Blazing Saddles (1974) | First Time Watching | Movie Reactions
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🤠🔥 Blunt Reactions presents: Blazing Saddles Movie Reaction! 🐎🎬
Saddle up for a wild ride through the Old West as Beaver and Bryan experience "Blazing Saddles" for the very first time! Join us for unfiltered reactions and genuine laughter as we journey through this iconic comedy masterpiece that has stood the test of time.
In this reaction, witness the hilarity, irreverence, and boundary-pushing humor as we follow Sheriff Bart and his ragtag crew on a hilarious adventure filled with satire, wit, and unforgettable moments. From outrageous gags to timeless one-liners, "Blazing Saddles" is a comedic gem that will leave you in stitches.
🌟 Comedy Classic: Directed by Mel Brooks, "Blazing Saddles" is hailed as one of the greatest comedies of all time, known for its fearless approach to tackling social issues with humor.
🤔 Did You Know: The film's script went through numerous revisions and rewrites, with Mel Brooks and his team pushing the boundaries of comedy to create a film that remains as relevant and hilarious today as it was upon its release?
🍿 Whether you're a die-hard fan or discovering this comedy gem for the first time, get ready for uproarious laughter, irreverent satire, and genuine reactions as we ride into the sunset with "Blazing Saddles"!
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0:00 Coming Up....
0:47 Welcome Back!
2:24 Blazing Saddles
26:49 Outro
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When people tell Mel Brooks this film couldn't be made today he says "They told me I couldn't make it in '74".
The reason you couldn't make it today is because the people who want to want to for the wrong reasons.
@@ninjabluefyre3815 What a load of tripe.
We NEVER EVER felt uncomfortable through this movie because we knew what it was about, The stupidity of racism and the jerks who used it. Yes you got it 100% correct.
Correct. Everybody that bought a ticket & sat down knew they were watching a "Mel Brooks" film. We LOVED & still love Mel Brooks. Many of us were into Mel Brooks going back to "A 2,000 Year Old Man" in the 60's. A decade before this film was released. Nothing Mel Brooks did offended us. There's a ton of films where you guess what it's going to be like & if it's going to be good. Not Mel Brooks, you knew exactly what kind of humor it was & you knew it would be a great movie, long before you got to the theater.
The significance of the fart scene is that it was the first time a fart was ever showed in a movie. Brooks told the actor playing Lyle that he was going to make him famous as the first actor ever to fart on film.
On one of the made for TV versions, I remember that the farts were just silent, and watching the guys making the motions to no sound around the campfire was pretty hilarious.
It was making fun of how cowboys were always eating beans yet never farted.
@@yournamehere6002Yeah. They crammed all of Hollywood’s missing campfire farts, for comedy in a boring western, into one scene of one comedy built around westerns.
Indeed, & From what I've heard, in the 1st draft Mel Brooks had one fart, just to be 1st on film. & The studio heads went ballistic, & laid the law down. "YOU WILL NOT PUT A FART IN THIS MOVIE." After he left and the crew asked they said, he told them. They said I couldn't put "A" fart in this movie, they didn't say I couldn't put in 50. Had the studio heads left Mel Brooks alone it would have only been one fart. But they pissed him off & the result, as we see, they made the movie even better.
That is some groundbreaking wind breaking.
9:43
The biggest star in the whole cast.
The one and only Count Basie and his band.
one of the best satirical comedies ever made.and if the USA of today has a problem with this movie, then things are really wrong in this country.their problem, fortunately, not ours!
Amen. Grandson was talking about how far race relation have come. Said stop right there, it's 2023. You haven't even caught up to the 1970's.
Strangely enough only thing the studio bosses found objectionable and wanted cut was the 'farting scene!' Mel Brooks at 97 is now the only surviving main cast member from the film.
It not the only thing...when Lili says "IT'S TWOO, IT'S TWOO!!!" Bart was supposed to respond with "I'm sorry to disappoint you ma'am but you're sucking on my arm"
I believe Robyn Hilton, the governor's secretary Miss Stein, is still living.
I first saw the film on TV in the early 80s. They muted the farting sounds (I had to ask my mother what was happening) but left the n-words in.
They wanted the horse punch out
@@davidwilliams1820 yes she will be 80 this year
Blazing Saddles was recently shown on TV here in Australia. It was telecast by our government owned multicultural channel & was shown without any deletions as they assumed we were mature enough to realise the use of derogatory words was to highlight the stupidity of racism. I remember watching the film when it first came out & audiences were not shocked or offended by the racist language as we accepted its use was to make fun of racism.
It was a huge hit and came out the same year as YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, which also was a big hit
Saw it in the theater as a kid.....from an era when we could laugh at ourselves.......Peace!
Richard Pryor was casted for Sheriff Bart, his drug use at the time changed it
Richard co wrote this movie with Mel Brooks.
No, it didn't. He turned the role down.
Nah, the person whose drug use got in the way was the guy Gene Wilder replaced. Gig Young was an alcoholic who I guess tried to quit cold turkey, which caused him to go into Withdrawal and be unable to continue filming.
@@yankee2666 nope, the studio decided that Pryor was too risky, so they recast the part...Prior did not have the option.
one day when they were writing in LA, Pryor phoned & he was in Detroit with a woman doing cocaine, when he was supposed to be in LA writing!
Young Frankenstein is another Mel Brooks masterpiece and Top Secret! Is a great one from the gang that brought you Airplane!
I love the panting in Hedley's office, B&W bride and groom from the back. Mel loved a good sex joke - everyone named Johnson is one of many. Count Bassie and his Orchestra being out in the desert reflects the days when he and his band were not allowed to stay in the cities they were playing in. Mel gives a nod to the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy - "to extend to you this laurel, and hardy handshake". When this came out it started off slow, but word of mouth took it to be seen by over 64 million people. This was before multi-plex theatres. A movie would easily stay in a theatre for months at a time and it was easy to go see a film several times.
I don’t know how many times I had seen this before realizing when the town first blows up, there are horses flying in the air.
I am literally laughing out loud, but I know there are so many things going on, it would be easy to miss.
EVERYONE LOVED IT WHEN IT CAME OUT. THEY ALSO UNDERSTOOD THAT IT WAS POINTING A FINGER AT HOW RIDICULOUS RACISM IS.
Regarding the "You couldn't make this film now" Mel Brooks responded "We couldn't make it then, but we did it anyway" and that is how legends are made. Silver streak and Stir crazy were the 2 films preceding See no evil hear no evil for Gene Wilder and Richard Prior.
18:47 Mel Brooks resisted all attempts at censorship. The only line that got deleted was at the point where she says "It's true, it's true" and the sheriff's response was "You're sucking on my elbow". That got deleted.
“Oh, wow!” That was my first reaction to your comment. I think it is funnier without the line.
The movie did really well when it came out. It’s not a racist movie, it’s a movie about racism and how dumb it is. If you notice, none of the good guys use bad language, and none of the racist bad guys are redeemable. The townspeople were ignorant and prejudiced not really racist. When Sheriff Bart first showed up they all wanted to run him out of town, but at the end they did it want him to go, and were sad to see him leave. Sheriff Bart saved the town from the bad guys and the townspeople from their own ignorance. Not bad for a silly movie with farts in it.
Actor Cleavon Little was a stage, TV, and film star who died young. He was famous for his role in the Broadway musical "Purlie Victorious."
Love Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp! Her performance on stage is a parody on Marlene Dietrich, German actress/singer, who had a distinctive way of singing...to say the least.
Most of the actors were well-known stars in Western films. The opening song was performed by Frankie Laine who was known for performing in westerns and singing countrywestern songs. Mel Brooks made a point to not immediately tell Laine about the subject matter when he hired him to perform.
They were looking for a “Frankie Laine type”, not expecting that they would actually get the most Frankie Laine type you could possibly get.
I was 11 or 12 when Blazing Saddles came out and it was rated R, so I talked my mom into taking me to see it. One of my most cherished life-long memories is of the two of us laughing our butts off in the theater. After that, we went to see all the Mel Brooks movies of the 70s together. Mel Brooks is Jewish and served during WWII, so he is very aware of what happens when you try to deal with hate by ignoring it. As you noted, everyone who uses racial slurs is either just plain stupid (all the villains) or ignorant (the townsfolk, who learn better and come to love Bart). So Mel Brooks made an effective parody of racism in addition to a parody of Westerns. 'You couldn't make a movie like that today' is something Brooks was told by interviewers for decades and he always responded, "We couldn't make it then!" After screening the movie, studio executives were ready to cancel the release entirely. Brooks arranged a second screening and invited the rank and file studio employees, who loved it. So the studio agreed to a very limited release (I think LA, NYC, and Chicago). It played so well in those cities that the executives agreed to a wider release, over and over until it was eventually released everywhere. As you can imagine, the white actors were very reluctant to use racial slurs, and the black actors had to constantly reassure them they knew they were just acting. It was rather wholesome all things considered.
1. Mel Brooks played the Governor, the Indian Chief and the round-up thug with the aviator hat.
2. Mel Brooks doesn't just break the 4th wall he shatters, steps on and grinds it into the ground.
3. The preacher/Liam Dunn also plays in Young "Frankenstein" as Mr. Hilltop. Madeline Khan also had a smallish role in it.
4. Mel Brooks is the only living Blazing Saddles cast member.
5. The line, "You know morons" was ad lib by Wilder. Little's reaction was real.
6. Frank Lanet was supposed to play Jim, but showed up the first day drunk so he was let go. Wilder agreed to do this movie for Mel Brooks only if Mel would direct Young Frankenstein for him.
7. Richard Pryor was supposed to play Bart, but he was going through his addictions at the time, and they thought it wouldn't be a good idea. However, he did some of the writing.
8. Jim still has his popcorn from the theater.
Movie suggestion "Young Frankenstein" with Gene Wilder
PS: This was made when people still weren't afraid to laugh and have fun.
My favorite Pryor/Wilder movie was Hear No Evil, See No Evil
6. Gig Young, not Frank Lanet.
#4 hit me hard
The comments are going to be fun on this one. I think this is a comedic masterpiece. People forget the Richard Pryor co-wrote and was supposed to star in this. The studio wouldn't finance with Pryor in the role. So they cast Cleavon Little.
Pryor had a drug problem so the studio heads were concerned of him being able to stick to a schedule. At the same time, he also had a well-known one-man nightclub routine where he dropped the "N" bomb almost every other word.
Le Pétomane is the stage name of Joseph Pujol (1857-1945), a French entertainer and flatulist who became famous for his ability to control his abdominal muscles and appear to fart at will. The name Le Pétomane comes from the French words péter (to fart) and maniaque (maniac).
Also, Mel is the only one still living.
Well, as governor, he was the _leading asshole_ in the state. 😄
"My Favorite Year" is a fun 1982 comedy with Peter O'Toole that would fit on a shelf with "Blazing Saddles"
I was 14 when this came out and everyone in the theater was laughing their heads off. Back then, when someone was racist in a tv show or movie, you knew they were the bad guy and they were going to get it in the end. So we laughed at their stupidity. No one took any of these lines seriously. And Richard Pryor (who was black) was the one putting in all the racism. He was a popular comedian at the time and we were all familiar with his work. And of course, Mel Brooks is Jewish, so knows all about racism too. In fact, he said to the whole crew, "Did I offend everyone? Did I leave anyone out?" And an Irish guy spoke up that he was not offended yet, so they wrote in an Irish joke to make him happy.
9:53 Gabby Johnson, the mumbling guy with the telescope, was played by the same guy who played Art Gault, the bad guy sheriff who got killed first in First Blood.
This and many other movies should be seen in the context of the Hays Code, the incredibly restrictive prior censorship rules that applied to all movies from the early '30's until 1969, when the current letter code rating system was adopted. Once these rules were lifted, there was a sudden flux of "shocking" movies that followed - Airplane, Rocky Horror, Holy Grail, Naked Gun, and so many others.
Under Hays, the word "transvestite" (vital to the plot of Psycho) and the most icon line in the blockbuster Gone With The Wind, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a DAMN!" were almost left out. Even married couples shown in movies or tv could not be shown sleeping in a double bed - only a pair of twin beds. Even the hint of any body odor was taboo, but here there was a whole farting scene. The size of a penis and a black man sleeping with a white woman under Hays was out of bounds.
So for the audiences of the time, this movie and the other ones of this type was breath-gasping shocking, which only added to the humor. On the other hand, the critics were also shocked and so the movie did not do as well as it should, the way we can appreciate it looking back.
Back in the 50's, before Castro took over, Havana was notorious for having raunchy live sex shows featuring well-hung males.
People keep saying that they couldn't do it now, but Mel Brooks' viewpoint is "We couldn't do it then. We just went ahead and did it anyway."
And Quentin Tarantino has gotten away with quite a few n-bombs in his movies as well. When Leonardo DiCaprio made all his racist shit in Django Unchained, he had real big problems with it. It took Samuel L Jackson to convince him, by saying that they had all heard ten times worse anyway.
Great film! Back in the day when comedy had balls.
I saw this film when it opened in 1974. The audience loved it. The second time I went, a black couple sat at the end of my aisle. They were laughing as hard as anyone. They got it. It's a satire. However, it almost didn't get released. The chiefs at Warner Bros. got an advanced screening and not one of them laughed. Mel was convinced it was a loser, but another studio boss said preview it in front of a real audience! The rest is history.
The reason Richard Pryor ended up helping write the screenplay was because at the time his stand up act and drug use made Warner Bros nervous. Mel Brooks wanted him as Bart, so as a way to keep him on the project, he made him one of the writers. Another fun fact, the actor playing Lyle almost walked off the set because he felt wrong delivering his lines to Cleavon Little. Little had to pull him to the side and tell him that he was just saying lines and he knew that it wasn't assumed at him.
That’s interesting, William. It seems that many people forget when mentioning that “everybody” knew it was comedy and were comfortable with the content. Even the actors need reassurance. The same with Leo in Django Unchained.
The making of this movie is almost as legendary as the movie itself it's 50 years old and is the most important film ever made either or not you like the movie or if aged or what ever this is a movie i feel everyone needs to see in there life time like #1 for must see
Saw it in a theater just off campus when it first came out. The audience were totally university students, most of whom were stoned. We were all laughing hysterically, as you may well imagine.
Saw it in Iowa City in 1973. One of the actors was standing outside the theatre after. I asked him why. Said it was the only time he had seen it with a live audience! He was in town for a workshop! We laughed throughout the movie!
Mel Brooks directed 3 other movies in the 1970s. Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), and High Anxiety (1977) Gene Wilder was also in his first movie, The Producers (1967). Mel tends to reuse cast members for his movies. One example is the actor who plays Boris, the hangman, who has the same role in Robin Hood Men in Tights.
You might find it interesting that a black man, Richard Pryor co wrote this movie with Mel Brooks. I saw this movie when it came out in 1974, it was edgy even for this time period. Movies like this as well as the TV series "All in the Family" brought racial issues front and center and made people discuss them openly, causing people to reflect on what was going on. Your correct, you can not make movies like this in 2024, why its hard to give an opinion about anything anymore without someone trying to cancel you.
He's not from Havana, Cuba, Smoke his Cigar? "They said you was hung...and they were right"
That was a Reference to the Godfather Part II .... The "Superman" Scene at the Sex Club in Havana!
@@jamesalexander5623 It can't be. Blazing Saddles came out in February 74, Godfather Part II in December. I'm still mystified by this line.
@principals16842 It's a reference to oral sex. As op basically stated, at that time what Cuba was known for was cigars. She offered to "smoke" his "cigar". Being exhausted (and no doubt feeling overly full from schnitzengruben) he declined.
@@stevensauer8539 That makes sense, thanks!
@@principals16842 The referenced scene is based on a true life performer known as the Cuban Superman. Prodigiously endowed, he performed in live sex shows in Havana before the revolution, and was reportedly capable of servicing multiple women in a row with no refractory period. Back in the 70’s, his reputation still lingered.
This movie would definitely be made today, just as many others deemed too controversial, now, that were created 30, 40, and 50 years ago. The ratings would be different. But many of the same issues still live on.
15:43 Yeah. They may say they fought “Dix,” as in Richard Dix (probably a Tricky Dick reference), but the entire town is the “Johnson” family. Not a coincidence, I’m sure.
21:25 A “shitkicker,” if I remember correctly (or at least it should be soon on Urban Dictionary if a fan who reads this adds it), is a non-cowboy who wears cowboy boots (or worse, boots AND spurs). Example:
Brian: Is Jimmy goin’ out riding today? He’s got spurs on.
Eric: Naw, he don’t even own a horse. He’s just a shit-kicker.
A reference to Fort Dix being where Mel Brooks was inducted into the Army.
Mel Brooks was a genius 🤣🤣🤣 this was an awesome movie for its time. Thanks 🙏🏾 for another great reaction guys 😁😁
You’re allowed to laugh guys😂
Yep, exactly right. It made fun of the idiots lol. The actor who played Gabby Johnson (reree guy) also played one of the ass hole cops in First Blood(1982), if y'all haven't seen it I think y'all would like it. Also Young Frankenstein (1974) and Clue (1985), if y'all haven't seen those as well.
Mel Brooks said there was only one joke that they cut from the film for release. When Lili and Bart are in the dark and she says "it's twue! it's twue!" about his people being "gifted", Bart said "I hate to disappoint you, but you're sucking on my arm!"
I wonder how many people get the Jesse Owens reference? For those who don’t, during WWII, the Summer Olympics were held in Germany, and Hitler was sure his Third Reich members would win over all the ‘inferior races.’ Jesse Owens was a black American track star, and he whupped every other runner, including the ‘superior Aryan’ runners from Germany. If I remember correctly, reportedly, Hitler left the Olympic stadium that day in a high state of agitation.
Good summary, except that it actually happened slightly before World War II, in the 1936 Olympics. Owens made a complete fool of Hitler and his racial propaganda, but according to Owens, Hitler was actually quite polite to him in public (though Hitler's advisors like Albert Speer said that in private Hitler was angry and agitated about Owens' triumph).
When they built the trans-continental railroad part of the way it was paid for was land. A square mile is a section. To help the builders get back their money and make a profit every other section was given to the railroad to sell to settlers. The land was sold to farmers and people who would build towns on it. At different times the immigrants would come from different parts of the world and they would usually settle in areas where others from their home country were at. The town I grew up in was settled by Swedes while the town twenty miles away was settled by Danes. There are towns that are mostly originally from Germany, Czechoslovakia, England, Russia and other places as well. There are a variety of reasons why there is a lot of people with the same last name but the most common being they are blood relatives. When you came through immigration if the overworked hurried clerk couldn’t spell your name they just gave you one that they felt was appropriate for where you were from. This was really common at Ellis Island where some of the eastern europeans seemed to have every letter of the alphabet in their name except vowels. So this leads to places like my home county with roughly ten thousand people in it having about sixty percent of the people having the last name of Johnson and a lot of the rest being Swansons. The Lutheran church actually started an organization in the late 1800’s to keep track of who was related to who and to care for the children that were born so messed up they couldn’t be left alone that didn’t have families who could care for them. A side effect of this is the girl from my high school class who was married five times but stayed a Johnson. It was a strange part of history but not super uncommon in a time when a lot of americans never got more than fifty miles away from where they were born.
“We may be a small county, but we have a long line of Johnsons, far and wide.” 😉
I Know someone who went to see this in a theater in Washington D.C. He was in the Military.
He said he wasn't sure what would happen? Half the theater was black and white. He said After the Singing at the railroad, the whole place was roaring in Laughter.
When I first watched this movie in the early 80's I knew what it was all about. Just like watching Archie Bunker, Red Fox, The Jefferson's, Richard Prior comedy, etc.
Mel Brooks said they couldn't make this back then and what he did about that is he made an update to blazzing saddles, it is s family animated movie set in fudel Japan all the original writers got screen credit for paws of furry the legend of hank Mel wanted blazzing saddle to be made as family cartoon but still be his master piece, well it's not for me to tell how it is but I promise you will see it's blazzing saddles but with Japanese cats and a dog voiced by michael Vieira and his mentor is the movie make it or break it
This was actually pretty well-received in the 1970s. We had a sense of humor, understood satire, and didn't get offended on behalf of other people every time the wind changed direction.
They make cigars in Havana - she wanted to "smoke" him.
My mother took my little brother and me to the theatre in 1974 when I was ten, and got us in though the rating was R. (I think.) She asked the girl at the ticket window why it had the rating. The ticket-seller said, 'I think it's because of some of some of the language in it.'
My mother thought 'language' meant four-letter-words, which she knew we had heard already. She was not prepared for what came next.
But she had grown up with the old classick Westerns and loved how the genre, and the cultural setting, was being mocked in this film. And she had come from rural Oklahoma and appreciated the message about the people's attitudes, too. There was something for every age group and level of sophistication. We all laughed our asses off.
I was too young when this movie came out in theatres so I had to wait until the '80's and it was - funny. I did grow up with Pryor, Foxx, Dolomite, etc so we knew it was made to mock racism...
The tbs verson of blazzing saddle in the 80s when i saw this didn't actually censor this much, it was cencored but i always knew in the 80s and 90s tbs showed way more than is allowed now i was in my late 20s before i knew who randolf Scott was I some how knew who hedy Lamar was when i saw this as a kid so i got that joke but i loved this movie but didn't know it was a satire til in teen years in teen years DVDs of this movie found there way to a new market and before streaming blazzing saddles needed to be watched by everyone cause now in this world it's deffinity different but by the end you realise the point of the comedy at least your suppose to hate it then fall in love imediately with Bart and jim
lol. this movie opens so hard with no fucks given. Easily a top 3 comedy for me. I know the whole thing by heart. So amazing.
Slim Pickens didn't feel his character was punished enough for his language. Rumor has it, the shovel to the head was his idea
I'd recommend STIR CRAZY (1980) with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Also, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983) with Steve Martin.
I will always find it funny when people today talk about how prudish people were in the 1960's and 1970's while they bleep movies on RUclips to avoid "Content Strikes" because of advertisers won't pay for ads in "offensive" content...
I can understand your point, James. However, the second half of the 20th century created “the man” to which this channel is beholden. I also find it amusing that many of those that embodied the counterculture are the same individuals that have perpetuated these “corporate handcuffs” in our current society.
@@BluntReactionsBB That is the fallacy that there is a difference between left and right, when it is really the difference between those with power and those without.
I watched this as a Sophmore in College. We loved it and its message.
A 'shit-kicker' is very similar to a 'clod-hopper' but with cattle. There ya go.
We used to call them ‘goat-ropers’.
BROOKS ALMOST DIDN'T GET IT MADE BACK THEN EITHER
Richard Pryor supposedly wrote the dialog for the black actors and Mel Brooks wrote the dialog for the White Actors. The latin actor who said "Santamaria" when Mongo came to town was a reference to a jazz performer "Mongo Santamaria". Check out Gene Wilder and Richard Pryror in "Silver Streak" & "Stir Crazy".
Lilly whispers in Sheriff Barts ear. He says, “Baby, I’m not from Havana”. Cuban cigars are world famous. He’s referencing oral sex (especially after their midnight rendezvous).
"That" word gets used more in Quentin's films than this film ever managed.
I saw this first while in college (1974) and it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen… today, it’s still the funniest movie I’ve ever seen (I get it, funny can be subjective)
happy thought about reacting to "what about Bob"?
or the original Ghostbusters from 1984?
I'm a huge Bill Murray fan and I love both of those
Richard Pryor went from ex-costar to co-writer assisting Cleavon Little in the lead role.
So, back when it came out, it was hugely popular. In fact, it was the highest grossing movie that year. People got the humor of it, got the message of it, and understood that the people using the racist language were either villains or morons, and in neither case to be respected. It was a scathing indictment of racists and racism, and the audience got it, without excessively "clutching their pearls" about the words being used. Or at least, they understood about the racial epithets. Hollywood and most filmgoers were still happy to make fun of gays, and Mel Brooks was no exception (further example: the herald in the Roman portion of History of the World Part 1), so the use of gay slurs was still played for laughs.
Mel Brooks was somewhat worried about using so many racial epithets in the movie. It was co-writer and legendary comedian Richard Pryor who insisted it was necessary to properly tell the story. If they're just generally nasty, the point could get lost. How racist are they, really? But by adding in such overt racism and racist language, the villains and their ignorant racism are reduced to caricature, to be thoroughly mocked throughout the movie. For a satire like this to truly work, the topic has to be front and center, and the language ensures that it is.
"But NOT the IRISH!"
To all those people that keep saying "This could never be made today." Please, stop it. Having just rewatched "Django Unchained" there's no doubt in my mind that if Quentin Tarantino did his version of this film... A remake, a "Tribute" if you will, to Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder & this 50 year old classic. The general public would absolutly love it. So yes, I do believe it could be made today. & Without any issues at all. & Every time I hear people saying "This could never be made today." I can feel their own prejudice holding them back.
This will always be a classic piece of cinema because it broke what a comedy could be. It was huge in the theaters, and even bigger in home mediaa decade later.
Brooks continued to push comedy forward with "History of the World Part One," " High Anxiety," and "Spaceballs."
If you went in expecting Cat Ballou or Support Your Local Sheriff, you would hate this movie. I saw a few people walk out as soon as the irreverence started. It’s not your typical comedy western….. Today there seem to be many Blazing Saddle reactors (and movie-goers in general) that don’t know what an anachronism is, or don’t see the humor. Those references, even the obvious ones, go right over their heads….. you guys did a great job.
Saw it 6x in one week, just as funny on the 6th day as on the first. Even funnier, caught jokes I had missed on other times. The audience was caught off guard when the fart scene started but the whole audience rolled in laughter. No one walked out.
I watched this as a kid on broadcast television in the seventies and it was edited a little !
Back then we still had enough humor to not be triggered by every little word. People today seem to like playing the victim of being offended.
I still say this is the most important movie ever made and mandatory in school at 8th grade
The actor with the red shirt who played Lyle, was so uncomfortable using the N word around Cleavon Little, that he kept apologizing. Little had to take him aside and say, "We're ACTING!"
A great '70's comedy .... "What's Up Doc". Madeline Kahn is amazing. One of the funniest scenes of all time is Sorrell Booke (Boss Hog fame) laying the charm on Mabel Albertson.
best comedy ever
Mongo was played by football great, Alex Karras.
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards. won 2 (Hall of Fame-Motion Picture, best Comedy Screenplay) by 1979 it had grossed over $100M, only 10 films had done so.
Are you sure?
Mel Brooks wanted Richard Pryor for the role given to Cleavon Little. The studio was fully against it due to issues with the comedian.
Yes, Cleavon Little killed the role. I always wonder what Pryor would have done if he had been cast
Saw this at our local theater (in the LA area) when it first came out. In 1974, the N-word was considered vulgar, but by no means un-sayable.The real shocker was the word 'shit,' which my friends and I had never heard uttered on-screen before. (You'll note that the word 'fuck' does not appear in this movie. That was TOO much, even for Mel Brooks, and might have caused riots.) The last line in the hymn - "Our town is turning into shit" - earned one of the biggest laughs of the evening. We got all the jokes and nuances, some of which are now lost on young audiences, and the theater rocked with laughter through the entire film. I assume it was pretty much the same thing at theaters all over the country. Well, maybe not in the Bible Belt so much, but everywhere else.
For years, I thought Mongo's name was at the expense of people with intellectual disabilities ("mongoloid"), but it was just so an extra could yell out the name of Mel Brook's favorite musician, Mongo Santamaria
I love this movie. This was made during a time when friends just got together to go to a movie to laugh & enjoy themselves. "Politically correct" didn't exist back then. We didn't judge our friends by the color of their skin, their religion or their political views. I miss those times so very much.
For the record; the campfire scene was so humorous to audiences that it ruined the Western movies for the rest of the decade. Audiences couldn't watch a Western after this without thinking of this scene and laughing.
You can't go wrong exploring other Meal Brooks movies. You may want to try The Producers, from 1967, costarring Gene Wilder.
You do know Richard Pryor has some input into this movie.😂
Uh, yeah. We talk about it.
I saw and enjoyed this in its theatrical release. It clearly ridiculed racism. This and "Young Frankenstein" are my favorite Mel Brooks movies.
Awesome Movie and Work Guys, Thanks!!! Greetings from Helsinki, Finland🇫🇮🇺🇸
When this came out few were phased about the use of the n word since that was clearly the joke. Bigots were upset at being portrayed as idiots. The film represented our hope that racism was finally reduced to a joke and wouldn't be an issue for future generations. Sadly, we were naively optimistic. It is also sad that our society is now so uptight that the current generation feels shame when watching this movie instead of being grateful for this film's effort to eliminate racism.
When this movie came out and we all went to see it, we all thought it was hilarious. We were familiar with Mel Brooks' humor. I always feel bad when I see people today looking so uncomfortable watching this movie. I know it's different times now, and if I were 25 instead of 67, I don't know that I'd be any different. Glad to see you both enjoyed it and realized it really shows how stupid racism is. Great reaction
It was funny and we understood the context so it wasn't shocking to us in the 70's. All races laughed and also knew the situation.
When asked to be in the movie by Mel Brooks, John Wayne said no but I will be the first in line to see it.
Pryor - black, Mel Brooks - Jewish, subject - A parody on racism - WTF is the matter with idiots that decry this - it takes about 2 minutes to realise what it is :) In context nothing wrong with a single word in this film - and it would have been not far off the norm then I'd guess. It's as funny as bleep bleep bleep, on point and I love it 😂
This movie was well received, it was 50 years ago when people weren't as woke or offended. I'd suggest watching "All in the Family". and I think Tarantino could make a movie like this, maybe you should check out his recent movies like Django Unchained or The Hateful Eight and see how many times the "N" word was used.
How many retention asks end with a candygram bomb, that was Mongos entire redemption
Im fairly sure lyle and mel brooks are the only cast with speaking parts still a live and mel is in his 90s i would love to see him make a centurian sadly clevon little died young he was a broad way actor that got the part cause Richard Pryor couldn't get it cause the studio said no cause of his live performance he would go on to make a great movie career 3 movies with gene wilder i reccomend them all but i love hear no evil see no evil its my favorite of the 3 the other 2 came first but i love the 3rd movie they made the best
My favorite part of reactions to this is when mongo falcon punches the horse and if you noticed it was mongo that got the final punch in on taggart we got justice for mongo
Bart only gave a shit about that boy part he was in shock but didn't really care
This is the greatest movie ever made as far as what it dis for the world this movie should be mandatory in 8th grade just before high school no class just randomly show it in 8th grade and never discuss it