With the expansion of the railroad out westward, the town of Rock Ridge is about to become prime real estate. At least, that’s what Hedley Lamarr, the devious Attorney General played by Harvey Korman, surmises. But how can he get his hands on that land? He wants it! Hedley finally decides to have the town pillaged to scare off the townsfolk. And it almost works, until they telegram the bumbling Governor (played by Mel Brooks) to send a sheriff. Hedley, despite serving under the Governor is able to easily manipulate him into his plan B: “a sheriff who so offends the citizens of Rock Ridge that his very *appearance* would drive them out of town.” 

Bart (played by Cleavon Little) is sent to the town to fulfill this unintentional duty. Unlike Soul Man and The Toy, movies that I’ve discussed previously on this blog which were incredibly racially insensitive, Blazing Saddles tackles race in a different way. It’s a clever satire of racism, making the racist whitefolk the butt of every joke. As Jim (played by Gene Wilder) puts it, “These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know…morons.”

The fact that the movie is a masterclass in satire of racism is not to say that it is infallible. First, it uses harsh language. The n-word is thrown around by those ‘morons’ many times, and the same goes for ch*nk and f*ggot. Most offensive of all though is probably the scene where Sheriff Bart has a flashback to his youth. In his memory his family meets a Native American chief played by Mel Brooks who, instead of speaking in the Sioux language, speaks Yiddish. While this juxtaposition is comedically effective, Brooks’ choice to wear redface in addition to his headdress and garb during the scene is questionable to say the least. Most of the time, though, jokes about a minority group in the film are satirizing the poor treatment they have received.

Mel Brooks has said again and again that people have become stupidly politically correct, to a point where this film could not be made today despite its anti-racist message. That said, he does believe in some boundaries for the comedy medium and has said that he prefers decent behavior to politically correct culture, because the former doesn’t demand so much respect for itself.

In all honesty, I knew that it was not very problematic, but halfway through this blogging project I wanted a break. Blazing Saddles is a classic comedy and one of my personal favorite movies. It is a virtual onslaught of jokes with visual gags and witty dialogue abundant. Critically, it has received the same praise. On Rotten Tomatoes, it boasts an 88% Critic Score and a 91% from general audiences. If you haven’t seen it before, do yourself a favor and set aside an hour and a half to watch!