Blazing Saddles
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Film critic Roger Ebert once said that the great comedy writer and director Mel Brooks is so uniquely likeable and funny that he has the ability to “say anything, do anything” and people will let him.
For proof, look no further than Brooks’ 1974 box office hit Blazing Saddles. It’s a comedy western made up of such outrageously funny excess that it’s a good bet you’ll laugh out loud at the chaotic humor and firehose of jokes, no matter how irreverent, racist, sexist, and satirically offensive they may be.
Working from a screenplay by Brooks and a team of co-writers that included the brilliant comedian Richard Pryor, the plot is about a crooked mayor who plans to run a railroad through his town of Ridge Rock and make a fortune in the process. There’s just one problem: the mayor needs to drive out the townspeople who live there. So, to make sure that there’s no law and order standing in his way, he plots to have a Black man appointed sheriff of the all-white town, fully expecting the locals to kick him out. A lawless Ridge Rock will then be ripe for his devilish plan.
Soon the black sheriff—named Black Bart, naturally—arrives in town and the mayor’s plan looks like it will work. But then, Bart ruins things by gradually winning over the townspeople. With the help of a drunken gunslinger named the Waco Kid, he thwarts the mayor and fights to save the town.
The comedic anarchy of Blazing Saddles is a joy, never missing a chance to make a vulgar joke or take a satirical shot at stereotypes. Like when Black Bart stands before the townspeople, reaches toward his pants, and says:
“Excuse me while I whip this out.”
The crowd gasps, terrified of what Bart intends to “whip out”. But when he pulls out a document that he wants to show them, they heave an enormous sigh of relief.
Or when a group of cowboys sit around a campfire eating plates of baked beans…farting up a storm.
Or when the cross-eyed governor wants to give the Indians a box of paddleballs in exchange for 200,000 acres and calls it a fair trade.
As for the many racial epithets that are used in the movie, Brooks said that during production he questioned if maybe he was going too far. So he asked Richard Pryor his opinion. Pryor answered: “If the racists and the bad guys in the movie use that language, then it’s perfect. But if the good people use it, then you’re in trouble.” So Brooks kept to that plan.
The cast here is a lineup of comedy greats: from Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder to Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Mel Brooks himself. Blazing Saddles is a four-star winner.
