Blazing Saddles (1974)

In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician 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 3 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 Shtüpp
Mel Brooks	...	Governor 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 (Harvey Korman), 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 (Mel Brooks). Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople.

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Plot Keywords:

cowboys and outlaws | spoof | n word | black cowboy | racism | 

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Taglines:

Never give a saga an even break!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

14

Did You Know?

Trivia

In 2002, "Model Railroader Magazine" ran a series of articles about building a train layout from start to finish, using Rock Ridge as inspiration. The "Rock Ridge Central" was an Old West-themed line and included buildings from the town, like Howard Johnson's one-flavor ice cream parlor.

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Goofs

(at around 4 mins) While the cowboys try to get the railroad workers to sing, the cowboys sing and the banjo player plays the banjo but no sound is heard at all.

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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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Alternate Versions

When aired on Fox Family, the part Hedley Lamaar is looking through a law book for 'Land Snatch' was altered: when Hedley get's to the part of the book that says 'See Snatch' is changed to 'See Property'.

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Connections

Featured in 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994)

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Soundtracks

I Get a Kick Out of You
(uncredited)
Written by Cole Porter

User Reviews

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.

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 USA:

$119,601,481

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$119,601,481

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crossbow Productions, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby (2016 Re-Release) Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1