Blazing Saddles

 

"Blazing Saddles" was trending on Twitter today.

There are few movies -- few works -- that have ever made me laugh so hard.

"Caddyshack" and "Slap Shot" immediately come to mind. So does "Airplane," "The Philadelphia Story," "His Girl Friday," "Anchorman," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" "The Birdcage" and so on.

But "Blazing Saddles" might be the funniest of them all.

I know -- "Young Frankenstein" (and it's utterly brilliant, of course).

But "Blazing Saddles" is just so...

Wrong.

Yes, that's the word. 

Look, let me deal with the obvious thing. Less than five minutes in, the "N" word is uttered a few times and I admittedly cringed. But that's the thing. History, sadly, is messy. 

But Slim Perkins comes riding in on his horse and says, "What in the wide wide world of sports is a-going on here?" and I just fall over laughing.

It's a movie in which Cleavon Little is the hero as a Black man who becomes sheriff.

Keep in mind the movie was not only from the mind of Mel Brooks but from Richard Pryor.

Plus Frankie Laine sang the theme song.

I mean, we're just warming up.

Harvey Korman as dastardly attorney general Hedley Lamarr.

Gene Wilder as Jim, the Waco Kid.

Alex Karras as Mongo, who steals each scene he's in, specifically when "Mongo likes candy" and announces how he's a pawn in the game of life.

And Madeline Kahn, who is uproariously hysterical Lili Von Shtupp ("Let's face it, I'm tired!")

Look, and I can't make this clear enough, the use of the "N" word is abhorrent and I cringe each time it's said, even by Cleavon Little himself for comedic purposes. But I also howl when John Hillerman blindly acknowledges Little as he rides into town to assume the position of sheriff of Rock Ridge.

Then Little says, "Excuse me while I whip this out," with "this" being his proclamation to be sheriff and more hilarity ensues.

And then there's Mel Brooks, who didn't only direct it but was a co-writer of the screenplay and played two roles: first, that of Governor Le Petomane....and then...

As soon as Little's Sherriff Bart speaks of being on the wagon train as a kid, I start laughing uncontrollably.

That's when Brooks, as the Indian Chief, greets them in Yiddish.

Now, there's nostalgia in this as it might have been my father's favorite comedic scene ever.

No, I'm not kidding. Ever.

So I laugh thinking about him laughing which makes me laugh even more.

Then comes the beans scene. Say no more.

It's 93 minutes of parody, satire, and belly laughs.

Of course, we say it can't be made today because of whatever.

Do we take ourselves too seriously? Sure. Are we smarter and maybe more advanced? Probably.

So why worry about it? The movie was made in 1974 and if we can get out of our own brains for a moment we can see how incredibly hysterical it is.

Give the Governor a harrumph!

You don't need no stinking badges.