Blazing Saddles

1974 Comedy

Vulgar, crude, and occasionally scandalous in its racial humor, this hilarious bad-taste spoof of Westerns, co-written by Richard Pryor, features Cleavon Little as the first black sheriff of a stunned town scheduled for demolition by an encroaching railroad. Little and co-star Gene Wilder have great chemistry, and the delightful supporting cast includes Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens, and Madeline Kahn as a chanteuse modelled on Marlene Dietrich. As in Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), and High Anxiety (1977), director/writer Mel Brooks gives a burlesque spin to a classic Hollywood movie genre; in his own manic, Borscht Belt way, Brooks was a central player in revising classic genres in light of Seventies values and attitudes, an effort most often associated with such directors as Robert Altman and Peter Bogdanovich . Some of this film's sequences, notably a gaseous bean dinner around a campfire, have become comedy classics. more..

Director: Mel Brooks

Starring: Cleavon Little,Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Slim Pickens

Reviews

No reviews

Awards

  • Best Actress in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1975)

     
  • Best Screenplay

    BAFTA Awards (1975)

     
  • National Film Preservation Board (2006)

  • Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen

    Writers Guild of America (1975)