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Co-writer/director Mel Brooks (High Anxiety, Robin Hood: Men in Tights) picks at the scab of American racism during the post-Civil Rights Movement to tremendously comedic effect with the Western parody Blazing Saddles. When a small frontier town stands in the way of a new railroad system, crooked politicians (Harvey Korman and Brooks) conspire to send the town a new, black sheriff (Cleavon Little). Knowing the town will balk at a black man in any role of authority, they expect the town to empty out and make way for the railway. At the first, this assumption proves correct. But after Little teams with a drunk fast shooter (Gene Wilder) and successfully defends the town against Korman’s goons, the tides of racial tolerance begin to turn.
Full-blown comedies like Blazing Saddles rarely work for me because in order to tell jokes from beginning to end, the stories almost always lack any compelling stakes or narrative momentum. These films instead have to rely on comedy alone, and if all the jokes don’t land well, they can quickly outstay their welcome. Goofy comedies like this almost always end up feeling desperate and pathetic. But not Blazing Saddles. For the most part, Brooks pulls it off like few others ever have — and like he’s done only a few other times. By confronting racism point-blank in a bold, direct manner, Brooks and the film’s cowriters (which include Richard Pryor) crack through the audience’s discomfort and win some huge, groundbreaking laughs. Lines like “Pardon me while I whip this out,” or “Where are all the white women?” wouldn’t work if they didn’t reflect the audience’s fears and misgivings in such an honest and disarming way.
Of course, racism isn’t the only key to the film’s success. There are also farts, and damn it, farts always win. The campfire bean-eating sequence remains the most epic fart joke in all of cinema. Brooks sprinkles such comic high points throughout the film, culminating in a third act climax that ‘breaks the fourth wall’ when the characters escape the film and run rampant through other sound stages on the Warner Brothers lot and to the Chinese Theater premiere of Blazing Saddles itself, where Korman’s villain is finally vanquished.
Cleavon Little does a commendable job in the lead role, one originally intended for Richard Pryor. Gene Wilder is memorable as Little’s right-hand man. It’s not a flashy role, but an unusually calm and serene one that balances out the rest of the film’s utter wackiness. The great Madeline Kahn (Paper Moon, Clue) earned an Oscar nomination as a sultry German saloon entertainer modeled after Marlene Dietrich. Her deadpan cabaret number, “I’m Tired”, is another one of the film’s many highlights.
With Slim Pickens, Burton Gilliam, Alex Karras, David Huddleston, John Hillerman, and Dom DeLuise.
Oscar Nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Madeline Kahn), Film Editing, Song (“Blazing Saddles”)