Take a look back at the talented actors and actresses who took home a Golden Globe for Best Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama since the category was created in 1951.
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.Written by
John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Mongo, played by Alex Karras , was likely based on the character Nitro Rankin in The Desperadoes 1943 played by Guinn Big Boy Williams, both actors were pro sportsmen, Baseball (Guinn) Football (Karras). See more »
Goofs
(at around 1h 6 mins) When the gunmen are introduced to the Waco Kid, they pull their pistols out to shoot him and the Kid draws and shoots the guns out of each of their hands. The pistols are all single action revolvers which have to be cocked before they can fire and none of them are cocked to shoot at the count of three. See more »
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
The Warner Bros. Pictures logo is on a black screen and burns on fire, revealing the start of the movie. See more »
Alternate Versions
The TV release has five extra scenes that weren't in the theatrical release:
When Sheriff Bart is trying to capture Mongo, after he delivers the "CandyGram for Mongo", it then shows a "draw on the dummy sheriff" game that fires a cannon at Mongo, and then a scene Bart convinces Mongo to go diving down a well for Spanish Doubloons and Bart stops pumping air to the diving suit because it's time for his lunch break.
Bart and Jim run away from Hedley Lamarr and his gang whilst wearing the KKK outfits. They run into some Born-again Christians having a baptism/picnic and join in.
Lily Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) gives a brief spoken introduction to the saloon crowd before beginning her song.
Governor Le Petomaine (Mel Brooks) arrives in the fake Rock Ridge a few moments before the final showdown, in a stagecoach with a flashing red light on the back, makes a joke about losing the "blue collar vote" and does a skit in the town where he impersonates Harpo Marx.
When the dynamite fails to explode, Lily Von Schtuup says with some German rambling that it didn't work. When nobody knows what she said the guy that speaks frontier gibberish tries to translate. Those around him hit him with their hats.
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.
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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.