Did You Know...?

As well as talking about old movies, i also like take photographs. Here are a few i'm quite proud of...

A Window at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.

Some Chimneys, Cambridge

My Family

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Is Blazing Saddles a Western? I suppose thats the question that needs answering before a film like this can be discussed. 

I guess the short answer is Yes, it is a Western. Its set in the desert plains of America, there are Cowboys, Indians, guns, shoot outs, saloons and a town whereby everyone is called 'Johnson'. Aesthetically, it possesses everything that a film requires to be considered a Western, but why does it not feel like one?

The long (and correct) answer, is No. Blazing Saddles references some of the greatest Westerns ever made like Once Upon A Time in the West and High Noon and rather than being a spoof of these movies, it becomes more of a western satire. An  example of this would be when the newly appointed Sheriff rides gallantly across the desert on a horse to some triumphant, heroic music and he rides past a full brass band and conductor in the desert playing the music he's riding to. Brooks plays about like this quite a bit in Blazing Saddles and breaks the codes and conventions that films should follow and taking something that should be off screen and invisible to the protagonist and placing it so brazenly in the shot like this was new to audiences. How about the ending? Need i say anymore? If thats not messing about with conventions of cinema, then i don't know what is. Tarantino did the exact same thing a few years later with From Dusk Til Dawn, whereby what started out as a typically Pulp Fictionesque 'gangster movie' turned in to a gruesome vampire movie about halfway through. Just as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did in 1969, Blazing Saddles just has fun with the genre, so much so, it stops being of that genre and seemingly creates a super-genre of its own. Lets not forget that Blazing Saddles is as much a satire of Westerns as it is an allegory of the Civil Rights Movement, so brashly displayed in its language and liberal use of the word Nigger. Inter-racial relations was still considered to be taboo and the KKK were just ironing their hats at the time Blazing Saddles was made. Brooks was obviously poking fun at the absurdity of peoples distaste for African -American's during this time. 

Whatever Blazing Saddles is, its undeniably hilarious, clever, different, stupid, witty and did is say hilarious? Gene Wilder is the star for me as Jim AKA The Waco Kid, fastest hands in the world, and his first meeting with Sheriff Bart is unforgettably funny. Sheriff Bart is the towns first black Sheriff, although his presence there is purely to be hated by the townsfolk, as is the plot of drunken Governor Petomane (Brooks) and his crooked counterpart Hedley Lemarr. He hires Bart as the new Sheriff so the townsfolk abandon their town from fear and Lemarr can demolish it for his new railroad. However, after a shaky beginning, the townsfolk come round to the idea of Bart and he is accepted. Jim is hanging upside down in a jail cell when Bart first meets him and after gettig him down, they play a game of chess together. The dialogue in this part is as much stupid as it is genius, as Wilder is drunk, Bart is curious of his desire to be so drunk. We learn he was humiliated as The Waco Kid when he was challenged by a small child and his reputation was ruined, since then he turned to the bottle and hasn't crawled out since. All emotion is taken out of this moment by Wilders delivery of the story, you really can't help but snigger at his sad, depressed little state.. I promise, its funny. 

Along with Wilder, Brooks is equally as hilarious as Governor Petomane, who is also very drunk and very interested in women rather than the running of his state. Hence the influence of nasty Lemarr being so strong in his decision making. Finally, it would be rude not to mention the lady of this film, the beautiful, sexy, seductive singer Lili Von Shtupp hire by Lemarr to seduce Bart and corrupt him, but Bart's naturally smooth sexual capabilities sends Lili wild for him, thus thwarting Lemarrs plans. Played by Madeline Kahn, Lili is completely talentless as her song proves, but he long legs, tight little bottom and inability to pronounce her 'r's gives her a sexy but adorable edge. 

The films finale leaves me lost for words every time, as Lemarrs plans are consistently being ruined by Sheriff Bart, he hires a huge gang of thugs to attack the town and Bart has 24 hours to come up with a master plan. They build a fake town riddled with dynamite and try to find a way to slow the thugs down, so the construct a tollbooth whereby the thugs have to queue up and pay to cross into Rock Ridge, no one things t just ride around the tollbooth....but this only holds them off for so long and they ride into the fake Rock Ridge and explosions send the thugs flying. The townsfolk then attack the thugs and the rabble explodes through the walls of the Warner Brothers Studio right into a Musical being directed by Dom DeLuise. I'll stop there, but trust me when i say it is COMPLETE madness. 

Blazing Saddles is one of a kind and the madness of Brooks is ever present and channelled through Wilder's Waco Kid. A must watch for anyone, remember, its not a Western.