main Street and needed the second act of a Broadway musical to give it a place in popular culture. 'Blazing Saddles' could never open again as big as it did in 1974. In the summer of Watergate and Patty Hearst, here was one bit of madness people could enjoy. And it wasn't just random kookiness, but a film that broke barriers and courted controversy like no other major-release film of its time. No other movie had characters that were basically likable if stupid throwing around the 'N' word before. In fact, it hasn't happened since (and I doubt it would on Broadway today.) The whole notion of white people and black people living together was not new, but the approach of 'Blazing Saddles' was certainly new. In order to live together, we have to laugh together first. The only way this film was not a trailblazer was in that it blazed trails untaken by any film that came after.
Was Cleavon Little then a civil rights pioneer for the 1970s, in a way Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were the decade before? He's very good, bringing a lightness to the role that's equal parts Shaft and Bugs Bunny. Richard Pryor was one of the film's writers and Brooks' first choice for Sheriff Bart, but Pryor wouldn't have played the role in the same smooth way. Little is an amiable actor, one step ahead but never cocky about it. He makes for a sympathetic center, and he is flash in those corduroy threads.
Little didn't work much after 'Blazing Saddles,' which makes no sense. It was only the highest-grossing Western of all time, and Little was the lead actor in it. Maybe institutional racism wasn't the sole cause. After all, he had a distractingly rock-solid cast around him, particularly Harvey Korman as Attorney General Hedley Lamarr. Growing up in the '70s, it was a shock the first time I saw the unedited 'Blazing Saddles' with all the casual vulgarity spewing from the mouth of Tim Conway's slapstick buddy on the ultra G-rated 'Carol Burnett Show.' 'You will be only risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost-certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor,' he tells his gang before they ride off to pillage Rock Ridge. If only the Academy didn't penalize comedies so, that might have been true.
Madeline Kahn did get nominated for Lili Von Shtupp, and deserved her Laurel and Hardy handshake for sure. Her Baba Wawa meets Marlene Dietrich performance is a comic masterpiece, and it takes guts to wear that dead-weed lingerie in which she performs 'I'm So Tired.' Slim Pickens (Taggart), Burton Gilliam (Lyle), Dom DeLuise (Buddy), and Brooks himself as 'the Gov' all shine, and the level of comic acting remains high all the way to the smallest roles, like the guy playing Hitler ('They lose me right after the bunker scene') and the cowboy who chews gum in line ('I didn't know there was gonna be so many people!')
Gene Wilder is a little young and ironic for the bitter ex-gunslinger known as the Waco Kid, but he grows into the role well enough. Certainly he was in tune with what Brooks was doing more than Gig Young or Dan Dailey would have been (Brooks' earlier choices for the part, with Young making it all the way to the first day's shooting before it was discovered he wasn't just acting the part of a hopeless drunk.)
'Blazing Saddles' doesn't make the IMDb top 250, but it's still one of the most significant video titles because it rewards repeat viewings so well. The wholeness of the film's comic spectacle is too dense to be absorbed in one viewing, especially when you are laughing too hard. It's a cultural landmark, yes, but it's even funnier now than it was 30 years ago, one of the funniest comedies that exist today. Making it into a musical now would almost be demeaning, but I suspect it will happen anyway.
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Hey! The sheriff is a ni... BONG!!!!
Remember the days when humanity could laugh at itself? Blazing Saddles is a film that takes us all back to a more innocent era. An era where PC was just a couple of letters stuck together. I'll get this out of the way first: To all of you pc commies out there... the racism in this film is there to MAKE THE WHITE PEOPLE THE BUTT OF THE JOKES!!!! There is not a single person of color in this film who plays a negative character. The rednecks are what this film is really making fun of. I think most people realize this (hence the 7.7), but there are still a few who don't.
This is such a funny film. From the opening scene along the railroad tracks to the shot of Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little riding off into the sunset in a limo, the film provides an endless stream of laughs. Every time a person views this film, they can notice something truly hilarious that they may have missed the last time. Mel Brooks doesn't always hit the mark with his comedy, but this film was by far his best effort.
Cleavon Little and Harvey Korman give the best performances in my opinion. I think Cleavon Little stole every scene in every film I saw him in. He died way too young, and I wish he could have acted in more films. Korman's Hedley Lamar character is a real hoot. By the end of my most stressful days at work, I often find myself talking to everyone in his voice. So evil, and so calculating! He and Slim Pickens played off each other flawlessly.
Good luck catching an un-edited version of this classic anywhere but on the DVD. Forget about any kind of an effective remake, either. Not in this day and age.
Don't miss this film! 10 of 10 stars.
So sayeth the Hound.
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An All-Time Classic
Whenever I look at this film I laugh so hard that somtimes tears come to my eyes. Brooks manages to do with this film what Young Frankenstien did to classic horror films. The thing that really works is all the in jokes laced throughout the film. This shows that the cast and crew were really having fun in writing and producing this film. But the main credit should go to the late Cleavon Little. He was perfect as Bart. He took the role when many thought it should have gone to Richard Pryor (who was a co-writer on the film). However, I think Pryor might have been a little too over the top for the role. Little played it more low key and not as militant as Pryor might have.
Also, this film was rated R when it was first released back in 1974. Today it probably would get either a P.G. or, at most, a P.G.-13 rating.
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A Master Class In Satire
In its side-splitting takedown of racism and all-purpose ignorance, 1974's "Blazing Saddles" is one of the boldest and most important satires ever made. As raunchy and as ludicrous as it is whip-smart, it can claim parentage of modern-day parodies from "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)" to "Sausage Party (2016)" to music industry spoof "Stadium Anthems (2018)" in their uses of obscenity, intelligence, and song to expose inane social truths.
It's the Wild West. Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) is a white business opportunist with moronic and hyper-sexed governor William J. LePetomane (Mel Brooks) in his back pocket. Lamarr wants to build a railroad through the outpost town of Rock Ridge. When he can't scare off the town folk, he incites chaos by saddling them with a black sheriff (Bart, played by the now-iconic Cleavon Little), who just days before was a railroad laborer sentenced to hanging. It turns out that the sly Bart is a rare sage in a frontier littered with dumb white people; he pairs with booze-soaked gunslinger Jim (Gene Wilder) to rally the town against Lamarr's thugs.
Wearing no seatbelt, "Blazing Saddles" rebukes the absurdity of racism with its own absurdist countermeasures. While its blueprint would never make it past present-day studio tastemakers, its defrocking of ignorance has never been better primed for mass consumption. This is a watershed comedy that presides atop any short list of film's greatest satires. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
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Blazing Saddles
Howling comedy from Mel Brooks about the Old West with a script that keeps you laughing all the way through and a cast of characters right up there with the Marx Brothers. Kahn is especially tempting as a Marlene Dietrich-like performer, while director Brooks has a fine little cameo as a befuddled and distracted governor. The skits and sight gags are constant. One of the funniest films ever made!
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"That's Hedly, not Hedy..."
Mel Brooks found a way in 1974 to direct two of the greatest comedies of all time. And in that one year, he found a way to cram as many movie parodies, and not have any overlap, as any director can in Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. What Young Frankenstein was to the 1930s horror movies Blazing Saddles was to the Westerns of the 1960s. And add in there the oppression of blacks during the same time, and you have a biting satire on the role of blacks in society, if not in 1974, at least the way it was in 1874. Cleavon Little (by the way, he's black) plays Bart, a slave laborer for Hedley Lamarr's (Harvey Korman in a GREAT performance as a scheming government employee) railroad who needs to cut through the town of Rock Ridge for completion. The townspeople won't sell their land, so Lamarr has the sheriff killed and replaced with Bart. He's not really welcomed into the town, but with help from Jim, the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) he is able to earn's the town's trust. Standard plot, and a plot that does not really matter. The humor is so scatological, from so many periods of time, that we know it's a movie, and the characters in the movie know they are in a movie. Take Slim Pickens when he cries out "What in the wide world of sports is going on here?" And the final 10 minutes of the movie is just odd in any other movie, but somehow works in Blazing Saddles. So much humor is cut out of the TV versions, so don't waste your time with it. It has to be seen with the language and "sexually suggestive" scenes to be fully appreciated.
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The Film That Made Brooks A Star
Mel Brooks made several very popular and memorable films in the '70s but I doubt any was more popular than this one. Made just several years after the morals' code had been lifted in Hollywood, it was able to provide humor in a new and shocking way. People could fart, swear, have old ladies use the n- word, men could punch horses in the face, make fun of any religion, creed, race or whatever was there to make fun of ...in other words, no holds barred when it came to trying to get a laugh. Nothing was sacred at this time in Hollywood history and few capitalized on this as well as Brooks, especially with this film.
The film doesn't have much shock value anymore but it's still fun to watch and probably always will be, thanks to the outrageous characterizations in here.
On the negative side, especially if don't know Brooks does whatever he can to get a laugh and isn't all that political, this film might be too politically-correct with its reverse racism, bias against religion and overly crude situations.
But - a big but - there are so many funny lines in here, so many funny scenes you never forget and never fail to laugh no matter how many times you see it (the campfire scene alone has made men cry in laughter for 30 years) that you can overlook about anything in here.
In summary, a true "classic" guaranteed to entertain for many more years to come.
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Withstands the tests of time.
Warning: Spoilers
I recently purchased Blazing Saddles on DVD, to replace my well used and abused VHS copy. I was amazed at how funny this movie still IS.
Although I've never found humor in flatulence, that scene is a classic; the bad guys all sitting around the campfire, eating beans and ripping loud ones while Taggart (Slim Pickens) attempts to contrive a new scheme for ridding them of the new Sheriff of Rock Ridge. "Well, what about Mongo?" I always felt uncomfortable with the use of racial slurs, and this movie made me uncomfortable in that way, but it was Mel Brooks's intent to make us uncomfortable with racism. You can't correct a problem until you drag it out and lay it on the table, which is precisely what he did. He left no stone unturned, and even took a few pot shots at himself in the process.
This movie should have won about a hundred awards for its edge, wit, boldness, and the wonderful performances brought to the mix by these veteran actors. While Madeline Kahn did win a nomination for her portrayal as Lily von Shtupp, she should have won..and won..and won.
That is my favorite scene in the entire movie.
Gene Wilder is brilliant as the "Deputy Spade." While he was a bit young to be cast as a washed-up gunslinger, he molds himself into the role very quickly and lends a strong endearing presence to his character. Endearing is a good word. It fits Clevon Little's character, as well. He was honorable, clever, and completely smooth as the Sheriff of Rock Ridge. I highly admired his performance, and still do.
The dark humor in this movie is astounding. Brooks leaves no ethnic group unscathed by his cutting wit. There is no wonder this is the top grossing western attempt to be put on film. In the 1970's, when this was first released, America needed this form of release. There were serious racial tensions throughout the country, Watergate was still ringing in our ears, and the drama that was Patty Hurst's life for a time was still very much front page news. We, as a nation, needed a diversion which was not afraid of controversy and harsh reviews. The box office gross demonstrated just how much we DID need this movie, at the time it came out.
For that; being there for us when we needed it most, many thousands, if not millions, are loyal to Brooks and his productions, regardless of the subject matter. The laughter and lightheartedness he gave to us lives on. I was so pleased to see this movie redistributed on DVD.
Now, another generation can see and enjoy it as much as we did. Though they may not understand how we could laugh at a bunch of idiotic rednecks singing slave songs, using the "N" word every other line, and comparing anyone with any level of culture to "a bunch of Kansas City fagots," hopefully, the humor will not be lost to the misunderstanding that these slurs were meant to be taken seriously. The intent was to LAUGH AT those ignorant rednecks for BEING ignorant rednecks.
Long live Mel Brooks, the Crowned Prince of Parody!!
It rates a 9.5/10 from...
the Fiend :.
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"Where the white women at?"
1974 was a very good year for the team of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder; their "Young Frankenstein" (which came out in 1974) is one of the funniest movies ever made, and "Blazing Saddles" (same year) is almost just behind it. It's a bit overrated (but just a bit); I know a lot of people look on this as the funniest movie of all time, but I can't go THAT far. But it is ONE of the funniest movies of all time, and for two such movies by the same director, with the same star, to come out the same year, to be on that list is quite an achievement.
The residents of Rock Ridge (all named Johnson) need a new sheriff. They get one... Bart, played by Cleavon Little, who happens to be black. It's all planned out by Hedley Lamarr (don't call him Heddy!), an employee of the governor (Mel Brooks), in a plot to run the residents out of town so he can have a railroad run through it. At first, the townsfolk aren't happy about this development, but when Bart endeavors to save them from the evil Lamarr, who's played to slimy perfection by Harvey Korman, they warm up to him. Also thrown into the mix is Wilder as "The Waco Kid", a gunslinger who's lost his knack for shooting, Alex Karras as a huge idiot named Mongo , and Madeline Khan as Lily von Schtupp, a parody of Marlene Dietrich, complete with ridiculous German accent. She stands out heads and shoulders above everybody else in this movie, I think, and her song "I'm Tired" ("I'm not a wabbit! I need some west!") is possibly the funniest song ever to appear in a film. This is no doubt the funniest part Madeline Khan has ever had (and she ALSO appeared in "Young Frankenstein"!). It's also a kick to see a pre-"Magnum PI" John Hillerman as Howard Johnson, with an ice cream shop with a sign that screams "1 Flavor"; and Slim Pickens (Taggart, another bad guy) is always a hoot.
The plot is just an excuse to make fun of westerns, racism, and movie-making in general, as demonstrated in the extremely wacky, fourth-wall breaking finale (Watch for Dom DeLuise in these scenes). None of this is really supposed to make sense or be realistic, it's just supposed to be funny, and for the most part it is. It's one of the crassest and crudest mainstream movies in history, and that's it's strength; it often plays just like a Mad movie parody. One example of this that really sticks out is the famous farting scene, which somehow manages to be one of the funniest scenes in the movie, and probably the funniest fart scene ever. But the focus is on the way blacks were treated in the post-Civil War old west, and the movie is merciless in the way it has its ignorant white characters treat the black characters, throwing the n-word around without abandon and giving them the dirty work (at one point, a character says "We can't afford to lose any horses! Send a couple of n****rs!"). The movie finds its heart in the way the initially racist townspeople of Rock Ridge become fond of their black sheriff.
Its spirit, however, is in the hilarious and crude jokes that are thrown all through. This is one funny movie, and with Mel Brooks, that's what's really important.
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Incredibly funny
Incredibly funny.
A Mel Brooks comedy set in the Wild West. A corrupt politician wants to drive out the inhabitants of a town so that he can buy it up, as a railroad is about to go through it. One of the plans he devises to drive them out involves appointing a black sheriff...
Mel Brooks at his comedic, satirical, subversive and irreverent best. Has so many quotable lines and classic scenes.
Great work by Cleavon Little in the lead role. Good support from Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Brooks himself, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens and a host of others.
Bound to offend the dial-an-offense crowd (who are usually offended on behalf of a group they don't belong to, and who probably don't take offense themselves). That just makes it so much better...
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Even Randolph Scott Must Have Laughed At This One, Not To Mention Hedy Lamarr or Marlene Dietrich
I have a great deal of difficulty in deciding whether Blazing Saddles or The Producers is the funnier of the Mel Brooks comedies. Being a western aficionado I suppose I have to go with this film. I don't think there was a western cliché Mr. Brooks missed in this one.
From the first scene with that celebrated foof contest going on at the campfire to that last shootout at the premier of Blazing Saddles, you'd better be ready to not stop laughing for one minute. Mel Brooks assembled one of the best casts of comic actors this side of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World and got lifetime performances out of all of them.
I've always thought that Mel Brooks for Blazing Saddles borrowed a lot from the surreal quality of the Road pictures and certainly Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder have a Crosby/Hope like camaraderie going.
My favorite though is Harvey Korman as chief villain Hedy, oops I mean Hedley Lamarr. That was the role of a lifetime for him, I think his best moment on screen. Following closely is Madeline Kahn as famous saloon entertainer Lily Von Shtupp. You could tell the Code was a thing of the past when a character could have a name like that.
John Wayne was purportedly shown the script and while he declined to be in it, he did say it was the funniest thing he ever read and he would buy the first ticket.
Now that's the highest possible endorsement pilgrim.
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Political Correctness Is A Terrible Thing
No doubt pseudo-intellectuals ( Ie People who only think they`re clever ) will claim that BLAZING SADDLES deconstructs the traditional western by pointing out how fundamentally racist the genre is . I`ve no idea how much truth there is in that because I was too busy laughing at what was happening on screen . Yeah the N word figures a lot but let`s not forget one of the screenwriters is a famous black stand up comedian and that everyone be they black , white or Jewish are targets for the outrageous events in this movie so I fail to see what`s racist about it . It is of course politically incorrect but hands up anyone who`s seen a politically correct comedy that made them laugh ?
I won`t bother to go into any detail as to how funny BLAZING SADDLES is except to say I remember seeing it years ago and watched it again at the weekend . Unlike a great number of movies I have fond memories of this is one film that didn`t disappoint me after a long absence
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"Up yours,n*****".Brooks mocks the elephant in America's room
Warning: Spoilers
It took a Jew to have the courage to confront racism - in 1974 the elephant in America's room - and mercilessly present it as an object of ridicule. In this respect,"Blazing Saddles" is worth a dozen solemn Stanley Kramer - type epics. From the great Count Basie orchestra to the chain gang singing a close harmony version of "I get a kick out of you", Brooks does no finger - wagging but merely puts the conventions of race and the Western to the sword. With a writing assist from the late Richard Prior - who made Eddie Murphy look like Pippi Longstocking - Mr Brooks hilariously deconstructs a few sacred cows that Hollywood had baulked at for years and has never had the balls to put under the microscope since. Making the most of the artistic freedom he was allowed 36 years ago he gleefully attacked stereotypes of every hue.Today the studio would pull the plug after the first day's rushes.I guess liberalism and freedom of expression don't go together quite as neatly as we might have been led to believe. Mr Cleavon Little as the Accidental Sheriff is quite perfect,Mr Gene Wilder as his alcoholic sidekick slightly less so as he appears to be trying too hard to be crazy,something that came more naturally to him later in his career. The sublime Mr Harvey Korman walks away with the movie as the would - be suave villain,with Miss Madeleine Kahn pushing him very close as the Saloon chanteuse Lilli von Schtupp. Will we ever see another comedy like it?I fear not. Unless some hot young writer decides to pen a script about a child - abusing Muslim survivalist who has written a musical about Al Quaeda and wants it produced on Broadway.
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one of the best comedies of all time
Warning: Spoilers
So what movie has a black pot smoking sheriff in the old west, klansman with robes that say "have a nice day", bikers on horseback, a guy named mongo, count bassie in the middle of the dessert, uses the "n" word repeatedly without sounding racist, cattle walking through everything including waiting in line to see a movie, and ends somehow at manns Chinese theater after the cast has left the movie and broken loose onto Hollywood, why Blazing saddles of course. This comedy classic was made in 1974 and was directed by the once great Mel Brooks. I say once because he really went into decline after spaceballs (which was just o.k). This movie was written by Andrew Bergman who also wrote one of my other favorite comedies "The Freshman". This is another one of those movies I hope they never remake, it just works so why mess with things that work and yes work so well. Unless you hate comedy I dare you not to love this classic. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/
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sheriff murdered! People stampeded and cattle raped.
Quality. many people who love this film may feel that the negative comments from others are inoffensive as this is such a funny film, I will say this. They are entitled to their opinions ...even if they are wrong. This is one of the best comedies ever made.
Firstly it's not just Mel Brooks as scriptwriter which seems to make a big difference to the quality of the film he produces (Yung Frankestein is co-written by Gene Wilder) but then you have a cast in fine form, especially Harvey Corman as the fantastic Hedley Lamarr (Not Hedy, It's Hedley!) add to that a fantastic series of sight gags and word play, with a good dose of racism ridicule thrown in for good measure (...and they is so DUMB!)and it all makes for a brilliant mix of inspired film-making.
There are numerous scenes of note, but the scene of the townsfolk looking at their work and Bart chasing after the bad guy still makes my skin cold as they are genuinely moving moments.
best visual gag though has got to be the Wako Kid versus the goons at the railroad top drawer Much Love Mike
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Perhaps the best western of the 20th Century!
Blazing Saddles is a comedy, within a comedy, within a comedy.
An all star cast of Slim Pickens, Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder and of course funny man Mel Brooks.
Blazing Saddles an uproarious film about a railroad worker who becomes the sheriff of Rock Ridge as a joke by Hedley Lamar. Black Bart they call him. He is not welcomed at first because of his race but the arrival of bully Mongo whom Black Bart arrests, puts the citizens of Rock Ridge at ease and they start to respect Black Bart.
Mel Brooks is a genius. I have also seen his Star Wars spoof Spaceballs. He makes no apologies in keeping all the racist jokes in the film only cutting out a small line in the middle of the film.
I am sure there are people out there who don't care for this film. Whoever they are I am sure that they are missing a funny bone because Blazing Saddles is one of the funniest movies I have seen in my life. There is no way you could make this kind of movie today and get away with it because too many people out there don't have a sense of humor about racism even when it comes to a movie that is poking fun at it.
On a side note I am a tad disappointed that Richard Pryor wasn't able to play Black Bart but he was still able to write some jokes in and work on the movie.
A wonderful western classic. Blazing Saddles never gets old.
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Only blazing for those who do not get the point of Richard Pryor and Mel Brook's story.
Warning: Spoilers
The joke is on the always offended in this spoof of westerns that uses its comedy to make comments on race relations and the absurdity of racism. It is as potent decades later as it was in the turbulent 1970's, giving the world something to laugh at as the U.S. at least tried to wrap up a terrible war in Vietnam and political intrigue in its government. If laughter is the best medicine, then Brooks and Pryor gave us an overdose of it, and if laughing can kill, what a better way to go? Equally going after every minority, Brooks and Pryor do not pull a "French Mistake". The film has so many classic moments that you can't even pinpoint the five funniest easily. Just stay away from the beans.
Rock Ridge, a small western town (where pretty much everybody, including the ice cream owner, has the last name of Johnson) is undergoing corruption through governor Brooks, nefarious power hungry town boss Harvey Korman (who will do anything to get a railroad through the territory), his henchman Slim Pickens and the seductive chanteuse Madeline Kahn. "Holy underwear!" Brooks exclaims, giving the audience a hint of the type of humor to come, and indeed, it had already started with the presence of the mistreated railroad worker Cleavon Little who ends up being made sheriff as part of a scheme by Korman to further control the town. Once Kahn samples a taste of how Little's people are gifted (and it ain't little....). Gene Wilder takes on the smaller role of Little's sidekick, a former bandit himself, but makes the most of an inconsequential part.
With what could have been an extended sketch a la "The Carol Burnett Show" ends up being a 90 minute series of gags that is a combination of corniness, cleverless and baudiness. Korman, as "Hedley Lamarr", gets a good bulk of the laughs, even with just his name, but it is Little's charming performance that provides the film with its intelligence. It is obvious that Pryor immediately got the scope of Brooks' intentions, and through little hints shows the audience the absurdity of racism. Pryor (obviously with Brook's aide) parodies many popular films, including (obviously) "Destry Rides Again", with hints of "Tower of London" (the hangman speaks like Boris Karloff) and "Stagecoach" thrown in.
The whole cast is uniformly very funny with Kahn delivering a delightful Dietrich impression singing "I'm Tired", Devine emulating all of the classic western bullies, and Korman very funny as the main villain. Alex Karras is completely unrecognizable as the idiotic Mongo, best remembered for slugging a horse while its owner is still on it, and the Jessamine Milner as the seemingly sweet old lady who makes a hysterical use of a vicious slur. The parody takes on new meaning when it ends up moving from the western town set to the backlot, interrupting a lavish musical number sequence being filmed by Dom DeLuise. 90 minutes of absurdity so brilliantly handled that you can't help but come out of it with a sore gutt from laughing. My only complaint? That this could have easily been two hours, and I still would have wanted more!
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Blazing Saddles
A new sheriff is needed in Rock Ridge to clear away a team of local land grabbers out to lay a new railroad. The man in charge (Korman) needs the sheriff to fail so sends a black sheriff (Little) to the racist town.
Utterly over the top, crazed western full of the most wonderfully faux racist, sexist and slapstick comic set pieces made by Brooks. Korman is a glorious villain, Kahn hilarious as the Dietrich type sent to seduce Little and Wilder is as great as ever as the alcoholic quick draw. The whole film is riddled with hysterical scenes and rarely does Brooks miss a beat - possibly his 'Gov' piece is a bit lame, but otherwise it's Brooks best film apart from Young Frankenstein.
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A Jewish Indian, a rescued handcart, excessive flatulence, and a very gay movie set? Only Mel Brooks could do it!
Cinema reaches its all-time silliest with Mel Brooks' comedy classic "Blazing Saddles", in which African-American railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes sheriff of all-white Rockridge. Governor's assistant Hedley - not Hedy! - Lamarr (Harvey Korman) hopes that the townspeople will want to flee, opening the way for a railroad extension.
That's the official plot, but of course the movie is really an excuse for a series of crazy gags. Whether it's Jim/Waco Kid's (Gene Wilder) "fastest hands in the West", Gov. William J. LePetomane's (Mel Brooks) sexual follies, Lili Von Schtupp's (Madeline Kahn) songs, or the last names of Rockridge's townspeople (pay attention there), this movie shows that infantile humor can be hilarious. And I must say that it's almost surprising how much they used the N-word, especially considering that this was a comedy. But anyway, you're sure to die laughing. Because remember, "Mongo like candy!"
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Not racist
I was mentioning this movie a while back to a co-worker, and she said, "Oh, that movie is terrible, it's so racist..." She didn't get it. There is a lot of politically incorrect language, a lot of use of the "N" word. But you have to pay attention to the context. All the racial slurs are done in such a way that the object of ridicule is the racist whites, not African Americans. In that sense, it's just brilliant. In one scene, when the black sheriff greets an old white woman on the street, she responds with "Outta my way, n****r! Later, after he has proved his worthiness as sheriff, she brings him a pie she baked for him as a token of appreciation "for saving our town from that horrible "Mongo..." Then, before departing, she says, "Oh, and, sorry about the "outta my way n****er..." Some 40+ years later, whenever I hear that line, I find myself rolling on the floor laughing... Pure genius!
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shame on AMC
I keep hoping that one of these times, AMC will show an un-edited version of this film. It is really disturbing and disheartening that the PC crowd is able to get this once superb movie channel to censor the films it runs. If I were Mel Brooks I'd be more than a little upset over this wanton editing of an otherwise classic movie. If AMC does this to Blazing Saddles, how many other films are facing the censor's knife or edit button so that AMC can safely assure itself that, by bowing to the beast of political correctness it isn't offending anyone. It makes one wonder how the decision to edit this film was made; was it just some folks sitting around and decided, "hey, we can't show this stuff?"
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Not exactly subtle, but a great film regardless
While I slightly prefer The Producers and Young Frankenstein this is still a jewel in the crown when it comes to comedy. It is silly and it is not subtle at all, there are those who will flinch at some of the language used. But it is very funny, and works really well as a spoof. The story is a lot of fun, and there are enough slapstick and jokes to amuse as well as a wonderful script. The production values are very good too, while the acting is spot on. Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder are both great as the smart-as-a-whip railway worker appointed first black sheriff and the drunken gunman who helps him out, while Madeline Kahn(in a Marlene Dietrich send-up), Alex Karras and Harvey Korman are even better. Overall, not subtle but still great. 9/10 Bethany Cox
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"And now, for my next impression...Jesse Owens!"
Comedy legend Mel Brooks had a true banner year in 1974, reaching a career high with two undisputed classics, the black & white horror spoof "Young Frankenstein" and this often hysterical send-up of the whole Western genre. It's packed with one-liners, sight gags, numerous anachronisms, delicious performances in virtually every role, and some absolutely brilliant exercises in the breaking of the fourth wall. Gorgeously shot in Panavision by Joseph F. Biroc and wonderfully scored by John Morris - there's also some catchy ditties with lyrics by Brooks - "Blazing Saddles" is fun from start to finish, and remains a very quotable movie 40 years later.
Villainous attorney Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) wants to get rid of the town of Ridge Rock to make way for a railroad line and does his best to ensure that the townspeople are unhappy. One of his methods is hiring a black sheriff named Bart (the engaging Cleavon Little), and of course the "good" people of Ridge Rock don't take kindly to this. But Bart vows to make a go of things, and makes a friend in washed-up gunfighter Jim (ever likable Gene Wilder); eventually he starts gaining supporters as he comes up with ways to combat Lamarr and his goons.
This whole cast is a delight, and it reads like a who's who of talent: Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn (doing a priceless Marlene Dietrich parody), Brooks himself as the governor, Burton Gilliam, Alex Karras, David Huddleston, Liam Dunn, John Hillerman, George Furth, Jack Starrett (hilarious as the incoherent Gabby Johnson), Carol Arthur, Charles McGregor, and Dom DeLuise.
It's no surprise that AFI would name this as one of cinemas' best comedies. It has a very high quotient of successful verbal and visual jokes, enough to sustain it for a lively and irresistible hour and a half. That scene where a gang of cowboys enjoy a dinner of baked beans and the obvious result is still quite funny. Best of all is that ingenious finale.
Modern movie lovers who tire of the kind of spoofs being cranked out nowadays are advised to see this gem, an example of how to do this kind of thing right.
Nine out of 10.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/reviews
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