In 2006, Blazing Saddles was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The whole point of the racist aspects of this movie, are to show just how stupid racism actually is. Mel Brooks does a wonderful..... no.... masterful job of displaying exactly that.
The Native American (played by Mel Brooks) was speaking Yiddish. Never saw my father laugh so hard in the theater. Also the campfire fart scene was the first of its kind. Brooks noticed that in most westerns there was scenes of them eating beans around a campfire, although never heard one fart. So he decided to go for it.
@@Daremo6969 I believe the farts dubbed into burps or omitted. There were also extended scenes of Bart taking out Mongo that had been filmed with intention of being used on broadcast television to make up time that would be created from cutting out more “objectionable” scenes. As you said though, the racist slurs were left in, while the sex jokes were mostly cut.
Also both Mel Brooks (ever the Vaudeville guy) and ZAZ do very silly comedy, are fond of gags with mixing up the figurative and literal, and throw the 4th wall right out of the 4th window. They certainly do have their differences, but I can see the reasoning in someone saying "Well. if you enjoy that, you'll probably enjoy this, too."
In pre-production, Brooks put out an ad for "a singer who sounds like Frankie Laine" for the title song. Frankie Laine himself answered the ad. He showed up and recorded the song in a single take...and nobody bothered to tell him beforehand that the film was a parody. His strong and true rendition adds to the character of the film, and by extension, the parody.
It was the first on major release film and on TV, if I'm not mistaken. The tv version was what I watched when I was a kid....the campfire scene is the first thing I remember laughing so hard at that it hurt
Plus it played off of the tired trope of Cowboys eating beans around the campfire. None of the Westerns showed the aftermath of that... Blazing Saddles did.
Your statement is too broad. You might have meant fart jokes in film, but you said it generally. Apparently the oldest joke ever found in writing was written by someone building an Egyptian pyramid. It was a fart joke.
I love how that "Y'know...morons." line was improv by Gene and the Sherriff's actor just broke character and laughed. It wasn't meant to be in the script!
I mentioned this on Airplane, but Mel Brooks always shot down people's remarks like "how he could make this movie today" by saying "you couldnt make it back then either!" If you have a message, if you know you can entertain, dont let social sensibilities (which always exist) stop you.
This is one of many Mel Brooks' films (and he plays numerous parts throughout most all of his films). Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, and a ton of others. Brooks specialized in farces and parodies in film.
“Someone’s gotta go back and get a sh!t load of dimes!” 🤣 And, yo, that horse getting blown 50ft straight up in the air has got to be one of the most hilarious visuals of all time! 🐎💥⬆️
When Hedley leaves the studio to go to the movie theater, the guy in the blue sweater wasn’t an extra. He was just some guy that was standing there and refused to move. Brooks just left him in the shot.
I can't believe you are discovering Mel Brooks' genius only now. Whoever told you that Blazing Saddles is similar to Airplane missed the point completely. There's so much to discover for you in the wonderful world of Mel Brooks. I hope the next is Young Frankenstein.
They both have a lot of silly humor, though _Blazing Saddles_ is definitely more upfront in speaking on deeper issues. It's not like they're night and day different, but maybe more like afternoon and evening.
It's a shame, too. Brooks said it got a lot of laughs. I guess they had just already gotten away with so much this wasn't going to be a hill to die on.
If you watch closely, right before Mongo punches the horse, the horse trainer is the rider, you can see him pull the reins to trigger the horse to fall.
The sheriff was written with Richard Pryor in mind, but apparently he was seen as too controversial. Cleavon Little did an exceptional job in the role, his delivery and timing is just hilarious.
Richard Pryor went on a two week coke and booze fueled binge in the middle of pre production called Mel in Hollywood from NYC. begging for airfair back to California. The studio could Not get insurance coverage for him so he was dropped from the production.
I watched this the first time in a theater. The crowd was laughing so hard you couldn't hear the next line. It took me watching it several times to get all the jokes. A masterpiece!
Moments like the ‘you know… morons’ line getting a legitimate laugh out of Cleavon Little makes me wish he and Gene Wilder had worked together more. Their chemistry was amazing in this film. R.I.P. to them both
Also, Mel Brooks’ character Governor Lepetomane is named after Joseph Pujol who’s stage name was Le Petomane. He was the highest paid act at the time for the world famous Mulan Rogue for his captivating talent… For farting on command.
During filming Mel Brooks ran into John Wayne at the commissary. Wayne told Brooks "I hear you're making a Western." Brooks said "I am and I want you to be in it." Wayne said "I can't ve in it, but I'll be first in line to watch it." According to later reports Wayne was indeed at the first screening and it was one if his favorite movies.
People saying "you'd never be able to do a movie like this today" don't realize people at the time told Brooks the same thing lol, if you think racial tension is bad now, this movie was made just 5 years after MLK was murdered. He did it for less than $5.5 million dollars adjusted for inflation, that's basically nothing for a major motion picture. Warner Bros would absolutely let an edgy comedy fly if it was done for just that little and with some big names attached like this had. Sausage Party had 4x that budget and got WAY more offensively racist by comparison and that came out just 5 years ago.
@@robovike Or Tropic Thunder lol. I also hear people say you couldn't make a movie "like that now", but wtf other better story can be told involving the same ingredients that had? Comedy evolves, whining about "the kids being to sensitive" has been welfare for has been stand up comedians for 3 generations now.
The clowns crying incessantly about "political correctness" and "wokeness" require a fantasy world in which they are the victim, so they can pretend they wouldn't "cancel" anyone who dared to disagree with them.
I see your point. But please do not compare this to sausage party in a negative light. Sausage party was a brilliant critique of every religion on earth. It used racial stereotypes to make its point and it did it brilliantly. If you like blazing saddles then you should absolutely love sausage party, so I hope that was your point. Laughing at stupid hatred is always funny to people who are smart enough to not be so hateful. It is true though that a movie like this can never be made again. Sausage party got away with being racial and religious and smart by being a cartoon, like South Park. Was that your point? It is sort of sad that we have to hide serious themes behind cartoon characters these days, right?
@@ScreamingScallop most of them are also either to young or to ignorant to remember how people got treated that spoke out against the Iraq War ~2003. social media cancelling is peanuts next to that.
This movie was groundbreaking on so many levels. Nobody had ever done anything like it. From the language to the adult comedy, to the racism, and making the racists look like fools, to spoofing every norm you could think of. People say you couldn't make this movie today. The truth is, Mel Brooks had a difficult time making it when they did.
24:06 This gag first appeared in "Bored of the Rings", a 1969 parody of "The Lord of the Rings" written by the guys who later founded "National Lampoon"; a toll booth is hastily erected to prevent the Black Riders from crossing at the Ford of Bruinen.
There are so many stars in this movie I don't think anyone could name them all. I like Madeline with her song. All the actors and actresses must have had a blast
When you watch a film like this rest assured that everything that happens or that you see is a reference to something from its time or an earlier time that the audience would get. For example Howard Johnsons at the time was the name of a restaurant/motel chain. During the 1960s and 70s it was the biggest restaurant chain in the U.S. It was famous for its 31 flavors of ice cream. In the town the sign says 1 flavor.
Glad you got a kick out of this one. The only major film that I can think of which acknowledges its own cinematic contrivances in such a blunt way is "Adaptation". Nicholas Cage plays two brothers who are trying to turn a book into a screenplay...which is the script for "Adaptation" itself. The actual screenwriter made himself the main character and also invented a twin brother for the plot. The credits even list the brother as co-writer, and he was nominated for an Oscar as well...even though he doesn't exist! There's a very low-budget comedy called "Crashing" with Campbell Scott and Lizzy Caplan. It's also about writers, and the movie blurs the line between what's actually happening in the story versus what the characters are making up. Of course, "Fight Club" is another movie that often calls attention to itself with fourth wall-breaks and the like.
@@cadleo most of Young Frankenstein are direct visual quotes from the original movies. If you haven't seen those scenes, you just won't get the humor the same way. And in my experience, most people have not read the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley which is very different than the movies. Anyway just my experience and my thought. I think you get more out of it. I've seen similar movies fall completely flat on other reactors like Ashley Burton when they have no clue about what a scene is referencing.
The line by Gene Wilder when he consoles Sherriff Bart "the common clay of the new west, you know, morons" was improvised by Gene, making Cleavons laugh genuine 😁
The guy in the blue sweater standing at the traffic light as they run off the lot isn't an actor or an extra. He just wouldn't leave the area, so they filmed around him. you can see by his reaction he has no idea what is going on.
"Tell him I said-- OWWWW" is one of my favorite jokes in this film, but I love the entire film. I'm so glad you've been introduced to Madeline Kahn, she was so funny and sexy and smart, and a genuinely down to earth human being. You should also check out High Anxiety, another Mel Brooks film co-starring Madeline Kahn. It's a great love letter to Hitchcock while also not being too vague with its references, so you don't have to have seen every Hitchcock film to find it funny.
I saw this movie as a pretty young kid the first time, so naturally the fart scene was the best. I did not understand so much of the humor and why my parents thought it was so funny. As I got older and actually understood more of the jokes, I loved the movie even more.
I saw this movie at theaters in 1974. There are parites throughout this movie. The young people who are pretending to review it, don't have a clue. They should watch all of Mel Brooks' movie to understand how brilliant he is. Like Madeline Kahn's parity of Marlene Detrick, who couldn't sing or act, but made movies with her looks.
The ultimate anti everything movie ever! It attacks stereotypes of every genre. It came out in a time when we could laugh at ourselves and not be offended by every little thing. Mel Brooks was a genius, a man ahead of his time.
Think my favorite off hand, blink and you might miss it part is when they're in the cafeteria and you hear the guy playing hitler say, "they lose me after the bunker scene"
-The idea for the film came from a story outline written by Andrew Bergman that he originally intended to develop and produce himself. "I wrote a first draft called Tex-X" (a play on Malcolm X's name), he 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 was taken with the story, which he described as "hip talk-1974 talk and expressions-happening in 1874 in the Old West", -The original title, Tex X, was rejected to avoid it being mistaken for an X-rated film,, as were Black Bart - a reference to Black Bart, a white highwayman of the 19th century, and Purple Sage. Brooks said he finally conceived Blazing Saddles one morning while taking a shower. -Madeline Kahn was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Original song and Film editing. It unfortunately did not win any and Harvey Korman did not receive his Oscar nomination like his character in the film hoped he would. -The film is making fun of racists not embracing them and showing how stupid they are. -During the scene when Bart is with Madeline’s character in the bed and she is yelling “It’s true” there was a deleted line of him saying “ "I hate to disappoint you, ma'am, but You’re sucking on my arm”, -Mel also writes the songs for his films and Brooks advertised in the trade papers for a "Frankie Laine-type" singer; to his surprise, Laine himself offered his services. "Frankie sang his heart out ... and we didn't have the heart to tell him it was a spoof. He never heard the whip cracks; we put those in later. We got so lucky with his serious interpretation of the song." -The man with the orchestra when Bart is heading to Rock Ridge is legendary composer Count Basie, -When the film was shown to two different groups of people The blacks were cracking up and and laughing throughout the showing while the white audience didn’t know how to respond, -The name of Hedley Lemarr for the film was sued by the real actress Hedy Lemarr, Brooks said that he was flattered and chose to not fight it in court; the studio settled out of court for a small sum and an apology for "almost using her name." Brooks said that Lamarr "never got the joke." This lawsuit would be referenced by an in-film joke where Brooks' character, the Governor, tells Hedley Lamarr that, "This is 1874; you'll be able to sue HER." -Mel Brooks type of humor is a mix of visual jokes and double play with words like when they say “A Laurel and Hardy handshake” Laurel like a wreath and Hardy as in strong or firm while at the same time referring to the comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, While the film today is considered a comedy classic when it was first released it had mixed reception. Some other of Mel Brooks films you have probably seen: Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, Robin Hood Men in Tights, Some of his films you should see if you haven’t: The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, High Anxiety (Parody of Hitchcock films), Silent Movie, History of the World Part 1,
Mel Brooks movies kind of have a multiplying effect on each other - the more you see and the more you know what his style of comedy is, the more you can enjoy each one. Personally I think Blazing Saddles is not his best, I'd put at least The Producers (1967) and Young Frankenstein (1974) above it; it's still pretty much in his top tier, but it's the one that needs the most contextualising. The whole ending sequence is amazing though. (And I'm not sure what people are doing telling you Mel Brooks films are similar to ZAZ films. I guess they fall veeerry broadly under 'spoof', but the style is very different. For movies like Airplane! you really have to go to other ZAZ productions - Naked Gun, Top Secret!, Kentucky Fried Movie, and later Hot Shots! etc.)
I personally love Blazing Saddles the most, but you named the other two of my top three so we're not far off. Even a "bad" Mel Brooks movie is better than 95% of the comedies out there in my mind.
Just remember: If someone laments "YoU cOuLdN't MaKe BlAzInG sAdDlEs ToDaY!", chances are high they are exactly the kind of people Blazing Saddles is making fun of.
You might notice that everyone's last name in the town is Johnson. Johnson's ice cream parlor only has one flavor. Everyone in the town is the same with no diversity.
Oh wow, you have been reacting to some comedy classics lately. I love to see people react to Blazing Saddles because it’s so not what we see today but still so hilarious after all these years.
If you've seen more than one Mel Brooks movie, you might realize that others have 4th wall breaks. Mel Brooks is still wondering where this 4th wall is and why you would want to break it.
From what I recall, the REAL Hedy Lamarr wasn't too thrilled: I think she had a few choice things to say about the fun they had with her name. (Btw, you should read up on her...she was a pretty smart lady) Everybody thought this was hilarious when it was released, and it caused the studios to let Mel Brooks make many more films.
Love this movie so much. So unless you're into the western sphere a lot of this may not hit home quite as well. I grew up on spaghetti westerns because that's all my grandparents watched. A lot of this movie pokes fun at how "innocent" and "just" western movies and TV shows were and how they white washed and sanitized how brutal and fucked up the actual west was.
Such a great film.. However, I believe spaghetti westerns were the first films to actually show the grimy, dirty, and dark side of the west. IMO The John Wayne era was the sanitization of the west... It was simply good vs evil. While films such as The Sergio Leone Trilogy had questionable and complex protagonists/antagonists
The actor who played "Lyle", the cowboy in the red shirt that said "Why don't we give him to Mongo" was the Colt Peacemaker guy in Back to the Future III
There’s a story that one of, if not the first, guy in the film to say the n-word was a fireman in real life and couldn’t bring himself to say the word but Cleavon Little sat down with him and told him it was okay and that he was happy that he was against saying it, if he didn’t that would be a problem
Blazing Saddles is one of the best comedies of all time. As to the 4th wall break/studio twist. Only other time I can think of a movie making such a hard turn out of nowhere is From Dusk Till Dawn.
Brendon - it's a mistake to take ANYTHING in the film at face value. The ridiculousness is the point. The film is a farce, so the only thing that's serious is the subtext on racism in America - the characters are almost entirely caricatures drawn from decades of western films. There are no character arcs or growth. Practically every line is a joke of some sort. Some of the jokes are lost on younger folks and that's not your fault. I mean, Hedy Lamarr was an actress who made films between 1930 & 1960 - so Hedly Lamarr was a joke on her name. The film was a sensation when it came out. I can remember my parents going out to see it without me & my sister, which was the first time they had ever done that, and they were laughing and quoting the film for days afterwards.
Thanks for taking the time to explain in long form. So much referential humor that is lost on younger folks. The whole film is an indictment on racism by depicting all the racists as complete morons. Some redeemable and some not.
Yes unfortunately he is part of the overly woke snowflake generation who are immediately outraged without thinking about true meaning or seeing past the words themselves.
Fun fact: when Hedley Lamarr runs into the street to get the taxi, there's an old man just standing on the corner looking confused. Apparently he was just some guy that wandered on set and they decided to keep him in the film lol
Similar to Holy Grail it’s all an elaborate hoax plot-wise and an excuse for characters to run amok and tear the fabric between fiction and reality in the process. Simply exquisite comedy, bravo.
I always hate it when people say things like "A movie like Blazing Saddles could never exist today." When it totally could. For one thing, it's funny! You can joke about whatever you want, and if people laugh, (and, preferably the joke is something clever) they'll give you a pass just for that. Also, the movie is making fun of racism in a way that doesn't support it. Every racist in the movie is a complete idiot, the town comes to see the error in their ways by the end and respects the sheriff, and it has a really nice interracial bromance with Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little . You could totally make this movie today
I love how Brandon watched this sorta assuming they were playing it straight. Instead of seeing it as a lampoon and also a critique on racism he's like, "well, maybe it when they filmed this it was a different time". LMAOOOOO
Frankie Laine, the man who sang the opening theme, was a renowned singer at the time who sang in many, many theme songs. When making the movie, they were surprised that he accepted the role, and were never sure if he realized it was a satire, because he played it straight and gave one hell of a performance
After this one you just have to see 'Young Fankenstein' (it's Frankensteen!), a great comedy tribute to monster movies of the 1930s. Pretty much a pet project of Gene Wilder himself.
Cleavon Little played a blind DJ with a sixth sense in the original 1971 version of Vanishing Point. It’s a great movie and his character is brilliant.
Most of the black jokes that especially those dealing with the "N" word was written by an uncredited writer "Richard Pryor. The joke of the church and letter to the governor is that the entire towns last name was Johnson
Hedley Lamarr (not Hedy) was played by Harvey Korman. At the time, he was a regular cast member in the comedy variety show "The Carol Burnett Show", which was still pretty popular at the time. He would do two more films for Mel Brooks, those being "High Anxiety" and "History of the World, Part I".
If you want something more like Airplane! you need to check out Top Secret with Val Kilmer, the Naked Gun movies, and the Hot Shots films. If you want other great Mel Brooks films, then The Producers (1968), Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs are what I recommend. (History of the World Part I starts off great too, but boy does it drop off after that.)
Harvey Korman looks like he had fun. Watch him in some Carol Burnett skits with Tim Conway. Conway cracks him up so often that he breaks character on a regular basis and it's just awesome
I love this movie so much, it just has such a wildcard feel to it. Mel Brooks is a master of satire. If you've not seen Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Young Frankenstein (also by Mel Brooks) then you should check them out!
The 'too Jewish' is a reference to the biblical story of Moses. This movie is what happens when a Jewish man and Richard Pryor write a Western together. And, yes, that's Madeleine Kahn. She was in several Mel Brooks movies. Check out History of the World for more of Madeleine, Mel, Harvey Korman and other comedy greats. Richard Pryor was supposed to be in History of the World but he had his freebasing incident right as production was starting. He was replaced with Gregory Hines (who was fabulous) but I think RP still contributed on writing. p.s. He wasn't speaking German. He was speaking Yiddish (a combination of Hebrew and German). It was considered a 'low' or 'gutter' language that Ashkenazi Jews spoke in Nineteenth Century Europe.
Richard Pryor was the first thought for the sheriff. He had a little trouble with cocaine but did help write the movie. Gene Weidler was not the first pick. The first actor was actually a drunk and would throw up on set. Mongo played for the NFL.
I do believe Richard Pryor helped write some of this & was going to play Bart at one point. But he had some issues with insuring his talents. He did come up with Mongo's lines though. 😉👍
Poor Mel Brooks...Based on this "reaction" young people today seem incapable of understanding parody, nor very little else regarding satire, or comedy in general
One of the names buried in the credits that you may not have heard of is Richard Pryor, one of the writers on this film. This came out just before he hit it big on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the biggest late night show of it's day. Check out his stuff, and then you will know where most of the edgier comedy came from. Also, Taggart, the lead cowboy actor, is Slim Pickens, who played Major Kong in "Dr. Strangelove: or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb". He's the one riding the nuclear bomb at the end.
In 2006, Blazing Saddles was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the
Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The whole point of the racist aspects of this movie, are to show just how stupid racism actually is. Mel Brooks does a wonderful..... no.... masterful job of displaying exactly that.
Surely Wonderful is better than Masterful.
People with Masters are a dime dozen but not too many people can invoke Wonder.
But we don't want the Irish!
@@LadyIarConnacht
🤠
You'd do it for Randolph Scott.
He was extremely racist. He ridiculed Nazism and the Holocaust.
@@chrissibersky4617 you'd rather him support Nazism than ridicule it?
The Native American (played by Mel Brooks) was speaking Yiddish. Never saw my father laugh so hard in the theater.
Also the campfire fart scene was the first of its kind. Brooks noticed that in most westerns there was scenes of them eating beans around a campfire, although never heard one fart. So he decided to go for it.
The funny thing is that when it was cut for broadcast TV, all the racist dialog was uncut but the fart scene was dubbed over...or mostly edited out.
thats awesome about your dad. Some of my best memories of my dad are moments in movies where he just busted out laughing.
@@Daremo6969 In the US, probably not elsewhere. TV cuts were/are nowhere near as severe(if cut at all) here in NZ at least.
I also assumed that was a nod to the “Blazing Saddles” title, due to all the flaming farting & horseback riding lol.
@@Daremo6969 I believe the farts dubbed into burps or omitted. There were also extended scenes of Bart taking out Mongo that had been filmed with intention of being used on broadcast television to make up time that would be created from cutting out more “objectionable” scenes. As you said though, the racist slurs were left in, while the sex jokes were mostly cut.
"Airplane" has jokes. It's funny.
"Blazing Saddles" has jokes and social commentary. It's funny and has food for thought.
Also both Mel Brooks (ever the Vaudeville guy) and ZAZ do very silly comedy, are fond of gags with mixing up the figurative and literal, and throw the 4th wall right out of the 4th window. They certainly do have their differences, but I can see the reasoning in someone saying "Well. if you enjoy that, you'll probably enjoy this, too."
In pre-production, Brooks put out an ad for "a singer who sounds like Frankie Laine" for the title song. Frankie Laine himself answered the ad.
He showed up and recorded the song in a single take...and nobody bothered to tell him beforehand that the film was a parody. His strong and true rendition adds to the character of the film, and by extension, the parody.
It's devastating to realize that all the main stars have passed -- Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, and Madeleine Kahn. They were all absolute legends.
SOON Mel Brooks too. Harvey Korman was great here.
It came out 47 years ago so it's not *that* devastating.
they'd all be at least 70+, not everybody lives forever kid
Damn shame.
Slim Pickens was a great actor too as well as John Hillerman. Even Dom DeLuise with just his cameo.
Hey, if you don't like fart jokes, this is pretty much the film to blame. First major film to have anyone fart in a scene if I'm not mistaken.
It was the first on major release film and on TV, if I'm not mistaken.
The tv version was what I watched when I was a kid....the campfire scene is the first thing I remember laughing so hard at that it hurt
Plus it played off of the tired trope of Cowboys eating beans around the campfire. None of the Westerns showed the aftermath of that... Blazing Saddles did.
@@krosewall Yes but that was a Japanese film, not subject to American censors.
@Gerald H - Someone gave me a book about Le Petomane when I was about twelve. Since I was twelve, bad things resulted.
Your statement is too broad. You might have meant fart jokes in film, but you said it generally. Apparently the oldest joke ever found in writing was written by someone building an Egyptian pyramid. It was a fart joke.
I love how that "Y'know...morons." line was improv by Gene and the Sherriff's actor just broke character and laughed. It wasn't meant to be in the script!
some of the best movie scenes are improv.
You can see him trying so hard not to laugh through the entire scene. Just watch his eyes. Gene broke him. lol RIP Cleavon Little
@@StCerberusEngel RIP Gene Wilder as well. Those two were such a great duo in this movie. I wish they had done more work together.
I believe it wasn’t improv but intentionally left out of Clevon’s script, to get a genuine reaction from him.
The "You know, morons." line was ad-libbed by Gene and Cleavon actually bust up for real but Mel kept it in.
ua-cam.com/users/shortscfp0DZ7JiI8?feature=share
Yeah, you can see that the reaction is real. :D
That bit is so hilarious.
I mentioned this on Airplane, but Mel Brooks always shot down people's remarks like "how he could make this movie today" by saying "you couldnt make it back then either!"
If you have a message, if you know you can entertain, dont let social sensibilities (which always exist) stop you.
Being very connected is also a key factor
This is one of many Mel Brooks' films (and he plays numerous parts throughout most all of his films). Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, and a ton of others. Brooks specialized in farces and parodies in film.
High Anxiety is really great
@@orsonlepherd7064 that's my favorite but unless the viewer has seen a good amount of Hitchcock, i wouldn't recommend it. The jokes will fall flat.
I'm part of the 2% of people who unabashedly loves Dracula Dead and Loving It
@@isabeljimenez6067 that's very true actually, but then if you do have that knowledge it's definitely a brilliant ride lol
Never, ever forget History of the World, Part I, it's a bit disjointed since it's more like an anthology of sketches, but it's still damn good.
“Someone’s gotta go back and get a sh!t load of dimes!” 🤣
And, yo, that horse getting blown 50ft straight up in the air has got to be one of the most hilarious visuals of all time! 🐎💥⬆️
I don't know if you've already seen it, but if you liked this, you'll love Young Frankenstein!
Yes yes yes! Good time of year for it also.
Frankensteen
Werewolf?
There wolf. There castle
Yes. Both films were released in 1974.
@@fritzschnitzmueller3768 You're putting me on.
You missed that all the town members are named “Johnson”
And Howard Johnson’s “One” flavor.
C Wells Johnson is right!
Rurick!
@@Fmanzo10 Now who can argue with that? 👆🏼 Gabby Johnson speaks the truth.
When Hedley leaves the studio to go to the movie theater, the guy in the blue sweater wasn’t an extra. He was just some guy that was standing there and refused to move. Brooks just left him in the shot.
Yes I've seen that before. It's kind of amazing.
I can't believe you are discovering Mel Brooks' genius only now. Whoever told you that Blazing Saddles is similar to Airplane missed the point completely. There's so much to discover for you in the wonderful world of Mel Brooks. I hope the next is Young Frankenstein.
They both have a lot of silly humor, though _Blazing Saddles_ is definitely more upfront in speaking on deeper issues. It's not like they're night and day different, but maybe more like afternoon and evening.
Best comedy ever. Clevon Little threatening himself at the podium might be the funniest scene in cinema history.
Ever. Hmm 🤔
One line they cut when Lili is with the sherif was “I hate to disappoint you, Ma'am, but you're sucking on my arm.”
It's a shame, too. Brooks said it got a lot of laughs. I guess they had just already gotten away with so much this wasn't going to be a hill to die on.
Holy crap I never knew that! That’s hilarious
“Excuse me while I whip this out."
How could you cut that part out? 😂
And the lady screaming right after that line was the icing on the cake!
"I heard people say you was hang" "And they were right" (hang/hung)
@@foljs5858 LOL
Best gag in the film
it's twoo it's twoo
The scene where the horse gets punched made me laugh so hard when I first watched this. Those stunt horses were the real deal
That’s some excellent horse acting.
If you watch closely, right before Mongo punches the horse, the horse trainer is the rider, you can see him pull the reins to trigger the horse to fall.
The sheriff was written with Richard Pryor in mind, but apparently he was seen as too controversial. Cleavon Little did an exceptional job in the role, his delivery and timing is just hilarious.
Richard Pryor was supposed to be the Sheriff. He co wrote the movie but was uninsurable due to his drug habit.
Pryor & Wilder would team up few years later for Silver Streak, Stir Crazy etc..& Pryor & Cleavon did " Greased Lighting"
Richard Pryor actually co-wrote this movie with Mel Brooks.
@@joecarr5412 I always loved see no evil hear no evil. The mugshot scene still cracks me up.
Richard Pryor went on a two week coke and booze fueled binge in the middle of pre production called Mel in Hollywood from NYC. begging for airfair back to California. The studio could Not get insurance coverage for him so he was dropped from the production.
I watched this the first time in a theater. The crowd was laughing so hard you couldn't hear the next line. It took me watching it several times to get all the jokes. A masterpiece!
Every time I see a fake frog I have to bite back the urge to say to it “daddy love froggy. froggy love daddy??” thank you Mel Brooks et. all
Moments like the ‘you know… morons’ line getting a legitimate laugh out of Cleavon Little makes me wish he and Gene Wilder had worked together more. Their chemistry was amazing in this film.
R.I.P. to them both
Also, Mel Brooks’ character Governor Lepetomane is named after Joseph Pujol who’s stage name was Le Petomane. He was the highest paid act at the time for the world famous Mulan Rogue for his captivating talent… For farting on command.
I just want to tell you Brandon. Good luck. We're all counting on you.
Surely You're Joking?
@@jamesalexander5623 I'm not joking. And don't call me shirley.
During filming Mel Brooks ran into John Wayne at the commissary. Wayne told Brooks "I hear you're making a Western." Brooks said "I am and I want you to be in it." Wayne said "I can't ve in it, but I'll be first in line to watch it." According to later reports Wayne was indeed at the first screening and it was one if his favorite movies.
Since nobody seems to have mentioned it yet, the actor who played "Mongo" was actually an NFL linebacker.
Alex Karras - defensive tackle.
Yes, and he was in a lot of movies. The Sheriff in the movie "Porky's" comes to mind.
He and his wife were in the old show Webster.
There was an actress named Hedley Lamar. She actually did sue.
@@garylee3685 That's Hedy!
People saying "you'd never be able to do a movie like this today" don't realize people at the time told Brooks the same thing lol, if you think racial tension is bad now, this movie was made just 5 years after MLK was murdered. He did it for less than $5.5 million dollars adjusted for inflation, that's basically nothing for a major motion picture. Warner Bros would absolutely let an edgy comedy fly if it was done for just that little and with some big names attached like this had. Sausage Party had 4x that budget and got WAY more offensively racist by comparison and that came out just 5 years ago.
Yeah folks may not remember that not too long ago there was this popular thing called "Chappelle's Show."
@@robovike Or Tropic Thunder lol. I also hear people say you couldn't make a movie "like that now", but wtf other better story can be told involving the same ingredients that had? Comedy evolves, whining about "the kids being to sensitive" has been welfare for has been stand up comedians for 3 generations now.
The clowns crying incessantly about "political correctness" and "wokeness" require a fantasy world in which they are the victim, so they can pretend they wouldn't "cancel" anyone who dared to disagree with them.
I see your point. But please do not compare this to sausage party in a negative light. Sausage party was a brilliant critique of every religion on earth. It used racial stereotypes to make its point and it did it brilliantly. If you like blazing saddles then you should absolutely love sausage party, so I hope that was your point. Laughing at stupid hatred is always funny to people who are smart enough to not be so hateful. It is true though that a movie like this can never be made again. Sausage party got away with being racial and religious and smart by being a cartoon, like South Park. Was that your point? It is sort of sad that we have to hide serious themes behind cartoon characters these days, right?
@@ScreamingScallop most of them are also either to young or to ignorant to remember how people got treated that spoke out against the Iraq War ~2003. social media cancelling is peanuts next to that.
let's not forget to show some love for David Huddleston. he was the mayor, but is probably best known as The Big Lebowski.
"It's twoo, it's twoo!" best movie line ever
This movie was groundbreaking on so many levels. Nobody had ever done anything like it. From the language to the adult comedy, to the racism, and making the racists look like fools, to spoofing every norm you could think of. People say you couldn't make this movie today. The truth is, Mel Brooks had a difficult time making it when they did.
Not just groundbreaking, but windbreaking.
How to you skip by the most famous quote from this movie? "Excuse me while I whip this out"
24:06 This gag first appeared in "Bored of the Rings", a 1969 parody of "The Lord of the Rings" written by the guys who later founded "National Lampoon"; a toll booth is hastily erected to prevent the Black Riders from crossing at the Ford of Bruinen.
You missed out the "it's twue, its twue" quote this film is so famous for ;)
Brandon - "We're going to have the ultimate showdown it looks like"
Me - You aren't even close to being prepared to how big it gets.
There are so many stars in this movie I don't think anyone could name them all. I like Madeline with her song. All the actors and actresses must have had a blast
Blazing Saddles. One of the best westerns in, uh... the West.
When you watch a film like this rest assured that everything that happens or that you see is a reference to something from its time or an earlier time that the audience would get. For example Howard Johnsons at the time was the name of a restaurant/motel chain. During the 1960s and 70s it was the biggest restaurant chain in the U.S. It was famous for its 31 flavors of ice cream. In the town the sign says 1 flavor.
plus they were known for having orange roofs, and the one guy said they'd recreated everything down to the orange roof on Howard Johnson's outhouse.
"31 flavors" is Baskin Robbin. HoJo's had 28.
This and Young Frankenstein. Two of the greatest comedies ever. So great.
Glad you got a kick out of this one. The only major film that I can think of which acknowledges its own cinematic contrivances in such a blunt way is "Adaptation". Nicholas Cage plays two brothers who are trying to turn a book into a screenplay...which is the script for "Adaptation" itself. The actual screenwriter made himself the main character and also invented a twin brother for the plot. The credits even list the brother as co-writer, and he was nominated for an Oscar as well...even though he doesn't exist!
There's a very low-budget comedy called "Crashing" with Campbell Scott and Lizzy Caplan. It's also about writers, and the movie blurs the line between what's actually happening in the story versus what the characters are making up. Of course, "Fight Club" is another movie that often calls attention to itself with fourth wall-breaks and the like.
Young Frankenstein is a must! I think you will really appreciate what Brook and Wilder bring in that one.
silver streak too
Best to watch Frankenstein or at least the top Frankenstein scenes on UA-cam before watching Young Frankenstein.
Halloween coming up, too 👻
@@macmcleod1188 Not necessary. Im certain every American still has the basic concept of the Frankenstein story.
@@cadleo most of Young Frankenstein are direct visual quotes from the original movies. If you haven't seen those scenes, you just won't get the humor the same way.
And in my experience, most people have not read the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley which is very different than the movies.
Anyway just my experience and my thought. I think you get more out of it. I've seen similar movies fall completely flat on other reactors like Ashley Burton when they have no clue about what a scene is referencing.
Mel Brooks is a legendary film maker! You would love The Producers, Young Frankenstein, and if you're a Star Wars fan, Spaceballs is a MUST!
The line by Gene Wilder when he consoles Sherriff Bart "the common clay of the new west, you know, morons" was improvised by Gene, making Cleavons laugh genuine 😁
5:35 Mr.Lebowski 6:20 the inbreeding joke went over the head 6:59 the he's most interested in banging joke went over the head
The guy in the blue sweater standing at the traffic light as they run off the lot isn't an actor or an extra. He just wouldn't leave the area, so they filmed around him. you can see by his reaction he has no idea what is going on.
Look at my hand. “Steady as a rock”. Yeah but this is my shooting hand. My favorite part lol
One of the greatest of all time.
One of my absolute faves. Such an amazing job they all did.
If only Mel Brooks were still young and making movies. The world needs more humor like this right now.
"Tell him I said-- OWWWW" is one of my favorite jokes in this film, but I love the entire film. I'm so glad you've been introduced to Madeline Kahn, she was so funny and sexy and smart, and a genuinely down to earth human being. You should also check out High Anxiety, another Mel Brooks film co-starring Madeline Kahn. It's a great love letter to Hitchcock while also not being too vague with its references, so you don't have to have seen every Hitchcock film to find it funny.
I saw this movie as a pretty young kid the first time, so naturally the fart scene was the best. I did not understand so much of the humor and why my parents thought it was so funny. As I got older and actually understood more of the jokes, I loved the movie even more.
I saw this movie at theaters in 1974. There are parites throughout this movie. The young people who are pretending to review it, don't have a clue. They should watch all of Mel Brooks' movie to understand how brilliant he is. Like Madeline Kahn's parity of Marlene Detrick, who couldn't sing or act, but made movies with her looks.
This and Airplane are both parodies, that's about where the similarities end.
Successful and funny parodies, going to outrageous places with their jokes.
@@mikejankowski6321 yeah, he just seemed kinda surprised because someone said this and Airplane had the same kind of humor which is minimally true.
The ultimate anti everything movie ever! It attacks stereotypes of every genre. It came out in a time when we could laugh at ourselves and not be offended by every little thing. Mel Brooks was a genius, a man ahead of his time.
Think my favorite off hand, blink and you might miss it part is when they're in the cafeteria and you hear the guy playing hitler say, "they lose me after the bunker scene"
-The idea for the film came from a story outline written by Andrew Bergman that he originally intended to develop and produce himself. "I wrote a first draft called Tex-X" (a play on Malcolm X's name), he 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 was taken with the story, which he described as "hip talk-1974 talk and expressions-happening in 1874 in the Old West",
-The original title, Tex X, was rejected to avoid it being mistaken for an X-rated film,, as were Black Bart - a reference to Black Bart, a white highwayman of the 19th century, and Purple Sage. Brooks said he finally conceived Blazing Saddles one morning while taking a shower.
-Madeline Kahn was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Original song and Film editing. It unfortunately did not win any and Harvey Korman did not receive his Oscar nomination like his character in the film hoped he would.
-The film is making fun of racists not embracing them and showing how stupid they are.
-During the scene when Bart is with Madeline’s character in the bed and she is yelling “It’s true” there was a deleted line of him saying “ "I hate to disappoint you, ma'am, but You’re sucking on my arm”,
-Mel also writes the songs for his films and Brooks advertised in the trade papers for a "Frankie Laine-type" singer; to his surprise, Laine himself offered his services. "Frankie sang his heart out ... and we didn't have the heart to tell him it was a spoof. He never heard the whip cracks; we put those in later. We got so lucky with his serious interpretation of the song."
-The man with the orchestra when Bart is heading to Rock Ridge is legendary composer Count Basie,
-When the film was shown to two different groups of people The blacks were cracking up and and laughing throughout the showing while the white audience didn’t know how to respond,
-The name of Hedley Lemarr for the film was sued by the real actress Hedy Lemarr, Brooks said that he was flattered and chose to not fight it in court; the studio settled out of court for a small sum and an apology for "almost using her name." Brooks said that Lamarr "never got the joke." This lawsuit would be referenced by an in-film joke where Brooks' character, the Governor, tells Hedley Lamarr that, "This is 1874; you'll be able to sue HER."
-Mel Brooks type of humor is a mix of visual jokes and double play with words like when they say “A Laurel and Hardy handshake” Laurel like a wreath and Hardy as in strong or firm while at the same time referring to the comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,
While the film today is considered a comedy classic when it was first released it had mixed reception.
Some other of Mel Brooks films you have probably seen:
Young Frankenstein,
Spaceballs,
Robin Hood Men in Tights,
Some of his films you should see if you haven’t:
The Producers,
The Twelve Chairs,
High Anxiety (Parody of Hitchcock films),
Silent Movie,
History of the World Part 1,
@Keki Stani Why did you type that? Princess Bride has nothing to do with Mel Brooks.
Gone with the wind... Jk.
@@mikewilder6390 That film has nothing to do with Mel Brooks or Blazing Saddles,
@@jamesmoyner7499 Dude I was kidding because Keki said the Princess Bride. That's what Jk means. Geez...
@@mikewilder6390 I know what jk means, but why waste time leaving a comment that means nothing to begin with?
Mel Brooks movies kind of have a multiplying effect on each other - the more you see and the more you know what his style of comedy is, the more you can enjoy each one. Personally I think Blazing Saddles is not his best, I'd put at least The Producers (1967) and Young Frankenstein (1974) above it; it's still pretty much in his top tier, but it's the one that needs the most contextualising. The whole ending sequence is amazing though.
(And I'm not sure what people are doing telling you Mel Brooks films are similar to ZAZ films. I guess they fall veeerry broadly under 'spoof', but the style is very different. For movies like Airplane! you really have to go to other ZAZ productions - Naked Gun, Top Secret!, Kentucky Fried Movie, and later Hot Shots! etc.)
I personally love Blazing Saddles the most, but you named the other two of my top three so we're not far off. Even a "bad" Mel Brooks movie is better than 95% of the comedies out there in my mind.
Just remember: If someone laments "YoU cOuLdN't MaKe BlAzInG sAdDlEs ToDaY!", chances are high they are exactly the kind of people Blazing Saddles is making fun of.
You might notice that everyone's last name in the town is Johnson. Johnson's ice cream parlor only has one flavor. Everyone in the town is the same with no diversity.
You’ve never seen Blazing Saddles before?!? Oh, dude - be prepared to be amazed at what Mel got away with
“Now who can argue with that?”
One of my favorite lines of all time.
Oh wow, you have been reacting to some comedy classics lately. I love to see people react to Blazing Saddles because it’s so not what we see today but still so hilarious after all these years.
If you've seen more than one Mel Brooks movie, you might realize that others have 4th wall breaks. Mel Brooks is still wondering where this 4th wall is and why you would want to break it.
From what I recall, the REAL Hedy Lamarr wasn't too thrilled: I think she had a few choice things to say about the fun they had with her name. (Btw, you should read up on her...she was a pretty smart lady)
Everybody thought this was hilarious when it was released, and it caused the studios to let Mel Brooks make many more films.
Take a drink every time he says oh no or let's go. You'll be dead by the "are we black" scene haha
Love this movie so much. So unless you're into the western sphere a lot of this may not hit home quite as well. I grew up on spaghetti westerns because that's all my grandparents watched. A lot of this movie pokes fun at how "innocent" and "just" western movies and TV shows were and how they white washed and sanitized how brutal and fucked up the actual west was.
Such a great film.. However, I believe spaghetti westerns were the first films to actually show the grimy, dirty, and dark side of the west. IMO The John Wayne era was the sanitization of the west... It was simply good vs evil. While films such as The Sergio Leone Trilogy had questionable and complex protagonists/antagonists
The actor who played "Lyle", the cowboy in the red shirt that said "Why don't we give him to Mongo" was the Colt Peacemaker guy in Back to the Future III
There’s a story that one of, if not the first, guy in the film to say the n-word was a fireman in real life and couldn’t bring himself to say the word but Cleavon Little sat down with him and told him it was okay and that he was happy that he was against saying it, if he didn’t that would be a problem
Blazing Saddles is one of the best comedies of all time.
As to the 4th wall break/studio twist. Only other time I can think of a movie making such a hard turn out of nowhere is From Dusk Till Dawn.
Brendon - it's a mistake to take ANYTHING in the film at face value. The ridiculousness is the point. The film is a farce, so the only thing that's serious is the subtext on racism in America - the characters are almost entirely caricatures drawn from decades of western films. There are no character arcs or growth. Practically every line is a joke of some sort. Some of the jokes are lost on younger folks and that's not your fault. I mean, Hedy Lamarr was an actress who made films between 1930 & 1960 - so Hedly Lamarr was a joke on her name.
The film was a sensation when it came out. I can remember my parents going out to see it without me & my sister, which was the first time they had ever done that, and they were laughing and quoting the film for days afterwards.
Thanks for taking the time to explain in long form. So much referential humor that is lost on younger folks. The whole film is an indictment on racism by depicting all the racists as complete morons. Some redeemable and some not.
Sadly, younger people don't get the Howard Johnson reference, or the humor in the sign proclaiming 1 flavor! 🤣
WHERE DA WHITE WOMEN AT?!
@@Tizen That was pretty. I liked that.
Yes unfortunately he is part of the overly woke snowflake generation who are immediately outraged without thinking about true meaning or seeing past the words themselves.
Fun fact: when Hedley Lamarr runs into the street to get the taxi, there's an old man just standing on the corner looking confused. Apparently he was just some guy that wandered on set and they decided to keep him in the film lol
Similar to Holy Grail it’s all an elaborate hoax plot-wise and an excuse for characters to run amok and tear the fabric between fiction and reality in the process. Simply exquisite comedy, bravo.
I always hate it when people say things like "A movie like Blazing Saddles could never exist today." When it totally could. For one thing, it's funny! You can joke about whatever you want, and if people laugh, (and, preferably the joke is something clever) they'll give you a pass just for that.
Also, the movie is making fun of racism in a way that doesn't support it. Every racist in the movie is a complete idiot, the town comes to see the error in their ways by the end and respects the sheriff, and it has a really nice interracial bromance with Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little .
You could totally make this movie today
I love how Brandon watched this sorta assuming they were playing it straight. Instead of seeing it as a lampoon and also a critique on racism he's like, "well, maybe it when they filmed this it was a different time". LMAOOOOO
Frankie Laine, the man who sang the opening theme, was a renowned singer at the time who sang in many, many theme songs. When making the movie, they were surprised that he accepted the role, and were never sure if he realized it was a satire, because he played it straight and gave one hell of a performance
Cleavon Little was primarily a Broadway actor, I don’t think he did any other Hollywood productions. I could be wrong though.
He did a movie called like Vanishing Point or something.
He was also in Fletch Lives, died soon after 🥺
Slim Pickens actually brought his own RV to the shooting location and camped out there while everyone else went to a fancy hotel
If you like Cleavon Little as the sheriff, he also had good supporting roles in Once Bitten (Jim Carrey's first starring role) and Fletch Lives.
Also Vanishing Point (1971)
literally breaking through the 4th wall is genius, between the two movie sets.
Love Mel Brooks and grew up watching all of his stuff cause my grandma is a huge fan of his.
Clevon plays a great part of a blind DJ in the original version of Vanishing Point.
After this one you just have to see 'Young Fankenstein' (it's Frankensteen!), a great comedy tribute to monster movies of the 1930s. Pretty much a pet project of Gene Wilder himself.
I love that everybody’s name is Johnson
I love Mel Brooks and his movies soooo much. And Harvey Korman….
Harvey Korman … best remembered for the “Star Wars Holiday Special “ (1978). 🤢
Cleavon Little played a blind DJ with a sixth sense in the original 1971 version of Vanishing Point. It’s a great movie and his character is brilliant.
Most of the black jokes that especially those dealing with the "N" word was written by an uncredited writer "Richard Pryor. The joke of the church and letter to the governor is that the entire towns last name was Johnson
Pryor is literally in the opening credits. ua-cam.com/video/hzRmp-O496Y/v-deo.html
Hedley Lamarr (not Hedy) was played by Harvey Korman. At the time, he was a regular cast member in the comedy variety show "The Carol Burnett Show", which was still pretty popular at the time. He would do two more films for Mel Brooks, those being "High Anxiety" and "History of the World, Part I".
If you want something more like Airplane! you need to check out Top Secret with Val Kilmer, the Naked Gun movies, and the Hot Shots films. If you want other great Mel Brooks films, then The Producers (1968), Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs are what I recommend. (History of the World Part I starts off great too, but boy does it drop off after that.)
I disagree with that last bit...It's good to be the king!
I love Mel Brooks, but he has nothing on ZAZ, not even with Gene Wilder being stellar in every movie they made together.
Harvey Korman looks like he had fun. Watch him in some Carol Burnett skits with Tim Conway. Conway cracks him up so often that he breaks character on a regular basis and it's just awesome
I love this movie so much, it just has such a wildcard feel to it. Mel Brooks is a master of satire.
If you've not seen Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Young Frankenstein (also by Mel Brooks) then you should check them out!
The 'too Jewish' is a reference to the biblical story of Moses. This
movie is what happens when a Jewish man and Richard Pryor write a
Western together. And, yes, that's Madeleine Kahn. She was in several
Mel Brooks movies. Check out History of the World for more of Madeleine,
Mel, Harvey Korman and other comedy greats. Richard Pryor was supposed
to be in History of the World but he had his freebasing incident right
as production was starting. He was replaced with Gregory Hines (who was
fabulous) but I think RP still contributed on writing. p.s. He wasn't
speaking German. He was speaking Yiddish (a combination of Hebrew and
German). It was considered a 'low' or 'gutter' language that Ashkenazi
Jews spoke in Nineteenth Century Europe.
Hell yes!!!! Such a funny ass movie, Gene Wilder kills it.
He had a cool last name.
Richard Pryor was the first thought for the sheriff. He had a little trouble with cocaine but did help write the movie.
Gene Weidler was not the first pick. The first actor was actually a drunk and would throw up on set.
Mongo played for the NFL.
I do believe Richard Pryor helped write some of this & was going to play Bart at one point. But he had some issues with insuring his talents. He did come up with Mongo's lines though. 😉👍
Mongo was played by Alex Karras, a badass linebacker in the NFL at the time. Also played the dad in the 80s TV sitcom "Webster".
I highly recommend Mel Brooks other movies. He's a comic genius.
This movie says "Fourth wall?? We'll break the fifth and sixth while we're at it!" Brilliant!
The guts to make this movie. I love how they make all the racists extremely stupid lol was looking forward to this! Time to see if you enjoyed it
I'm a little upset that you didn't notice the joke about everyone in that town having the same last name 🤣
Poor Mel Brooks...Based on this "reaction" young people today seem incapable of understanding parody, nor very little else regarding satire, or comedy in general
One of the names buried in the credits that you may not have heard of is Richard Pryor, one of the writers on this film. This came out just before he hit it big on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the biggest late night show of it's day. Check out his stuff, and then you will know where most of the edgier comedy came from. Also, Taggart, the lead cowboy actor, is Slim Pickens, who played Major Kong in "Dr. Strangelove: or How I learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb". He's the one riding the nuclear bomb at the end.