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IMDbPro

Blazing Saddles

  • 1974
  • R
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
145K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,077
97
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Theatrical Trailer from Warner Bros. Pictures
Play trailer2:15
3 Videos
99+ Photos
ComedyWestern

In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.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
    • Norman Steinberg
    • Andrew Bergman
  • Stars
    • Cleavon Little
    • Gene Wilder
    • Slim Pickens
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    145K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,077
    97
    • Director
      • Mel Brooks
    • Writers
      • Mel Brooks
      • Norman Steinberg
      • Andrew Bergman
    • Stars
      • Cleavon Little
      • Gene Wilder
      • Slim Pickens
    • 483User reviews
    • 114Critic reviews
    • 73Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 Oscars
      • 3 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos3

    Blazing Saddles
    Trailer 2:15
    Watch Blazing Saddles
    'Blazing Saddles' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:40
    Watch 'Blazing Saddles' | Anniversary Mashup
    Morons of the West
    Video 0:28
    Watch Morons of the West

    Photos159

    Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Mel Brooks, Cleavon Little, and Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Slim Pickens and Alex Karras in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Alex Karras in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Alex Karras in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Robyn Hilton in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles (1974)
    Mel Brooks and Robyn Hilton in Blazing Saddles (1974)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Cleavon Little
    Cleavon Little
    • Bart
    Gene Wilder
    Gene Wilder
    • Jim
    Slim Pickens
    Slim Pickens
    • Taggart
    Harvey Korman
    Harvey Korman
    • Hedley Lamarr
    Madeline Kahn
    Madeline Kahn
    • Lili Von Shtüpp
    Mel Brooks
    Mel Brooks
    • Governor Lepetomane…
    Burton Gilliam
    Burton Gilliam
    • Lyle
    Alex Karras
    Alex Karras
    • Mongo
    David Huddleston
    David Huddleston
    • Olson Johnson
    Liam Dunn
    Liam Dunn
    • Rev. Johnson
    John Hillerman
    John Hillerman
    • Howard Johnson
    George Furth
    George Furth
    • Van Johnson
    Jack Starrett
    Jack Starrett
    • Gabby Johnson
    • (as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr.)
    Carol Arthur
    Carol Arthur
    • Harriett Johnson
    Richard Collier
    Richard Collier
    • Dr. Sam Johnson
    Charles McGregor
    • Charlie
    Robyn Hilton
    Robyn Hilton
    • Miss Stein
    Don Megowan
    Don Megowan
    • Gum Chewer
    • Director
      • Mel Brooks
    • Writers
      • Mel Brooks
      • Norman Steinberg
      • Andrew Bergman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      (at around 45 mins) Cleavon Little was not warned about the "you know. . . . morons" line. His reaction was real.
    • Goofs
      (at around 56 mins) During Lili Von Shtupp's musical performance, the soldier that provides a chair for her to rest in, throws his rifle down on the ground when explaining how "tired" she is. The rifle hits the stage floor and slides, bursting the stage light in front of him. The sound of the light exploding can be heard through the singing and music.
    • Quotes

      [Bart returns unexpectedly after being sentenced to death]

      Charlie: They said you was hung.

      Bart: And they was right.

    • Crazy credits
      The Warner Bros. logo appears on a black screen and burns away (in a homage to the Western show Bonanza (1959)), leading into the opening credits.
    • Alternate versions
      The standard cable and commercial broadcast versions omit racial slurs and some bad language. Extent of the editing is contingent on whether the TV-PG, or TV-14 version is being shown.
    • Connections
      Edited into 5 Second Movies: Blazing Saddles (2008)
    • Soundtracks
      Blazing Saddles
      Music by John Morris

      Lyrics by Mel Brooks

      Sung by Frankie Laine

    User reviews483

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    Trailblazing "Saddles"
    A few years ago, Broadway producers decided to adapt a Mel Brooks comedy and made a bundle. Could it happen again with 'Blazing Saddles?' The movie already has four great songs; a half-dozen more of similar caliber would make for a strong score. 'Blazing Saddles' has a ready-made cast of over-the-top characters, strong audience identification, and some minor problems for a theatrical production (like blowing up the phony Rock Ridge) which are easily overcome.

    But 'The Producers' was a cult film that never made it to Main Street and needed the second act of a Broadway musical to give it a place in popular culture. 'Blazing Saddles' could never open again as big as it did in 1974. In the summer of Watergate and Patty Hearst, here was one bit of madness people could enjoy. And it wasn't just random kookiness, but a film that broke barriers and courted controversy like no other major-release film of its time. No other movie had characters that were basically likable if stupid throwing around the 'N' word before. In fact, it hasn't happened since (and I doubt it would on Broadway today.) The whole notion of white people and black people living together was not new, but the approach of 'Blazing Saddles' was certainly new. In order to live together, we have to laugh together first. The only way this film was not a trailblazer was in that it blazed trails untaken by any film that came after.

    Was Cleavon Little then a civil rights pioneer for the 1970s, in a way Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were the decade before? He's very good, bringing a lightness to the role that's equal parts Shaft and Bugs Bunny. Richard Pryor was one of the film's writers and Brooks' first choice for Sheriff Bart, but Pryor wouldn't have played the role in the same smooth way. Little is an amiable actor, one step ahead but never cocky about it. He makes for a sympathetic center, and he is flash in those corduroy threads.

    Little didn't work much after 'Blazing Saddles,' which makes no sense. It was only the highest-grossing Western of all time, and Little was the lead actor in it. Maybe institutional racism wasn't the sole cause. After all, he had a distractingly rock-solid cast around him, particularly Harvey Korman as Attorney General Hedley Lamarr. Growing up in the '70s, it was a shock the first time I saw the unedited 'Blazing Saddles' with all the casual vulgarity spewing from the mouth of Tim Conway's slapstick buddy on the ultra G-rated 'Carol Burnett Show.' 'You will be only risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost-certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor,' he tells his gang before they ride off to pillage Rock Ridge. If only the Academy didn't penalize comedies so, that might have been true.

    Madeline Kahn did get nominated for Lili Von Shtupp, and deserved her Laurel and Hardy handshake for sure. Her Baba Wawa meets Marlene Dietrich performance is a comic masterpiece, and it takes guts to wear that dead-weed lingerie in which she performs 'I'm So Tired.' Slim Pickens (Taggart), Burton Gilliam (Lyle), Dom DeLuise (Buddy), and Brooks himself as 'the Gov' all shine, and the level of comic acting remains high all the way to the smallest roles, like the guy playing Hitler ('They lose me right after the bunker scene') and the cowboy who chews gum in line ('I didn't know there was gonna be so many people!')

    Gene Wilder is a little young and ironic for the bitter ex-gunslinger known as the Waco Kid, but he grows into the role well enough. Certainly he was in tune with what Brooks was doing more than Gig Young or Dan Dailey would have been (Brooks' earlier choices for the part, with Young making it all the way to the first day's shooting before it was discovered he wasn't just acting the part of a hopeless drunk.)

    'Blazing Saddles' doesn't make the IMDb top 250, but it's still one of the most significant video titles because it rewards repeat viewings so well. The wholeness of the film's comic spectacle is too dense to be absorbed in one viewing, especially when you are laughing too hard. It's a cultural landmark, yes, but it's even funnier now than it was 30 years ago, one of the funniest comedies that exist today. Making it into a musical now would almost be demeaning, but I suspect it will happen anyway.
    helpful•173
    36
    • slokes
    • Dec 14, 2003

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    FAQ2

    • Why did Sheriff Bart tell Lili Von Shtupp he was not from Havana? What does that mean?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 7, 1974 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Yiddish
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Black Bart
    • Filming locations
      • Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA(railroad scenes)
    • Production companies
      • Crossbow Productions
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,600,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $119,616,663
    • Gross worldwide
      • $119,616,663
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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