Now this was really the first movie my dad and I watched on Father's Day and really needs no introduction furthermore was one of the many movies that I just blurted out and we both went on a journey of reliving one of the greatest films of all time in my book. Blazing Saddles officially reached its 50th Birthday directed by Mel Brooks, starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder and Harvey Korman as well as Mel Brooks in two supporting roles through the course of the movie. You can argue and that Blazing Saddles is one of those films that is most certainly isn't appropriate for the kids of today especially the little turds or teenagers but personally I believe that Blazing Saddles is a perfect example of you can have a sense of humor, but you all so need to respect your fellow man no matter how different your opinion is or not different.
In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the people of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new leader. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend (Gene Wilder) are the only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.
Surprisingly the creation of Blazing Saddles didn't start with Mel Brooks, which is a huge surprise. It really started with Andrew Bergman, who I found out was the sole writer behind Chevy Chase's Fletch. The idea came out of a story outline from Bergman that he originally intended to develop and produce himself, in his own words "I wrote a first draft called Tex-X" (a play on Malcolm X's name), he also said "Alan Arkin was hired to direct and James Earl Jones was going to play the sheriff. That fell apart, as things often do." Brooks loved the idea and purchased the film rights from Bergman, and even though Brooks haven't worked with a writing team since NBC's show Your Show of Shows, he hired a group of writers along with Andrew Bergman to expand the outline. Brooks in his own words described the writing process as chaotic, "Blazing Saddles was more or less written in the middle of a drunken fistfight. There were five of us all yelling loudly for our ideas to be put into the movie. Not only was I the loudest, but luckily, I also had the right as director to decide what was in or out". Andrew Bergman states about anarchy in the writing process "In the beginning, we had five people. One guy left after a couple of weeks. Then, it was basically me, Mel and Richard Pryor and Norman Steinberg. Richie left after the first draft and then Norman, Mel and I wrote the next three or four drafts. It was a riot. It was a rioter's room." For which really makes a ton of sense because when you’re putting together what most certainly be one of the greatest comedies of all time, you most certainly are going to have argument battles on what is good and what is not good. The awesome fact about the making of Blazing Saddles was that actor John Wayne was offered the role of Gene Wilder’s part but due to Wayne's clean image, he turned the role down but told Mel Brooks that he will most certainly be the first person to watch Blazing Saddles. Actor Cleavon Little who plays Sheriff Bart is strangely kind of a mystery actor in terms of Blazing Saddles is one of his most recognizable movies ever but other stuff I've been not quite familiar with. And that's the honest truth, granted I watched an episode of All in the Family where he makes a cameo appearance in the show playing a burglar where he bashes Carroll O'Connor for being racist and calling out Rob Reiner for being a liberal (which he was) and this was long before Blazing Saddles, but after the film’s release he continued on with television work and other films that didn't live up to Blazing Saddles and I'm not going to continue on about why he didn't have a big career and really the only answer I can find in short few sentences is the man went back to Broadway back in 1975, which in all fairness for an actor like Little, you just have to go back with what you feel comfortable with as an actor, which I can't blame him for that. Being 50 years old now, I'm not going to lie when you will never get a movie like this, for which in my opinion is why Blazing Saddles still stands as one of the greatest comedies of all time because Brooks and his writer made huge risks to make this an iconic film that everyone including me can watch and recite the one liners over and over (well not all of them). And sure, you can find a ton of people out there who are not too sure in wanting to go back and re-watch the movie. In which that's their opinion I can't fault them for that, but if this movie really does make you laugh and you believe it's funny then you really shouldn't forget this movie can you? Like I'm a firm believer in thinking that God made man in his own image (same with women) but he also made us equal in his own eyes, and that's something that I always take for granted as a human being, I mean sure I love the movie from start to finish despite how weird the ending was, but never in a million years of my sad life, am going to say any vulgar words to another person and I would encourage everyone else to do the same moreover I think that's something that America has kind of lost its ways coming into this generation. Like, you can still have a sense of humor at somethings but don't be a typical a**hole who has a tattoo of a Nazi symbol or drive around with a Confederate flag mounted on your car because as of all sane person would know it leaves a terrible taste on not just yourself but most importantly your soul, hell Donald Sterling is 90 years old and when that piece of sh*t goes to hell nobody is going to mourn his loss in fact I don't believe anyone will ever come to his funeral, his wife will just cremate him and throw his remains in the trash and call it good. So, now that Blazing Saddles is officially 50 years old I still deem the film to be not only the greatest comedies of all time but in my list in the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, and I would highly recommend watching the film in the summer time, but would recommend watching the movie late at night so the kiddos won't come down and ask what you’re watching when a really bad word comes up. Furthermore, I would also suggest to all the parents out there to never loose you’re sense of humor, no matter how crazy the world especially most of them mixing politics in conversations upon which I would not recommend that because I personally know that it brings out the worst in people. More importantly to tell parents out there do make sure to have your kids at the appropriate age when seeing Blazing Saddles at least seventeen years of age.
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