Mel Brooks is a comic genius. This undisputable fact is proven by Blazing Saddles, the sixth all-time greatest comedy according to the AFI and ninth when Bravo handed out their awards. Granted it wasn't Mel Brooks alone, but his ability to get past the hand of the censors was the key to this film's success then and it still is today.
Blazing Saddles is a film that doesn't limit itself to the Wild West. No, Saddles takes off into the Warner Brothers lot across various sets, a food court, and finally to a theater which is premiering the film. Simply put, the movie is too much of a classic to contain itself to its source material, meant to serve as a send up to every western ever made. It's a wacky, crazy, incoherent, and downright stupid film for nearly the entire running time. That’s why it works.
The entire cast is perfect, including Mel Brooks in various roles himself. Cleavon Little is flawless as the only real intelligent person in town and Gene Wilder is unforgettable as the Waco Kid. Even NFL player Alex Karris is priceless as the hulking Mongo. Richard Pryor mostly wrote the latter while he was still in the running for the lead role. Of course, not giving credit to Madeline Kahn as Lillie Von Setup in an Academy Award nominated performance would be a crime.
Nearly every line spoken is quotable. You’ll never look at a dime or tollbooth again without wanting to recite some of cinema’s greatest comedic words. It’s a sign of the times when half of them wouldn’t even make it into an R rated film in today’s market due to over sensitive equal rights groups who wouldn’t see past the language to get the point.
People have blasted the film as racist and disgusting, which is either a result of being misunderstood or simply not viewing this in the proper context. Yes, words are spoken that give it an initial racially charged spin, yet to take as such is completely missing the point.
The racist terms create the ignorance of the era and the characters. Never are they overused or forceful unless they’re for the sake of the film’s tone. It takes an enormous amount of skill and bravery to pull this off, and the script is flawless.
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