The historical question of how Blazing Saddles illustrated the style and social politics of the auteurs cinema movement is particularly relevant. In the auteurs movement, the directors were viewed as the major artistic influence behind the movie. This film is a strong example of a movie made during this movement, as Mel Brooks was highly involved in every aspect of the filming process. Blazing Saddles is a mainstream film, due to its cast of famous actors, and the established background of the director. Although the style of storytelling is unique, the plot is still easy to follow, and the ending portrayed the usual semi-decisive conclusion that most westerns include. Moreover, the creative license along with the large budget that Brooks was supplied with, allowed him a lot of room to experiment with the style of the movie.

As this article entitled, “When Characters Speak Directly to Viewers: Breaking the Fourth Wall in Television,” by Philip Auter and Donald Davis describes, actors who speak directly to the camera retain the audiences’ avid interest in the storyline. Thus, the recurrent instances of utilizing this technique in Blazing Saddles, might have been a purposeful act by the filmmakers in which to hold the viewer’s attention despite the wildly imaginative storytelling method that was employed.

In an article from TCM, the author Emily Soares stated that, “Blazing Saddles…is quintessential Mel Brooks – a Western spoof loaded with inside jokes, anachronisms…and the director’s favorite actors performing his favorite form of broad burlesque comedy.” Overall, this piece paid tribute to the actors, many of whom were not originally considered for their parts. The director’s incredible involvement in the film, by playing three roles and even writing songs for it, add to the impression of the amazing amount of effort as well as time that Brooks took to create the movie.

Blazing Saddles embodied components that originated from the film industry as well as the auteurs cinema movement, which was clearly apparent in the 1970s. The relative free reign that Mel Brooks had over the script and filming techniques used, demonstrate the power that directors enjoyed during this period. To a certain extent, Blazing Saddles was a product of the film industry, as several features were designed to promote the admiration of audiences, such as the method of talking directly to the camera. However, a great deal of Brooks’ creativity is evident throughout the movie, since the script and scenes were filmed according to his humorous wishes.

In this scene, Jim (Gene Wilder), talks to Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little), after the latter experiences outright hostility from the townspeople due to his race. Jim ridicules the townspeople, describing them as simple farmers who do not have the mental capacity to accept him, no matter how hard he tries to assimilate. Furthermore, in this scene, Sheriff Bart easily fools the townspeople of Rock Ridge into lowering their weapons, after which he derides the remarkable stupidity of the assembly. Both of these scenes add power to the fact that Blazing Saddles addresses the racial discrimination that was still present in America in 1974, by displaying the idiocy of people who engage in that belief system. The poster of the film illustrates the point made by Emily Soares, that Blazing Saddles is a parody of the normal Hollywood western films, with numerous contemporary elements including a modern fashion design label, as well as the rock-star angle that is represented by the microphone hanging in front of Cleavon Little along with the sunglasses he is wearing.

In addition, the frequent use of swear words in situations that would not – in that time period – have been used, gave the film an air of modernity which no doubt was an attempt to preserve the interest of audiences.