24/07/2012: Blazing Saddles [1974]

It’s been a slow week after The Dark Knight Rises, but that trilogy was a lot of movie to digest. My movie loving friend had recently suggested that I check out Blazing Saddles, and was so adamant they went and dug out their copy for me a few days later. By then, I had pretty much forgotten why I was supposed to watch it or what it was about. Turns out that Blazing Saddles is a Mel Brooks spoof western, which many argue is better than Spaceballs. I say that after watching it, there is little wonder it makes it onto so many top comedic movie ever lists.

Blazing Saddles was a trailblazer in spoof comedies, and also set the bar for decades to follow. While I’m not too familiar with Mel Brooks, I always associate him with Matt Groening and The Simpsons, which is completely inaccurate. Mel Brooks is best known for, aside from Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs and Young Frankenstein . However, this is arguably his finest work, and combines an interesting mix of comedic entertainment. From, the world first on screen fart joke, to more racism than you could imagine, Blazing Saddles doesn’t even hesitate to break the fourth wall. Blazing Saddles shows you why spoofs can be so much fun, and still has all the fun of a good western, or at least a mildly offensive one. While I don’t think such a movie could be made today, nor was it exactly acceptable back then, Blazing Saddles marks one of many cinema milestones, regardless of how classic you might think the fart joke is.

Blazing Saddles starts out like any western. With a tyrannical group of white cowboys working the black man to the bone building a railroad across the new frontier. There are some racial slurs thrown around, and then unexpectedly, they are having a sing off. That’s right, if you didn’t know this was a comedy, you knew it then.  Blazing Saddles is by no means lacking in the musical sing along department feature the standard number of catchy songs, you might not think of the same way again. It was most likely due to this aspect that I started to compare this to the original Casino Royale, which I think is the best spoof comedy, but Blazing Saddles has slid right in behind it. So, aside from an abundance of sing-alongs, where does the movie go. We’ll in order to push a railway through the town of Rockridge, a corrupt politician decides to appoint the first black Sherriff, in order to  drive the townsfolk away. As tired as I am of the “first black man to...” storyline, Blazing Saddles makes it fresh and hilarious.

That hand belongs to Ice-Cube.

Undoubtedly, the best scene is the one in Bart, the new Sherriff, hold himself at gunpoint to escape the angry mob. Played by Cleavon Little, it shows that that man was one hell of a comedian. Gene Wilder also provides some entertainment as classic western sidekick, The Waco Kid, fastest gunman in the west. So fast, you can’t capture it on camera. Then, Harvey Korman might just steal the show as Hedley Lamarr, the aforementioned politician. Whether it be dealing with his executioner or, Mel Brooks the womanizing drunkard of a Governor, or even Sherriff Bart himself, Lamarr is hilarious. I must of course mention Madeline Kahn, who played Lili Von Shtupp, and while her voice may be a bit grating, her accent wasn’t, and she put on quite a show, with my favourite scene being her singing to the German soldier during the fight scene.

One of the markings of Blazing Saddles as a great comedy is that almost every scene is humorous, and when you think something seems dull, just look around and you’ll spot something to laugh at. Whether it is the fact everyone in the town is named Johnson, or that lovable buffoon of an executioner. One of my favourites was trying to pick out all the evil men who had applied for the army, from bandits to a horse riding biker gang, and from Klansmen to Germans, all of the worlds evil has signed up. Blazing Saddles covers all of the west’s people, from the townsfolk to the cowboys, and the Indians to a band of tuxedoed singing men. Wait what?

Don't worry, Mel Brooks left no stone unturned and I guess Harold and Kumar ripped this off.

One of the funniest and most unexpected moments in Blazing Saddles is when Mel Brooks not only breaks the fourth wall, but makes quite the run across it. While there was a small peek or two earlier, the movies climatic fight spills beyond the small town of Rockridge, and right into Universal Studios backlot. Soon, everything from other projects casts, to the tourists visiting the cafeteria are involved in the all out brawl that has spilled out across Universal Studios. Blazing Saddles was really trailblazing as it filled it’s western spoof with a mix of racist and slapstick comedy. It really is one of a kind. Also, Blazing Saddles marks a landmark in comedy of another sorts. Fart jokes. As far as I can determine, Blazing Saddles is in fact, the first movie to feature a recorded fart sound, and to use such in a comedic way. While the sounds were produced with soap and an armpit, this is the first time farting had been onscreen, and it makes quite the appearance with some bean eating bandits around the campfire.

Just because Blazing Saddles may have been released 38 years ago doesn’t mean it’s style of comedy is by any means out of style. Like most of Mel Brooks comic masterpieces it is still appreciated today, and I look forward to watching more of his works. The man is responsible for Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles which I have seen, as well as Robin Hood: Men In Tights and Young Frankenstein which I really want to check out. Overall, Blazing Saddles is a movie I would recommend to anyone, although particularly to the more fanatic movie fans and lovers out there. I think that it is exceedingly funnier than many of the tired formulaic comedies released today, and for a movie almost four decades old, is still refreshingly fresh for a comedy. Mel Brooks, I doff my hat to you, a master comedic director you are.

Link:
Blazing Saddles IMDb