Made back in 1974, Blazing Saddles is still one of the greatest comedies ever made. Written by comedy legends Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, and Andrew Bergman, Blazing Saddles is the story of a black railroad worker who through a twist of fate becomes the sheriff of a small frontier town.
Blazing Saddles was the spark in Mel Brooks' career. This was his first major movie success since doing The Producers in 1968. After Blazing Saddles, he would go on to create other landmark comedies such as Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, and High Anxiety.
While a big success, Blazing Saddles also had it's fair share of controversy, namely over the use of the "N word", his casting choices, and animal cruelty.
The charges of animal cruelty came from a scene where Mongo, a big colossus of a cowboy, punches a horse and knocks the horse out. The horse in question was a trained horse so the horse was never harmed in the filming of the movie.
Originally, Mel Brooks wanted to cast Richard Pryor as the role of Bart the black sheriff. Warner Bros. however had concerns over Pryor's drug use and mental instability, so Clevon Little was instead cast. Also, the role of The Waco Kid was given to Gig Young but was replaced by Mel Brooks' good friend Gene Wilder shortly after the beginning of filming. Gig Young by 1977 was a notorious alcoholic and lost many different acting jobs because he would show up to the set falling down drunk. Gig Young died in 1978 ironically after starring in Game of Death, the last movie Bruce Lee made before he died in 1973.
Throughout the movie, the "N word" was used frequently. Mel Brooks defends this by saying that this was how people talked back then. Many times they didn't use it in a negative way, but just because they didn't know any better. This led to what might be one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. Bart is out mingling with the white people in Rock Ridge. He comes across a sweet old lady. He says his hellos in as pleasant a manner as he could and her response was, "up yours N*****." A visibly dejected and demoralized Bart gets a pep talk from The Waco Kid where he spells it out for everyone: these people are morons.
What is often forgotten was that the criticism for the use of the "N word" didn't come from the black community, but from offended white people. In the commentary provided on the Blazing Saddles DVD, he talks about how black people would be the first to come to his defense.
In what might've been the most surreal criticisms of the movie came from a lawsuit filed by Hedy Lamarr for the use of her name in the movie. The villan's name was Hedley Lamarr (played by Harvey Korman) In the movie it was lampooned several times when characters would call Hedley, Hedy and he would correct them. In one scene the Governor (played by Mel Brooks) would say, "What are you worried for, it's the 1860s. You'll be able to sue her!"
Also on the commentary of Blazing Saddles, he told a story of how he managed to convince the legendary cowboy John Wayne to read the script and possibly do a cameo. Wayne declined because he thought the script was "too dirty" and it would've hurt his career, but expressed how much he loved the script and wished he could be in it.
Blazing Saddles was ultimately a story of overcoming prejudice and finding your place in the world. It was about upsetting the norm by not only having a black hero in a cowboy movie, but also with repeatedly breaking the fourth wall during the climax of the movie.
The success of Blazing Saddles helped Mel Brooks to keep a good cast of actors together for several more movies. Gene Wilder starred in the Producers earlier and then was in Young Frankenstein, Harvey Korman would have roles in High Anxiety, History of the World part 1, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Madeline Khan starred in Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, and History of the World part 1. Dom DeLouise was also in The Twelve Chairs, Silent Movie, History of the World part 1, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
If you haven't seen this movie yet, go find it. Immediately.
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