NOTE: The film has been screened via BBC and BBC iPlayer in 2021 with the advice ‘Contains language which may offend.’
It’s a movie that would never be made today, so some PC-minded commentators state. Indeed, Mel Brooks’ BLAZING SADDLES is not a real advocate for gender or diversity at a time when independent voices in both camps are fighting to get their filmic voices heard, but it must also be said that the true targets of the film are the people determined to undermine the minorities – and fail miserably, thus becoming the minorities to the audience.
Right from the outset, this is an outdated stance from the white cowboys on show who come a cropper when they try to goad the black railroad workers.
However, there will always be at least one occasion where somebody takes a dare – and creates something that is so near the knuckle that you have to blink twice before you think twice. Sasha Baron Cohen probably is one individual who could claim that, as could the team behind SOUTH PARK and TEAM AMERICA WORLD POLICE.
BLAZING SADDLES, which was co-written by several writers, among them legendary black comedian Richard Pryor, is another of those films that like the likes of MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) takes a side-line swipe at the context of the satire rather than the subject.
Bart (Cleavon Little) is a black worker on a railroad being built in the mountains who gets imprisoned for bashing a bigoted sheriff, Taggart (Slim Pickens) over the head with a shovel when he falls into quicksand with his fellow black co-worker Charlie.
Brought to the office of Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) and sentenced to death, all is lost when Lamarr decides to use him as bait to get the equally bigoted townsfolk of Rock Ridge, by employing him as the new Sheriff, purely to claim the land the town is on for himself. However, Bart proves to be more than a match for Lamarr….
Still one of the funniest comedies of all-time (I defy anyone not to collapse in a fit of giggles at the campfire scene!), the film has no sense of logic to it toward the end of the film, but it has so many great moments, backed up by a career defining performance from Gene Wilder as ‘The Waco Kid’ who becomes a great ally in Bart’s determination to win the townsfolk over.
Admittedly, the use of certain racist language might be a little uncomfortable these days for some, but the film is balanced thanks to Little’s charismatic performance and Madeleine Khan’s cabaret misfire, Lili Von Schtupp (modelled on Marlene Detrich). The bigots don’t win and there are some wonderful visual gags and banter throughout (Wilder’s introduction into the film and his explanation about why he used to be ‘The Kid’ is worth the price of watching alone)
Another of the characters that will surprise you is Gabby Johnson, the gibberish-spouting old fart of a townsfolk, played by one Claude Ennis Starrett Jr. It’s a wonderfully silly portrayal, but all the more surprising is that the actor is the same one who played the oppressive Galt who taunts Stallone’s John Rambo in FIRST BLOOD (1982), credited as Jack Starrett.
Brooks passed into comedy legend straight after with YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1975), which Wilder apparently worked on as a writer between takes on this film.