Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical comedy film directed by Mel Brooks . Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder , the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman , Norman Steinberg , and Al Uger , and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards , and is ranked No. 6 on AFI's 100 Years.100 Laughs list.
Brooks appears in multiple supporting roles, including Governor William J. Le Petomane and a -speaking Indian chief. The supporting cast also includes Slim Pickens , Alex Karras , and David Huddleston , as well as Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise , Madeline Kahn , and Harvey Korman . Bandleader Count Basie has a cameo as himself.
The film satirizes the racism obscured by myth-making Hollywood accounts of the American West , with the hero being a black sheriff in an all white town. The film is full of deliberate anachronisms , from the Count Basie Orchestra playing April in Paris in the Wild West to a rustler referring to the Nazis and camels .
PlotIn the American Old West of 1874, construction on a new railroad led by Lyle (Howard Johnson ", a "Olson N. Johnson ".) The conniving State Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman ) wants to buy the land along the new railroad route cheaply by driving out the townspeople. He sends a gang of thugs, led by his flunky assistant Taggart (Slim Pickens ), to scare them away, prompting the townsfolk to demand that Governor William J. Le Petomane (Mel Brooks ) appoint a new sheriff . The Attorney General convinces the dim-witted Le Petomane to select Bart (Cleavon Little ), a black railroad worker who was about to be hanged. (Bart had hit Taggart in the head with a shovel after Taggart ignored him and his black friend sinking in quicksand, deciding to save their handcar instead.) Lamarr believes a black lawman will so offend the townspeople that they will either abandon Rock Ridge or the new sheriff, with either result paving the way for him to take over the town.
Cast Notes Production Influences Reception Awards and honors Legacy TV pilot Musical adaptation Soundtrack NotesLos Angeles Times . Retrieved February 10, 2008.
Director and Leading Actors
Blazing Saddles (1974) GarnersClassics.com.
^ 2001 Review , mostly of Brooks's Salon.com
IMDb Biography for Gig Young
From the libretto of the La-LaLand Records soundtrack album
Blazing Saddles by
Chicago Sun-Times.
National Film Registry Announces New Titles
Black Bart at the Internet Movie Database
Back on the Horse: Mel Brooks Penning Songs for Blazing Saddles Musical
Blazing Saddles press release at La-La Land Records
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