Blazing Saddles    

By Jeff Shannon

Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humor is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from the lunkheaded Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea.

Academy Awards

Blazing Saddles received Academy Awards nominations for Supporting Actress (Madeline Kahn), Film Editing (John C. Howard and Danford Greene), and Music: Best Song (John Morris - Music, Mel Brooks - Lyrics).

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		Your Memories Shared!

"Our challenge around our airport workplace is to work a line from the movie into everyday conversation. We have regular training sessions for new initiates (minus the campfire scene, of course!) May 14, 2024" --jimhanson

"My biggest memoty of Blazing Saddles is witching it as a kid on ABC uncensored, that and Dad explained everything to me so I would get the jokes." --Hikaru

"I'm stumped! Why is "yes" and "no" painted on the rear of the ox?" --Anonymous