Giddy Up Cowboy! Mel Brooks’ classic western pushes the comedic boundaries to deliver his finest work, Blazing Saddles. The hugely successful satirical western was nominated for several Oscars including Best Film Editing. It was the winner of the prestigious, Writers Guild of America for Best comedy written directly for the screen. With such success and prestige, one could forgive the sometimes gasp out loud, close to the bone, satirical comedy moments that is the cult classic, Blazing Saddles.

This scandalous, risque and downright crude comedy has a basic plot based on corrupt politician, Hedley Lemar who wants to rid the frontier town of Rock Ridge from its population so he can continue to build a railroad. Smart and crafty railroad worker Bart, (played by Cleavon Little)  is inadvertently appointed as the town’s new sheriff by Hedley.  Hedley, assuming the town folk of Rock Ridge will reject Bart since he is their first ever black sheriff, leaves things to run their course. However, Bart makes friends with a gun-slinging drunk named Jim, aka the waco kid. After some racial bias the people of Rock Ridge come to realise that Sheriff Bart and his sidekick, Jim are their only defence against the thugs sent by Hedley to save their town and their homes. This spoof of a western will have viewers laugh out loud and is a far cry from the traditional western genre.

Released in 1974, the US was going through a time of upheaval and huge change after the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s abdication. With the changes and upheaval came more freedom and understanding, there was great experimentation and daring innovations in film. A movie review published by The Washington Film Institute stated, “If a film makes you laugh for 95 minutes, and a film lightens your load and mood and makes you feel better, well, there’s not much argument against the simple success of that achievement.”   Westerns are not usually funny or designed to lighten your mood, so this quote proposes that the movie is not as it first appears. By offering a spoof black comedy at a time where the audience need to be reminded not to take anything too seriously and it is OK to laugh, the mood of the nation is elevated. It encompasses the phrase, “don’t judge a book by its cover”. Blazing Saddles is certainly not your traditional western.

The movie poster for Blazing Saddles reinforces this concept that the film is not what you would expect a western to be. The poster has a subtle message within the main picture which reads, “Hi I’m Mel, trust me”. This is a reference to director, Mel Brooks who is known to push the boundaries on political correctness and for his satirical comedy. Asking audiences to trust him suggests the movie may offend or be in bad taste but this is not the filmmakers intentions. It is saying, trust Mel, he is a pioneer and visionary director and you will not regret watching his film, Blazing Saddles.

The film definitely pushes the boundaries of several sensitive subjects such as racism, offensive language and sexism. Making fun of such delicate issues runs the risk of alienating the viewers and only appealing to a small audience. This film proves the opposite, after a budget of $2.6 million, it took almost $120 million in domestic box office sales. That means Blazing Saddles made back nearly 40 times its original budget! With some well known actors such as Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens and the director himself, Mel Brooks, this film has some conventional aspects but runs a thin line on political and social issues meaning its veers more towards unconventional. 

The black comedy and satirical gags in the film can become somewhat shocking and tiresome. Vincent Canby, author of “Blazing Saddles, a western in burlesque”, argues that the film is simply a western turned upside down and inside out, braced with a lot of burlesque. Canby believes the film becomes desperate in its bone-crushing efforts to be funny. As a viewer, I somewhat agree. There are moments where it is exhausting following the dialogue and shocking scenes that you don’t know whether to laugh or gasp in shock. One example is when Lyle is belittling the railroad workers for not working hard enough in the heat. Most of the workers are ethnic minorities. He says, “Come on, boys! The way you’re lollygaggin’ around here with them picks and shovels, you’d think it was 120 degrees. Can’t be more than 114. [his friends laugh, and a Chinaman falls over from exhaustion] Dock that Chink a day’s pay for nappin’ on the job. Referring to someone of Chinese decent as a Chink in modern day society is hugely offensive and politically incorrect. In this instance, it could be that the film makers are trying too hard to get a laugh. 

Striving to keep the audience entertained, Blazing Saddles is credited with including the first audible fart scene. The diet of cowboys consisted mainly of black coffee and beans. Wanting to be authentic, director Mel Brooks ordered the scene where several cowboys are around the campfire eating beans and all that can be heard is multiple farts. Ironically, the fart sound is edited out for TV as it was deemed too vulgar. For a film that has multiple references to sex, racism and extensive use of the n-word, yet farts are deemed too vulgar?! This seems very contradictory.

Blazing Saddles is a true work of art and its phenomenal success makes it a cult classic. Mel Brooks gave courage to other filmmakers to experiment with black comedy, satire and the unconventional leading the way in offbeat spoof films.