If you’re ever in the mood for a satirical, criticizing America in a funny and light-hearted way kind of movie, Blazing Saddles is where you’ll find it. This 1974 movie directed by Mel Brooks is about an African American railroad worker during the post-Civil War era in the Old West. The worker, Bart, played by Cleavon Little, gets into a feud with his racist boss and ends up with a death sentence. He’s saved though by a greedy man named Hedley Lamaar (Harvey Korman) who makes Bart the sheriff of a small town in the way of a railroad company. The story plays out with Bart and his alcoholic former protege gunman, Jim (Gene Kelly) fighting to save their previously racist town.
With the country still reeling from the ‘60s protests, this movie represents the way people were moving on from their racist past. Blazing Saddles’s most intelligent and wisest character is an African American railroad worker who continually outsmarts the “bad guys” and ends up on top in multiple situations. This differs from past movies, even the classic Gone With the Wind, that showed an inept and scared African American servant who could not properly deliver a baby without help. This social critique against the previous racist West is portrayed in multiple asides with Bart and the camera. For example, when Bart first arrives to his town as sheriff, the townspeople, who originally were going to throw him a huge ceremony, instead point guns at him. In response, Bart pretends to be both a kidnapper holding a gun to his hostage and the hostage himself. Eventually, the townspeople play on in horror until Bart gets away and says to the camera, “Oh, baby, you are so talented. And they are so dumb!” This scene is brought to a more “realistic” light with at least one close-up on a frightened townswoman who yells out in despair. This close-up reveals that the townspeople are actually starting to believe his act. Another close-up is when Bart addresses the camera after the stunt. This close-up makes the aside and his comment more humored because he acknowledges that he knows the dramatic irony of the townspeople’s horror.
The movie is shot like an old western. The coloring is loud and obnoxious but still has a 1970s look to it. The shots range from scenery shots of the desert to close-ups of faces. Playing off of the 1970s characteristic of a “real”story, the movie blends in also current Los Angeles near the end of the movie. The bringing in of the Old Westerners to current LA brings a juxtaposition of old Hollywood and new Hollywood. The movie blatantly makes fun of both systems with the elaborate sets of the different movies the westerners run through. This supports the common ‘70s characteristic of a social critique, specifically of Hollywood in general.
Overall, I give this movie a 5/5.
