A hidden gem of a movie made by Mel Brooks, you would think a comedy movie nowadays would be surrounded by child like satire of jokes or events that a character would do. Well, you get all of that and then some in Blazing Saddles. I’d recommend prior to reading my post to stop here or click this link https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/cute-puppies/ if you get offended easily in regards to a hilarious satire spoof of a movie.

Blazing Saddles is a movie you would not see in today’s era in the movie industry, with all the political correctness, there would be someone who would be so offended by the fact that the N-word is dropped in so many lines, it makes it quite hilarious. It’s the fact that Mel Brooks is directly making fun of racism, it points out the stupidity of racism and with regards to those in the film as being in a sense illiterate and stupid. A review done by Roger Ebert states his observation of the film, “There are some people who can literally get away with anything — say anything, do anything — and people will let them. Other people attempt a mildly dirty joke and bring total silence down on a party. Mel Brooks is not only a member of the first group, he is its lifetime president. At its best, his comedy operates in areas so far removed from taste that (to coin his own expression) it rises below vulgarity.” I feel he understates the work of Mel Brooks, with handling the film without having “no strings attached” in his film. Some can’t handle that type of crude behavior, some can like myself who’ve been in the deep armpit of the military. So, my taste of humor, while understanding it and laughing at it makes someone like myself pretty entertained with what the whole message of the film is getting across. 

The style of art is quite simple, the background of the film is set like a wild west themed. The plot of the film is essentially just like any other wild west movie, with the railroad company trying to run the town out by having a black sheriff elected. The movie stars Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, and a handful of other notable celebrities. I was actually quite thrown off by Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder), playing a crucial role in this film. From a children’s movie essentially to a N-word dropping film every few seconds, through me off and kind of ruined my childhood of seeing him as Willy Wonka (just kidding).

Overall, Blazing Saddles is a cult classic of a film that you will never ever see in today’s era. Everyone should know this with today’s climate of how offended people are about the most dumbfounded things that make you scratch your head. It’s a shame to something like this, not to show up in today’s films making fun of the direct problems for what they are, because it beats the core value of comedy which is in my very honest opinion to make fun of every little humanly as possible either in a crude blunt way or whatever the style of the director wants it to be, that’s what laughing and enjoying life is all about.

Work Cited: Ebert, Roger. “Blazing Saddles Movie Review & Film Summary (1974) | Roger Ebert.” RogerEbert.com, 7 Feb. 1974, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blazing-saddles-1974.