{"id":28158,"date":"2012-11-05T16:47:58","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T23:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28158"},"modified":"2022-11-29T16:13:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T23:13:32","slug":"blazing-saddles-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28158","title":{"rendered":"Blazing Saddles (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There is one thing standing between me and that property &#8212; the rightful owners.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-28159\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Poster.jpg 496w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA corrupt politician (Harvey Korman) hoping to build a railroad through the town of Rock Ridge plots to drive out its racist, ignorant inhabitants by appointing a black man (Cleavon Little) as sheriff &#8212; but Little enlists the help of an alcoholic gunslinger (Gene Wilder) in fighting back against Korman.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gene Wilder Films<\/li>\n<li>Madeline Kahn Films<\/li>\n<li>Mel Brooks Films<\/li>\n<li>Satires and Spoofs<\/li>\n<li>Sheriffs<\/li>\n<li>Westerns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nWhile I disagree with Peary&#8217;s sour take on Mel Brooks&#8217; delightfully irreverent debut film <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28134\"><em>The Producers<\/em> (1968)<\/a>, I&#8217;m in full agreement with his review of this follow-up western satire, which may have been &#8220;an enormous hit&#8221; but remains &#8220;graceless and stupid&#8221;, with &#8220;humor&#8221; that&#8217;s &#8220;crude, rude, obvious, repetitive, [and] self-impressed&#8221;. Peary writes that &#8220;scenes are like clunky <em>Carol Burnett Show<\/em> routines combined with stilted burlesque revue acts&#8221;, and argues that &#8220;Brooks consistently relies on either raunchy humor or anachronisms to get laughs&#8221;; the fact that the film&#8217;s &#8220;most famous scene has cowboys breaking wind around [a] campfire&#8221; indicates the level of humor generally at work. While it&#8217;s true that Brooks &#8220;shows no fondness for the western genre&#8221;, even worse is how his attempt to satirize racism falls completely flat: he shows us African-Americans (referred to repeatedly as &#8220;N*ggers&#8221;) and Asian-Americans (&#8220;Chinks&#8221;) being treated worse than animals, with the intention that we&#8217;ll laugh at how absurdly ignorant these bigoted white townsfolk come across &#8212; but the satirical &#8220;pay-off&#8221; is far too facile, and doesn&#8217;t begin to make up for having to sit through such offensive behavior and language. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder as Bart and Jim<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder-1024x435.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-28160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder-1024x435.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder-300x127.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Blazing-Saddles-Little-Wilder.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Occasional snippets of humorous dialogue:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Korman:<\/strong> What&#8217;s your crime?<br \/>\n<strong>Little:<\/strong> Stampeding cattle.<br \/>\n<strong>Korman:<\/strong> That&#8217;s not much of a crime.<br \/>\n<strong>Little:<\/strong> Through the Vatican?<br \/>\n<strong>Korman:<\/strong> Kinky&#8230;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one is only recommended for Brooks fans. <\/p>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0071230\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1974\/02\/08\/archives\/screen-blazing-saddles-a-western-in-burlesque.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/blazsadd.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/blazing-saddles-1974\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=5953&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/blaz.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/69005\/blazing-saddles\/#articles-reviews?articleId=18765\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/blazing-saddles\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There is one thing standing between me and that property &#8212; the rightful owners.&#8221; Synopsis: A corrupt politician (Harvey Korman) hoping to build a railroad through the town of Rock Ridge plots to drive out its racist, ignorant inhabitants by appointing a black man (Cleavon Little) as sheriff &#8212; but Little enlists the help of an alcoholic gunslinger (Gene Wilder) in fighting back against Korman. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Gene Wilder Films Madeline Kahn Films Mel Brooks Films Satires&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=28158\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28158"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88639,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28158\/revisions\/88639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}