Review: Blazing Saddles
Greedy
Attorney-General Hedley Lamarr (a perfectly dastardly and pompous Harvey
Korman) wants the town of Rock Ridge for himself, and so he schemes to drive
the populace out by convincing the easily distracted Gov. William J.
LePetomaine (Mel Brooks) into hiring a black sheriff named Bart (an iconic
Cleavon Little) to oversee Rock Ridge. The townsfolk, being fearful racists,
not surprisingly don’t take kindly to the new sheriff (They have another name
for him I cannot type). Meanwhile, Bart strikes up a friendship with the town
drunk Jim (Gene Wilder, a last minute replacement for Gig Young who had to
leave because basically he really was
an alcoholic), who used to be a famed gunslinger named the Waco Kid, before an
embarrassing incident led to him losing his nerve and taking to drink.
Eventually, the sheriff wins over the community, which forces Hedley to come up
with new plans, including hiring burlesque performer burlesque performer Lily
von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) to seduce Bart. Slim Pickens plays moronic railroad
labour boss Taggart, with Burton Gilliam his smiling idiot number two, Lyle.
Alex Karras turns up as a feared local brute named Mongo, whilst George Furth,
David Huddleston, John Hillerman, and Jack Starrett play Rock Ridge citizens
and town elders.
In
recent years I’ve come across views that this 1974 Mel Brooks (“The
Producers”, “Young Frankenstein”, “Spaceballs”) western spoof
is uncomfortable and rather racist. Having watched the film several times over
the space of about 25 years or so, I just don’t understand that take at all.
I’m white as a ghost and therefore not allowed to have an opinion on the topic,
but if this is your view of the film, you are quite simply wrong and I actually
feel pretty comfortable in saying that. Hold back on the angry emails/comments
for just a second, OK? The main African-American character here is the hero of
the film, and rather clever. In fact, he may be one of the only intelligent
people in the entire film. The majority of the white folk in the film are racist,
ignorant, and incredibly stupid. Mel Brooks and his fellow screenwriters are
portraying racists and racism as stupid and deserving of mockery. That is quite
clearly the point of the film, and at times it’s fucking hilarious, especially
when it revolves around appropriate slave work songs (I won’t use the term
Burton Gilliam does in the film for reasons you’ll be aware of if you’ve seen
it. That word is used in the film to be deliberately incendiary, ugly and
uncomfortable). And Richard Pryor worked on the script too, so y’all can shut
the fuck up with the racism talk, OK? ‘Coz if it was racist, Richard Pryor sure
as hell would’ve noticed it right away. Onto the review proper…
Cornball
western crooner Frankie Laine was the perfect choice to sing the film’s title
song, but the funny thing is that it’s actually a cool song. The plot is
simplistic, but in my view kind of brilliant. Brooks presenting a traditional
‘townie’ western and turning those archetypal characters into cowardly racists
is priceless. Casting respectable actors like David Huddleston and John
Hillerman in these roles was clever too, whilst future “First Blood”
arsehole Jack Starrett (who also directed the terrific blaxploitation flick “Cleopatra
Jones”) is hilarious as ‘Gabby’ Johnson, for those who know their vintage
westerns. Although the second half has its moments (‘Hey, where are the white
women at?’ always gets a big laugh out of me), for me the first half of the
film is virtually flawless and frequently hysterically funny. The opening scene
involving Little, Slim Pickens, and a highly underrated Burton Gilliam is
especially funny. I’ve watched the film so many times that this time around I
was laughing before the jokes/lines even came. Unfortunately, due to the
frequent utterance of the ‘N’ word, it’s difficult to explain the humour here.
I can say, though, that Pickens has a real way with words here, including the
immortal: ‘You use your tongue purdier than a $20 dollar whore!’. Pickens was a
western stalwart, so his casting here was a real bonus for Brooks, as he lends
a little bit of authenticity to go with the silliness. Sheriff Bart’s entrance
into Rock Ridge and subsequent attempt to get out of a sticky situation is also
funny…and unprintable.
Cleavon
Little is terrific as Bart. Brooks wanted to cast Pryor in the role, but I
actually think the far more naturally likeable and charismatic Little works
even better than Pryor would have. If you want to make the townsfolk look like
complete racist fools, it’s much better to cast a Sidney Poitier type than a
profane button-pusher like Pryor, I think (The funny thing is, apparently most
of Pryor’s input in the script was for Alex Karras’ soft-headed white thug
Mongo character). Meanwhile, even in 2016 the campfire scene ranks as one of
the funniest moments in the history of cinema. Farts are funny, almost always.
Although his role as Gov. LePetomaine is the larger one, director Mel Brooks
fares even better in a brief bit as a Yiddish-speaking Native American.
Madeline Kahn’s parody of Marlene Dietrich in “Rancho Notorious” (and
probably “Destry Rides Again” as well) is OK, but I have absolutely no
idea why she earned an Oscar nomination for it. I did like her pronunciation of
the word ‘comfortable’ through a German-accented speech impediment, though. If
anyone should’ve earned a nomination in the cast it should’ve been out of
Little, Pickens, Korman, or Gilliam. Probably all four of them, really. They’re
that good. The late Gene Wilder is nicely understated and easy-going as a
gunslinger with shot nerves. The tale he tells of how he lost his nerves is a
hoot. He will be missed. Dom DeLuise has a funny, if very non-PC cameo near the
end as the impatient director of an MGM musical, and I loved how the 4th
wall-breaking finale makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It makes the whole
thing even funnier.
Although
not all of the gags land and it’ll never be accused of being PC, this western
spoof still holds up some 42 years later. Very well-acted, often very funny,
and with a lack of dedication to logic and realism that somehow just makes it
funnier. If you don’t laugh at any of this, I’m sorry, but it’s probably on
you. I prefer the later “History of the World Part 1” and “Spaceballs”,
but this is frequently funny stuff. The screenplay is by Brooks, Norman
Steinberg (“Wise Guys”, “Funny About Love”), Andrew Bergman (“Fletch”,
“Honeymoon in Vegas”, “Striptease”), Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger
(TV’s “Family Ties” of all things) from a story by Bergman.
Rating:
A
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