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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Never give a saga an even break!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Western

---

Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Numerous scenes were cut from the film, including one where Bart tricks Mongo into diving for treasure and a scene with the Governor touring the fake Rock Ridge with the press. The latter scene was added in the TV broadcast. Many scenes were shortened, thus to add more time this was put in. These are included on the Blu-ray release.

---

Goofs

During the chess playing scene, the number of white pieces on the board goes from 3 to 2.

---

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.

---

Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros. Pictures logo is on a black screen and burns on fire, revealing the start of the movie.

---

Alternate Versions

Previous versions shown on TV in the UK show Mongo's blackened face after the Candy Gram explodes. In all release versions, the scene fades out before we see Mongo's blackened face.

---

Connections

Referenced in Mike & Mike: Episode dated 13 August 2014 (2014)

---

Soundtracks

Hail to the Chief
(uncredited)
Music by James Sanderson
Performed by Harvey Korman and Mel Brooks

User Reviews

Mandatory viewing as a Societal IQ Test.

Arguably, the funniest movie of the 20th century. It is comedy for the socially and intellectually enlightened, with fart jokes. It's a scathing indictment to racism, disguised as hardcore racism. It truly is a movie made by, and for smart, socially aware people who can see past the dense smog of the manufactured racially divisive "WOKE" garbage spewing out of Hollywood today. Every 1 star review for this masterpiece gave a reason which indicates just how dumb people (mostly Americans) are becoming. How can adults not have the ability to discern and contextualize satire? The reviewers actually believe this movie was made intentionally racist. It's almost as if they expected simply to watch a movie about a horse saddle on fire, and got duped.

I think that one of the best ways to accurately gauge the intelligence of group of people - irrespective of age, color or gender - is to screen this movie with a video camera trained on the audience watching the film. See who laughs, see who has their arms crossed tightly with a frown, see who storms out of the room in disgust, etc. It's a simple exercise in human intellect and behavior and the ability to contextualize accurately social situations in order to be effective, trustworthy members of society.

Although, this would suck the fun out of the movie, but after the viewing, assuming everyone remained in the theater, have an open ended discussion as to why people liked or didn't like it.

I feel I can say, without hyperbole, that this movie can save humanity and bring about world peace.

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 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