BLAZING SADDLES: A 50th Anniversary Retrospective

Introduction

Over the last decade or so, the term ‘that could never get made today’ has become part of our culture’s vernacular. For better or worse, as a society, we have become a lot less tolerating of raunchy, racial, and ethnic humor. Even if it’s spoofing ignorant and racist people, it doesn’t matter. It’s not happening and it’s certainly not getting green-lit by any major studio. Fifty years ago, in 1974, there was no greater example of this type of film than Mel Brook’s iconic and gloriously hilarious Blazing Saddles.

Brooks’ parody of the Hollywood Western is replete with the N-word, racial and ethnic stereotypes, and jokes about homosexuality. If that’s not enough to offend, throw in rape jokes, punching a horse in the face, group farting, and a plethora of other offensive material. The thing is, while that would never get made today, it also was just as offensive five decades earlier. So how did Blazing Saddles not only come to be but also become a critical success and box-office smash? Cinema Scholars presents a 50th-anniversary retrospective of Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles.

Beginnings

One of the best comedic writers you’ve probably never heard of, Andrew Bergman (The In-Laws, Fletch) had come up with the idea of “Tex-X” (a play on Malcolm X’s name). Bergman had intended to produce and direct the satirical story of a black sheriff who becomes the authority figure of a backward, racist white town in post-Civil War Texas. Things changed when Alan Arkin was brought in to direct with James Earl Jones attached to portray the sheriff. That also fell apart and Mel Brooks soon snatched up the rights from Bergman. Brooks would tell Entertainment Weekly in 2014:

“I just wanted to exorcise both my angels and demons. I said to all the writers, “Look, fellas, don’t worry, this movie will never get released. Never. [Warner Bros.] will see it and they’ll say, ‘Let’s bury it.’ So let’s go nuts. Let’s write things that we never would dare write.” And we did”

Brooks, while gaining critical acclaim and an Academy Award (for Best Original Screenplay) in 1967 for The Producers was essentially unemployed and broke. He was also expecting his first child with his wife Anne Bancroft. As such he jumped at the opportunity to write and direct what he hoped would be his next big hit. Brooks assembled a team of writers to flesh out and expand Bergman’s story. The writers included Brooks, Bergman, Alan Uger, and the late Richard Pryor. Brooks has often called Pryor “The greatest standup comedian who ever lived.”

Casting

With a finished screenplay and the title changed from Tex-X to Black Bart to Blazing Saddles, it was time to cast the film. Richard Pryor was Brooks’ original choice to play the role of Sheriff Bart. A choice that was roundly rejected by the suits at Warner Brothers. Pryor was coming off a recent drug arrest, was a known troublemaker, and was deemed ‘uninsurable’ by the studio. As such, Brooks almost quit the film entirely. Pryor, however, convinced Brooks to continue with the project. Brooks told Rolling Stone in 2016:

“I almost quit the movie because the studio was scared of casting him…He was the original Black Bart. But Richard said, ‘Mel, don’t quit – I still have two more payments coming to me from the Screenwriters’ Guild, let’s make the movie. I have to get paid. We’ll find a good Black Bart, let’s just do this”

After auditioning over a hundred actors for the lead role of Sheriff Bart, the team settled on Cleavon Little. Little had gotten his start on Broadway in 1970 when he starred in a production of Purlie. This earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor. He also had a starring role as Dr. Jerry Noland on the ABC show Temperatures Rising (1972–1974). 

In auditioning for the role of the town siren and German seductress, Madaline Kahn had started on the wrong foot with Brooks, or rather leg. Brooks asked Kahn, recently fired from the production of Mame (1974), to show him her legs. When Kahn protested, Brooks explained that the character of Lili Von Shtupp was based on Marlene Deitrich’s character in Destry Rides Again (1939). Brooks explained to the Bergen Record in 2016:

“She didn’t really understand. I said, ‘Madeline, would you raise your skirt? I want to see your legs.’ And she said, ‘Oh, it’s one of those auditions…I said, ‘No, no. You got me all wrong. We’re doing a takeoff of Western movies and one of the big ones is Destry Rides Again, starring Marlene Dietrich. And in that movie she kept straddling a chair with her beautiful netted black stockings and I gotta have good-looking legs.’ So, she said, ‘OK.’ She raised her skirt. She straddled a chair and showed me her legs”

The Waco Kid

For the other lead role, that of the Waco Kid, Brooks had offered the part to John Wayne. In 1973, Duke was filming Cahill U.S. Marshall for Warner Brothers, the same studio behind Blazing Saddles. As such, a chance meeting between Duke and Brooks took place. Brook’s asked the actor to read his latest script. While Wayne turned down the part for being ‘too blue’ he told Brooks that he thought the screenplay was hilarious and that he would be the first person in line to see it. A high compliment from the Hollywood legend. 

Gig Young was Brooks’ other choice to play the role as he wanted an older actor to play the part of a washed-up alcoholic gunslinger. Almost sixty years old, Young himself was an alcoholic and had recently won an Oscar for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). Young was cast and during the first day of shooting, the actor started shaking violently and throwing up. He was taken away in an ambulance and fired from the film. A replacement would need to be found, and quick.

Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks had grown to be close friends since first working together on The Producers (1968). After the Gig Young debacle, Brooks called Wilder in a panic, begging him to fly out to LA and take the role. The next day Wilder got on a plane and flew to California from New York, learning his lines on the plane. It all worked out and Wilder’s performance as the Waco Kid is one of the late stars’ greatest roles. Gig Young filed a $100,000 suit for damages, which was subsequently thrown out.

Mongo and Hedley

After being released by the Detroit Lions in 1971, professional football player and aspiring actor Alex Karras appeared multiple times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as well as having a small role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. However, it would be his small but now iconic role as ‘Mongo’ in Blazing Saddles that would define his career. The incredibly slow-witted and physically strong Mongo also had one of the best lines in the film when he philosophically states to Sheriff Bart and the Waco Kid:

“Mongo only pawn in game of life”

While Harvey Korman had gained acclaim and multiple Emmy Awards working on the legendary The Carol Burnett Show (1967-1978). It wasn’t until late-night legend Johnny Carson turned down the role of the sinister (and hilarious) role of attorney general Hedley Lamarr that Mel Brooks and Korman would finally cross paths. It would be the start of a long and fruitful relationship that would span four films and over twenty years. 

Not everything went smoothly as Hollywood Golden Age actress, Hedy Lamarr, sued Mel Brooks and Warner Brothers for riffing on her name without permission. Lamarr sued for $10 million with the matter eventually being settled out of court. Brooks would later state:

“We settled out of court…It wasn’t a lot, a couple of thousand dollars. I apologized to her for ‘almost using your name’…I don’t think she got the joke”

Studio Drama

Filming on Blazing Saddles began on March 6, 1973. From day one Brooks and the executives at Warner Brothers were locked in disagreement. Warner’s top executive, Ted Ashley, was horrified when he saw early cuts of the film. He demanded that Brooks take out all uses of the “N” word. Also ordered to be chopped: The ‘bean scene’ (in which a group of cowboys after dinner are sitting around a campfire and loudly farting). A scene where Mongo punches a horse in the face. And the seduction scene between Lili and Sheriff Bart. Brooks reflected later:

“When he left, I crumpled up all of my notes and threw the wad into a wastebasket…I didn’t cut a sentence or a word or even an expression on anybody’s face” 

Warner Brothers were not enthusiastic that Blazing Saddles would be released, much less be a box-office hit. Several executives thought they should axe the project and take the tax write-off. However, studio head John Calley believed in Brooks and opened it in three cities — Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York — as a test run. Needless to say, the film was a smash hit in all three cities. Audiences were smart enough to see through the leud acts and slurs to realize that  Blazing Saddles was a brilliant parody of simple-minded people and racism. Writer Norman Steinberg spoke to the AV Club:

“We showed the film to the Warner office workers. And they went bats***. People were falling on the floor – because it was so outrageous at the time. And Mel said, ‘F*** ’em, this is our film,’ and that was the film that was released”

Release

Blazing Saddles had its world premiere on February 7, 1974, at the Pickwick Drive-In Theatre in Burbank. All two-hundred-fifty guests in attendance – including Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little – arrived at the premiere on horseback. The film went on to become Warner Brothers’ top-grossing film that summer, pulling in $16,500,000. In addition, for his efforts, Brooks received $50,000 “for all the writing, directing, and sweeping up.” A paltry sum. All told, on a $2.6 million budget, Blazing Saddles grossed almost $120 million globally. The film was a smash hit and firmly cemented Brooks as an A-list director.

Initially, Blazing Saddles received mixed reviews from the press. The majority of the critics who panned the film felt that it was too ‘jokey’ and that Brooks was pandering to the lowest common denominator. Other critics cited Brooks’ simplistic direction and ‘stale’ jokes that were substituting for the lack of a coherent plot. Legendary New York Times critic Vincent Canby stated:

“Blazing Saddles has no dominant personality, and it looks as if it includes every gag thought up in every story conference. Whether good, bad or mild, nothing was thrown out”

While giving a pep talk to his group of bad guys, Harvey Korman’s Hedy Lamarr reminds the posse that although they are risking their lives, he is “risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor!” While Korman was denied the nomination, Blazing Saddles did garner three Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Madeline Kahn. It was also nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Song for “Blazing Saddles,” written by Brooks and sung by John Morris.

Legacy

Like so many great writers and directors – Stanley Kubrick, Edgar Allen Poe, Alfred Hitchcock, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc. – Mel Brooks was ahead of his time, and films such as Blazing Saddles weren’t truly appreciated until decades later. Now, it’s universally recognized as one of the great satires of all time. Skewing racism and bigotry while dishing out the laughs isn’t always an easy task and Mel Brooks nailed it. Fifty years later Blazing Saddles is as relevant as ever. 

Blazing Saddles, directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman will have a 50th-anniversary limited theatrical release across the US on September 15, 2024.

If You Enjoyed This Article We Recommend:

Greystone Mansion: The History Of Hollywood’s Favorite Estate (Click Here)

The Making of ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (Click Here)

THE OLD MAN: A Review Of The New Jeff Bridges Series (Click Here)

If You Don’t Want To Miss Any Of Our Content In The Future Like Us On Facebook and Follow Us On Twitter and Instagram