WHAT: Blazing Saddles (1974, DCP) 50th anniversary
WHEN: March 13, 2024 1 PM & 7 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 advance or $10 for the 1 PM matinee.
Advance Tickets: Click Here and select date.
Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder
Mel Brooks’ outrageous Western spoof, Blazing Saddles, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024. (Its world premiere was on February 7, 1974, at the Pickwick Drive-In Theatre in Burbank, California.) It’s the film that broke ground (and wind) and remains one of the most popular comedies in movie history. The film comes to Rock Park Ridge on March 13, 2024, when we present it on the Pickwick Theatre’s MEGA-screen.
Blazing Saddles is the story of a black railroad worker who is appointed sheriff of Rock Ridge and confronts the racism of a small Western town. The initial story treatment was by Andrew Bergman. It was later developed by Mel Brooks, along with Norman Steinberg and Alan Uger. Another key contributor to the screenplay was comedian Richard Pryor, who supplied a lot of the material for the “Mongo” character (played by Alex Karras). Pryor was originally considered for the starring role of “Black Bart,” but he was viewed by Warner Brothers as too much of a risk due to his drug arrests. The role instead went to the gifted Cleavon Little.
Gene Wilder, who had worked with Brooks on The Producers (1967), played the alcoholic “Waco Kid.” Dan Dailey was Brooks’ first choice, but the actor had misgivings about doing it. Gig Young was then cast, but due to poor health was replaced. Though he lacked the physical description Brooks had in mind, Gene Wilder stepped in and elevated the part. Others in the cast included Slim Pickens (bringing all his Western movie history with him), Harvey Korman (the ultimate sketch comedian playing “Hedley Lamarr”), Madeline Kahn (in an Oscar-nominated role as the Marlene Dietrich-styled seductress, Lili Von Shtupp) and Mel Brooks, who plays several roles including Governor William J. Le Petomane.
Blazing Saddles is loaded with anarchy and 1974 anachronisms set in 1874. The movie breaks the “fourth wall” that separates the actors from the audience. This postmodernist approach to film-making is evident in the final act involving the wild brawl that carries over onto a movie set. It’s the type of comedy that goes back to the days of Olson & Johnson in films like Hellzapoppin’ (1941). There is actually a reference to “Olson Johnson” in the movie!
Blazing Saddles is a film that will offend most contemporary viewers; many of whom will judge it without understanding the intent. To their way of thinking, the use of the “N” word, used throughout, is reason enough to slap warning labels on it or “cancel” it altogether. But those who know what’s going on realize, as Harvey Korman has pointed out, that the film is about the absurdity of prejudices. The hatred of the “black” is the engine that drives the narrative; it’s a film that takes risks. This premise could never be executed today because there are few mainstream risk takers. Everything now is a packaged product that feels as though it could’ve been created by AI. But Brooks pokes fun at all races. His intent was to show the triumph of humanity over prejudice. Its success is that it makes us laugh while doing so.
~MCH
