Blazing Saddles (1974)

To ruin a western town, a corrupt political boss appoints a black sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writers:

Mel Brooks (screenplay), Norman Steinberg (screenplay),

Stars:

Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cleavon Little	...	Bart
Gene Wilder	...	Jim
Slim Pickens	...	Taggart
Harvey Korman	...	Hedley Lamarr
Madeline Kahn	...	Lili Von Shtupp
Mel Brooks	...	Governor William J. Lepetomane / Indian Chief
Burton Gilliam	...	Lyle
Alex Karras	...	Mongo
David Huddleston	...	Olson Johnson
Liam Dunn	...	Rev. Johnson
John Hillerman	...	Howard Johnson
George Furth	...	Van Johnson
Jack Starrett	...	Gabby Johnson (as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.)
Carol Arthur	...	Harriett Johnson
Richard Collier	...	Dr. Sam Johnson

Storyline

The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar, a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor. Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople.

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Plot Keywords:

sheriff | governor | railroad | western town | spoof | 

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Taglines:

Never give a saga an even break!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Yiddish German

Release Date:

7 February 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black Bart

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$119,500,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Crossbow Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Is #9 on Bravo's list of the 100 Funniest Movies.

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Goofs

When Bart arrives in Rock Ridge and the "Welcome Sheriff" banner retracts, it flips once, leaving some of the writing still visible. When Bart walks over to unfurl it again, it is neatly closed with no writing visible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lyle: Come on, boys! The way you're lollygaggin' around here with them picks and them shovels, you'd think it was a hundert an' twenty degree. Can't be more than a hundert an' fourteen.

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Crazy Credits

Karl Lukas is credited (as Karl Lucas) in opening credits only.

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Connections

Referenced in Silent Movie (1976)

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Soundtracks

"Camptown Races"
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster

User Reviews

One of the funniest movies of all time. Corny by today's standards but icon shattering in it's day. A stroke of two geniuses, Brooks and Pryor.

I can only imagine the laughter in the room when Brooks and Pryor combined their heads to create this one. A Jew making fun of Jews, a Black making fun of Blacks, two Western Americans making fun of the West, movie makers making fun of the movies. The childish fart-level humor and utter cornball gags keep you rolling of the floor unable to breathe. This movie doesn't pretend to be anything more than cornball humor, but it's the all-time best at that. Let's not pretend to be intelligent adults, let's just watch this gem and laugh our heads off like the kids we are inside. Downsides are the overuse of swear words, which were funny in the early 70's because of their shock value during those censored times, but today are just annoying and unnecessary. Another annoying scene is the sexual perversion when Hedley makes love to the statue, though it's funny that the creep gets horny over the thought of money, it creeps me out. But the strength of the movie is its originality for its day, long before the Zuckors. The jokes come so fast and so unexpectedly that you can watch this movie many times before you catch them all.