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:

ethnic slur | sheriff | western town | western spoof | railroad | 

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Taglines:

Never give a saga an even break!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

A

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Yiddish German

Release Date:

7 February 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le shérif est en prison

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$119,500,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crossbow Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Over 70 stuntmen worked on this film, many of them doubling as extras.

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Goofs

When the railroad men are "sinking", the bottom of the screen reveals that they are not.

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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 Just a Minute: Episode #1.2 (2012)

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Soundtracks

Merrily We Roll Along
(uncredited)
Written by Charles Tobias, Murray Mencher & Eddie Cantor

User Reviews

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