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 Shtupp
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:

absurd humor | railroad | spoof | cowboys and outlaws | wagon train attacked | 

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Taglines:

Mel Brooks and the West! Together for the last time!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

R

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:

$119,500,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crossbow Productions, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After writing his first two feature films on his own, Mel Brooks was nostalgic for the collaborative group writing style of his days on Your Show of Shows (1950), so he employed four other writers with whom to work. According to Andrew Bergman, who wrote the treatment on which the film is based, almost all of the scenes include some contribution from the five writers.

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Goofs

(at around 49 mins) When Lamarr is in the tub and wants his froggy, Taggart's gun is caught on his chair and he drags it around while searching for the froggy.

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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

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

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Alternate Versions

TV prints use an alternate take of a sequence in which Rock Ridge's town priest says a prayer. In the theatrical version, the prayer ends with the line, "...or are we just jerking off?" The TV version substitutes a take (shot from a different angle) in which the prayer ends with, "...or are we just whisting Dixie?" The 2004 DVD release includes this alternate take.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Girls: Episode #6.4 (2004)

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Soundtracks

The French Mistake
Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks

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