Blazing Saddles

On the American frontier of 1874, a new railroad will soon be rerouted through Rock Ridge, in order to avoid running through quicksand. Realizing this will make Rock Ridge worth millions, the conniving attorney general Hedley Lamarr (named after Hedy Lamarr) wants to force Rock Ridge's residents to abandon their town, and sends a gang of thugs, led by his flunky Taggart, to shoot the sheriff and trash the town. The townspeople demand that Governor William J. Le Petomane (named after Le Petomane) appoint a new sheriff to protect them. Lamarr persuades the dim-witted Le Petomane to appoint Bart, a black railroad worker, who was about to be executed for assaulting Taggart earlier. A black sheriff, he reasons, will offend the townspeople, create chaos, and leave the town at his mercy.

After an initial hostile reception (where Sheriff Bart has to take himself as a hostage to escape), he relies on his quick wits and the assistance of Jim, an alcoholic gunslinger known as the "Waco Kid," to overcome the townspeople's hostility. He subdues Mongo, an immensely strong, dim-witted, but philosophical henchman sent to kill him, then he beats German seductress-for-hire Lili von Shtüpp at her own game, with Lili falling in love with him. Upon Mongo's release, he vaguely informs Bart of Lamarr's connection to the railroad, so Bart and Jim visit the railroad work site and discover from Charlie, Bart's best friend, that the railway is planned to go through Rock Ridge. Just as Taggart and his men arrive to kill Bart, Jim outshoots the thugs, forcing Taggart to retreat to Lamarr. Lamarr, furious that his schemes have backfired, hatches a larger plan involving a recruited army of thugs, including common criminals, Ku Klux Klansmen, Nazis, and Methodists.

East of Rock Ridge, Bart introduces the white townspeople to the black, Chinese, and Irish railroad workers, who have agreed to help in exchange for acceptance by the community, and explains his plan to defeat Lamarr's army. They labor all night to build a perfect replica of their town, as a diversion; with no people in it, though, Bart realizes it will not fool the villains. While the townspeople construct replicas of themselves, Bart, Jim, and Mongo buy time by constructing the "Gov. William J. Le Petomane Thruway", forcing the raiding party to turn back for "a shitload of dimes" to pay the toll. Once through the tollbooth, the raiders attack the fake town populated with dummies, which are booby-trapped with dynamite bombs. After Jim detonates the bombs with his sharpshooting, launching bad guys and horses skyward, the Rock Ridgers storm the villains.

The resulting brawl between townsfolk, railroad workers, and Lamarr's thugs literally breaks the fourth wall as the fight spills onto a neighboring set, where director Buddy Bizarre is directing a Busby Berkeley-style top-hat-and-tails musical number; then into the studio commissary for a food fight; and then out of the Warner Bros. film lot into the streets of Burbank. Lamarr, realizing he has been beaten, hails a taxi and orders the driver to "drive me off this picture". He ducks into Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is playing the premiere of Blazing Saddles. As he settles into his seat, he sees Bart arriving on horseback outside the theatre. Bart blocks Lamarr's escape, and then shoots him in the groin. Bart and Jim then go into Grauman's to watch the end of the film, in which Bart announces to the townspeople that he is moving on because his work in Rock Ridge is done (and he's bored). Riding out of town, he finds Jim, still eating his popcorn, and invites him along to "nowhere special". The two friends ride off into the sunset—in a chauffeured limousine.

Cast notes:

• Count Basie and his orchestra make a cameo appearance, playing "April in Paris" in the middle of the desert as Bart rides toward Rock Ridge to assume the post of sheriff.
• Brooks appears in three on-screen roles: Governor Le Petomane, the Yiddish-speaking Native American chief, and an applicant for Hedley Lamarr's thug army (an aviator wearing sunglasses and a flight jacket). He also has two off-screen voice roles, as one of Lili's German chorus boys during "I'm Tired", and as a grouchy moviegoer.[7] "Le Petomane" refers to Joseph Pujol, a performer in 19th century France who was a professional farter using "Le Pétomane" as his stage name.[2]
• Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft, is said to have appeared as an extra in the church congregation scene.[2]
• Carol Arthur (Harriet Johnson) was Don DeLuise's wife.[2]
• "Olson Johnson" is a reference to the vaudeville comedy team Olsen and Johnson, "Howard Johnson" to the defunct Howard Johnson's restaurant chain, "Van Johnson" to the actor Van Johnson, and "Dr. Samuel Johnson" to the 18th century English writer by that name.[2]

The idea for the film came from a story outline written by Andrew Bergman that he originally intended to develop and produce himself. "I wrote a first draft called Tex-X" (a play on Malcolm X's name), he said. "Alan Arkin was hired to direct and James Earl Jones was going to play the sheriff. That fell apart, as things often do."[8] Brooks was taken with the story, which he described as "hip talk—1974 talk and expressions—happening in 1874 in the Old West", and purchased the film rights from Bergman. Though he had not worked with a writing team since Your Show of Shows, he hired a group of writers (including Bergman) to expand the outline, and posted a large sign: "Please do not write a polite script."[9] Brooks described the writing process as chaotic: "Blazing Saddles was more or less written in the middle of a drunken fistfight. There were five of us all yelling loudly for our ideas to be put into the movie. Not only was I the loudest, but luckily I also had the right as director to decide what was in or out."[10] Bergman remembers the room being just as chaotic, telling Creative Screenwriting, "In the beginning, we had five people. One guy left after a couple of weeks. Then, it was basically me, Mel, Richie Pryor and Norman Steinberg. Richie left after the first draft and then Norman, Mel and I wrote the next three or four drafts. It was a riot. It was a rioter’s room!"[8]

The original title, Tex X, was rejected to avoid it being mistaken for an X-rated film,[2] as were Black Bart – a reference to Black Bart, a white highwayman of the 19th century[2] – and Purple Sage. Brooks said he finally conceived Blazing Saddles one morning while taking a shower.[11]

Casting was problematic. Richard Pryor was Brooks' original choice to play Sheriff Bart, but the studio, claiming his history of drug arrests made him uninsurable, refused to approve financing with Pryor as the star.[11] Cleavon Little was cast in the role, and Pryor remained as a writer. Brooks offered the other leading role, the Waco Kid, to John Wayne; he declined, deeming the film "too blue" for his family-oriented image, but assured Brooks that "he would be the first one in line to see it."[12] Gig Young was cast, but he collapsed during his first scene from what was later determined to be alcohol withdrawal syndrome, and Gene Wilder was flown in to replace him.[13][14] Johnny Carson and Wilder both turned down the Hedley Lamarr role before Harvey Korman was cast.[15] Madeline Kahn objected when Brooks asked to see her legs during her audition. "She said, 'So it’s THAT kind of an audition?'" Brooks recalled. "I explained that I was a happily married man and that I needed someone who could straddle a chair with her legs like Marlene Dietrich in Destry Rides Again. So she lifted her skirt and said, 'No touching.'"[16]

Brooks had numerous conflicts over content with Warner Bros. executives, including frequent use of the word "nigger", Lili Von Shtupp's seduction scene, the cacophony of flatulence around the campfire, and Mongo punching out a horse. Brooks, whose contract gave him final content control, declined to make any substantive changes, with the exception of cutting Bart's final line during Lili's seduction: "I hate to disappoint you, ma'am, but you're sucking my arm."[17] When asked later about the many "nigger" references, Brooks said he received consistent support from Pryor and Little. He added, "If they did a remake of Blazing Saddles today [2012], they would leave out the N-word. And then, you've got no movie."[18] Brooks said he received many letters of complaint after the film's release, " ... but of course, most of them were from white people."[19]

The film was almost not released. "When we screened it for executives, there were few laughs", said Brooks. "The head of distribution said, 'Let’s dump it and take a loss.' But [studio president John] Calley insisted they open it in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago as a test. It became the studio's top moneymaker that summer."[16] The world premiere took place on February 7, 1974, at the Pickwick Drive-In Theater in Burbank; 250 invited guests—including Little and Wilder—watched the film on horseback.[20] The film's subtitle on the poster, "or never give a saga an even break! refers to W.C. Fields' film (and motto) "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break".[21]

Mel Brooks wrote the music and lyrics for three of Blazing Saddles' songs, "The Ballad of Rock Ridge," "I'm Tired," and "The French Mistake". Brooks also wrote the lyrics to the title song, with music by John Morris, the composer of the film's score.[2] To sing the title song, Brooks advertised in the trade papers for a "Frankie Laine–type" singer; to his surprise, Laine – who had hits with popular versions of Western movie title songs[2] – himself offered his services. "Frankie sang his heart out ... and we didn't have the heart to tell him it was a spoof. He never heard the whip cracks; we put those in later. We got so lucky with his serious interpretation of the song."[22]

The choreographer for "I'm Tired" and "The French Mistake" was Alan Johnson. "I'm Tired" is a homage to and parody of Marlene Dietrich's singing of Cole Porter's song "I’m the Laziest Gal in Town" in Alfred Hitchcock's 1950 film Stage Fright, as well as "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)" from The Blue Angel.[2]

The orchestrations were by Morris and Jonathan Tunick.[2]

The first studio-licensed release of the full music soundtrack to Blazing Saddles was on La-La Land Records on August 26, 2008. Remastered from original studio vault elements, the limited edition CD – a run of 3000 – features the songs from the film as well as Morris's score. Instrumental versions of all the songs are bonus tracks on the disc. The disc features liner notes featuring comments from Mel Brooks and John Morris.[23]

While the film is now considered a classic comedy, critical reaction was mixed when the film was released. Vincent Canby wrote:[24]

Blazing Saddles has no dominant personality, and it looks as if it includes every gag thought up in every story conference. Whether good, bad or mild, nothing was thrown out. Woody Allen's comedy, though very much a product of our Age of Analysis, recalls the wonder and discipline of people like Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. Mr. Brooks's sights are lower. His brashness is rare, but his use of anachronism and anarchy recalls not the great film comedies of the past, but the middling ones like the Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures. With his talent he should do much better than that.

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars (out of four) and called it a "crazed grabbag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken. Mostly, it succeeds. It's an audience picture; it doesn't have a lot of classy polish and its structure is a total mess. But of course! What does that matter while Alex Karras is knocking a horse cold with a right cross to the jaw?"[25] Gene Siskel awarded three stars out of four and called it "bound to rank with the funniest of the year," adding, "Whenever the laughs begin to run dry, Brooks and his quartet of gagwriters splash about in a pool of obscenities that score bellylaughs if your ears aren't sensitive and if you're hip to western movie conventions being parodied."[26] Variety wrote, "If comedies are measured solely by the number of yocks they generate from audiences, then 'Blazing Saddles' must be counted a success ... Few viewers will have time between laughs to complain that pic is essentially a raunchy, protracted version of a television comedy skit."[27] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the film "irreverent, outrageous, improbable, often as blithely tasteless as a stag night at the Friar's Club and almost continuously funny."[28] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post was negative, writing that "Mel Brooks squanders a snappy title on a stockpile of stale jokes. To say that this slapdash Western spoof lacks freshness and spontaneity and originality is putting it mildly. 'Blazing Saddles' is at once a messy and antiquated gag machine."[29] Jan Dawson of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Perhaps it is pedantic to complain that the whole is not up to the sum of its parts when, for the curate's egg that it is, Blazing Saddles contains so many good parts and memorable performances."[30]

John Simon wrote a negative review of Blazing Saddles, saying, "All kinds of gags—chiefly anachronisms, irrelevancies, reverse ethnic jokes, and out and out vulgarities—are thrown together pell-mell, batted about insanely in all directions, and usually beaten into the ground."[31]

The film grossed $119.5 million at the box office, becoming only the tenth film up to that time to pass the $100 million mark.[32]

On the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 89% approval rating based on 56 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.16/10. The site's Critics Consensus reads: "Daring, provocative, and laugh-out-loud funny, Blazing Saddles is a gleefully vulgar spoof of Westerns that marks a high point in Mel Brooks' storied career."[33]

During production for the film, retired longtime film star Hedy Lamarr sued Warner Bros. for $100,000, charging that the film's running parody of her name infringed on her right to privacy. Brooks said that he was flattered and chose to not fight it in court; the studio settled out of court for a small sum and an apology for "almost using her name." Brooks said that Lamarr "never got the joke."[19][2] This lawsuit would be referenced by an in-film joke where Brooks' character, the Governor, tells Hedley Lamarr that, "This is 1874; you'll be able to sue HER."

While addressing his group of bad guys, Harvey Korman's character reminds them that, although they are risking their lives, he is "risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor!" Korman did not receive an Oscar bid, but the film did get three nominations in 1974: Best Supporting Actress (Madeline Kahn, who lost to Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express), Best Film Editing (losing out to The Towering Inferno), and Best Music, Original Song (the title song, which lost to "We May Never Love Like This Again", also from The Towering Inferno). The film also earned two BAFTA awards nominations, for Best Newcomer (Cleavon Little) and Best Screenplay.[34][35]

The film won the Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" for writers Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger.[5]

In 2006, Blazing Saddles was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[5] [36]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - #6[37]

The unreleased animated film Blazing Samurai, starring Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Yeoh, and Ricky Gervais, has been characterized by its creators as "equally inspired by and an homage to Blazing Saddles." Brooks served as an executive producer for the production, and voiced one of the characters.[40]

The film was first released on VHS and DVD in 1997.[41] In 2006, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray.[42] A 40th Anniversary Blu-Ray set was released in 2014.[43]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Blazing Saddles

• Blazing Saddles essay by Michael Schlesinger on the National Film Registry site.
• Blazing Saddles at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Blazing Saddles on IMDb
• Blazing Saddles at the TCM Movie Database
• Blazing Saddles at AllMovie
• Blazing Saddles at Box Office Mojo
• Blazing Saddles at Rotten Tomatoes