They did? People were still pretty rational in 74. But yeah you're right. This is the proper way to end racism, by lightening up and making jokes and not taking it seriously.
@@st0n3p0ny That was Brooks' way of handling things, like laughing at Hitler and those who espouse his evil ideology: you take their power and influence away by making them the butt of jokes, not to be taken seriously.
When Gene Wilder died I went back to rewatch this classic and had a good cry over his last line: "Where ya going, cowboy?" "Nowhere special." "'Nowhere Special.' Always wanted to go there..." RIP Gene. Thanks for all the good memories.
He was a rare comedian who could do no wrong. What I mean by that is, Gene could even be in a bad movie, he would still be good in it. Once you cast him in a comedy, you were already half way to success.
At think at this time it was more like Richard Pryor working for Mel Brooks. Richard Pryor was supposed to Star, I have head two stories of why it didn’t happen. First because Pryor wasn’t a big enough star. Second is because he was on too many drugs, which is totally believable.
as a First Nations man I can say the best part was Mel Brooks playing the chief and speaking Yiddish, it's the "They're darker than us. woof!" that gets me every time.
Too bad she was talking at that point and we couldn't hear the line. It's a problem all "reactors" seem to have. Since it's the first time they've seen the movie, they don't know a punchline is coming.
@@thelastremainingmoderate1997 and she missed a lot of them, i saw this as a kid when it first came out an l missed them too, l found it funnier as l got older and saw the satire
The whole story about how Wilder got the role of the Waco Kid is amazing. Mel Brooks and Wilder were close friends, and Wilder was a "sounding board" for Brooks as the movie was written -- so Wilder knew the whole script. Mel Brooks hired an old cowboy actor who was a real drunk for the role of the Waco Kid. During the first week of shooting, the guy got sick and ended up in the hospital. Brooks called his friend Gene Wilder (in NY) in a panic: "My actor is in the hospital! What should I do??" Wilder told Brooks he was getting on a plane to fill in. He was there the next morning and was fantastic in the role. So, Wilder actually cast himself in the role. Also, Mel Brooks wanted Richard Pryor (who co-wrote the script) as Sheriff Bart, but the Studio refused. That's why Cleavon Little was cast.
Girl that band, was Count Basie Orchestra. The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world.
That "band" in the dersert is the one and only Count Basie Orchestra, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. The band survived long past the Big Band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984.
Also, that wasn't Cleavon Little singing earlier; it was Nat "King" Cole, father of Natalie Cole. Props for recognizing Bart was trolling the white cowboys during the sing off. Most people don't seem to get the joke.
The irony was lost on many. The beautiful professional black band playing outside the city limits, the amateur white band in toen to greet him. Not sure this was Brooks idea, but certainly represents the parody of the film.
@@markinman8156 and every misses or ignores the fact that Count Basie didn't exist in the time that this movie is set in. That's the joke. Don't complicate it.
A bit of history regarding Bart saying, “My grandmother was Dutch”. That's a reverse play on the "One drop rule" where a social and legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th century United States that asserted any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry ('one drop' of 'black blood') is considered black. Bart was implying that since he had "one drop" of Caucasian blood that he wasn't really black. A subtle yet brilliant joke.
Thanks for that. Not having grown up in the US, I wasn't aware of that classification so didn't get the reference. I figured it was some kind of reference (if it was in the movie, it was there for a reason) - just didn't know what it was.
If anyone else needs more evidence that the race thing is stupid, speaking of Dutch, Bob Marley's (of reggae fame) father was a 100% Dutch man, straight from the Netherlands.
I didn’t realize that was what it was referring to. The writing is so clever here, so many references to keep discovering. These are my favorite types of movies. Racism and its rules are ridiculous and repugnant. Never made sense then, doesn’t make sense now. It’s part of why I like the line about them not wanting the Irish at the end. (Yes I know they were discriminated). It just illustrates how ignorant people will always find some way to hate the “other”, whether it makes sense or not. Whether you (just) accepted another group you previously hated on the same flimsy premise used to hate the next “other”.
I saw this for the first time in a theater in Chicago. The theater had every race of people watching and I never heard such loud laughter in my life from everyone. We all left happy smiling at each other.
You nailed it - this is about trolling the idiot racists. Two of the greatest lines in cinematic history - "To tell a family secret, my grandmother was Dutch", and "hey - where the white women at?"
Back in the late 70s-early 80s I was in the high school band. We had an away game once in a town where a klansmen had unsuccessfully run for mayor. One of the black guys in the band stepped off the bus and yelled "Hey, where the white women at?" We all caracked up.
Cleavon Little was a Broadway actor before he got this role. Richard Pryor who was one of the writers was Mel Brooks’ first choice to play the sheriff but the studio said he was too controversial. Brooks said the studio censors came up to him and told him all the things he had to cut. He nodded and agreed. As soon as they left he threw their notes in the trash. He made the movie exactly as written as he knew the studio execs would be too busy to care.
I love this movie, but I would really love to see the alternative universe version of this film where this was the first Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor Buddy Comedy.
@@NoxSoSubtle Cleavon Little also shows up in a smaller role in the hilarious sequel to the Chevy Chase 80's comedy "Fletch" called "Fletch Lives." Both are worthy of a watch.
Funny enough, Pryor helped write the script for this film. While he only made suggestions to the other writers on the racial jokes, Richard Pryor was completely responsible for writing all the Mongo scenes.
Side note: I am now 77 years old and was very young when this movie first was released. I must say that I, along with millions of othes, fell madly in love with Cleavon Little. Not surprising. He was amazing.
My favorite part, among many, is the ending when Gene wilder is holding the popcorn while being back in the movie on set after Cleavon Little gave his ending speech.
No one who really loves this movie is “Fan” of the slurs. They are there to shock and remind us of a time when that type of thinking was prevalent. It is obvious that the classiest man in the movie IS the sheriff. He uses his charm and wit to show the town folk how wrong they are. It’s Brilliant satire that was shining a light on these subjects 40 years ago. Sad that we still need to be reminded
@@jvgreendarmok - And then that line, "You know, morons." was an ad-lib by Gene Wilder and that was a genuine laugh that Cleavon had reacting to it. Those two together were just the best in this film.
I saw Blazing Saddles at the cinema as a teenager when it first came out, it was the funniest film I had ever seen. I have seen it numerous times since. I love Mel Brooks movies, they are all hilariously silly. Young Frankenstein is also a favourite with the great Marty Feldman.
Lily von Schtup (the marvelous Madeline Kahn) is actually doing a spot-on impersonation of Marlene Dietrich who was a actress from the early days of Hollywood.
Madeline got intentionally fired from Mame the musical in order to star in this film. Lucielle Ball took her place, also, Maddie went on to garner a nomination for best supporting actress in this Mel Brooks romp
Also known for her humanitarian efforts during World War 2 , housing exiles, financial support, improving moral in the front lines, and she sang my favourite song Lili Marleen
@@robinford4037 Heddy Lamarr was a woman - perhaps the most beautiful woman to ever be in films. She was also a brilliant inventor whose innovation of frequency hopping is the basis of modern telecommunications.
I think my favorite part of this movie is when Gene Wilder is describing the people as "The common clay of the new West. You know... morons." and Cleavon Little can't hold in a laugh.
Mel Brooks was asked in an interview if he would be able to make “Blazing Saddles” now. His response was we couldn’t make it back then. The fart scene was the first time the sound was used in a movie. The sounds are from Brooks, an editor and people passing by the office they grabbed. The Yes/No on the Ox was in reference to which side of the bus to pass on (right side no, left side yes). The song that Lily sings in the movie Mel Brooks said was the dirtiest song he’s ever written. The guy on the corner near the end was just a pedestrian that didn’t understand they were shooting a movie. They finally gave up on a shot without him and just put him in it. Now that you’ve seen this movie you need to check out Robin Hood Men in Tights.
Mongo Santamaria was a Cuban percussionist & jazz musician. Some of the jokes haven't aged well, like "I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille," who was famous for all the huge biblical extravaganza movies he made during the 50s. Ditto for Randolph Scott, who was famous in cowboy movies before John Wayne. The Hedy/Hedley refers to Hedy Lamarr, a well known actress during the 30s & 40s. She also invented a very clever frequency hopping method for Allied torpedoes during WW2. She actually sued the movie over the use of her name, hence Brooks' line "this is 1874; you can sue her!"
I have a feeling it was likely used in movies in other countries prior, particularly seeing as apparently the TV edit in the US absurdly even edited out the farting sounds.
Thanks for watching this and glad you enjoyed it. He (Clevon Little, the Sheriff) is like Bugs Bunny, minus the racism. Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor used racism in the film to point out how ridiculous racism, bigotry, and prejudice is. Mel Brooks utilized a lot of vaudeville which you are seeing in this film. Mel Brooks, whose family was from the modern day Ukraine, included anti-Nazi material in many of his films so that why you seen the Hitler actor in the cafeteria and the WWII German soldiers in the bad guy line up. Funny thing though Lili Von Shtupp (Shtupp is Yiddish slang for sex; as in: to shtupp) is a stand in for Marlene Dietrich who was a famous actress who portrayed many promiscuous women, was anti-Hitler and escaped Germany before the war. The soldiers who appeared with Lili on stage were Prussian. And a nice tie=in was the Jesse Owens smashed Hitler's racial superiority theory at the 36' Nazi Olympics in Berlin. It was a great western (and a homage to Hollywood musicals of sorts) and included alot of the bigotry, prejudice, and racism that other westerns left out in order to take down racism.
When you realize that the reason that the racial slurs were used to this extent in this movie was to shine a light on the absurdity and the ignorance of using such language, then hopefully you won't be as offended by hearing those words in this context!! This film is the ultimate parody of racism, western-style movies, and Hollywood itself!!!
Mel Brooks has said he got the inspiration for the "beans" scene from his experience going to see Saturday western movie serials in his nearby theater in Brooklyn as a kid. He remembered seeing all the cowboys in these movies eating a lot of beans and drinking a lot of coffee, and then thinking to himself how crazy it looked that nothing else happened as a result; since his conclusion was when you eat that many beans and drink that much coffee, you're not going to be very pleasant company in the next 20 minutes.
At the time this was made surprisingly enough the fart scene was considered very controversial. So much so that when it first showed on TV the sound was edited out cuz you couldn’t fart on TV. It was weird watching the the scene with them silently eating and raising up for no apparent reason.
@@MikeTaffet And that is why it was so shocking and controversial when the movie came out. Modern viewers don't realize now how that was reacted to then.
Cleavon Little was so in charge of this movie. Gene Wilder... genius. Madeline Kahn so funny in whatever she did. Mel Brookes was amazing and so irreverent (Young Frankenstein!!). He never bowed to censors and made comedy that also had a message. Cleavon's sister-in-law was the teacher in my ethnic studies course in Jr High. Was fun to hear her take on this movie. 'Don't be offended, listen.'
Mel Brooks initially approached John Wayne to play the Waco Kid. Wayne read the script and told Brooks, that: "He couldn't be in the movie BUT would be the first in line to see it."
I have watched the scene where he takes himself hostage dozens if not a hundred times and it _ALWAYS_ leaves me in stitches. It is probably the most brilliant bit of comedy created. You don't see it coming, all the actors play it completely straight, and the absurdity of it actually working cranks the hilarity up to 11. I don't know how they came up with such a ridiculous bit, but they are geniuses for including it.
OMG none of the other reactors have ever used the phrase, but when you said they were "trolling" the idiot racists I was mind blown! Yes! This movie is one big giant troll of the backward stupidity of racism. Well done!
17:25 - re: "Yes No". Trucks sometimes print "YES" on their left rear and "NO" on their right rear, to say "OK to pass on the LEFT, don't pass on the RIGHT"
Re: That word being used (particularly at the start) An interesting bit of trivia: One of the actors (Burton Gilliam who played Lyle, the one asking for the work song) had a lot of trouble saying it to Cleavon Little & Little had to encourage him saying that it was alright because they weren't really his words (just those in the script) & allegedly joked that if he thought Gilliam meant them he'd knock Gilliam out.
Yup, he said if he thought Gilliam would say that word to him in any other context they’d go to fist city. But this was all in fun so don’t worry about it.
Funny how many jokes are missed. Howard Johnson was a motel chain that was known for selling ice cream in their diners. The yes and no used to be on trucks to show you to pass on the left.
The one infamous scene between Lili von Shtupp (German for sex, or essentially f**k) and Sherrif Bart that actually was cut from the film was right after you hear the zipper and Lily says "Oh, it's twue, it's twue." After that, Cleavon had the line, 'I hate to disillusion you, ma'am, but you're sucking on my arm.' Mel Brooks told the story on Conan one night and said they were too scared to leave that in. This movie also makes me sad that Cleavon Little didn't do a thousand more movies. He was so incredibly great in this one.
You've *just* made me realise the callback to this in Clue, where Tim Curry accuses Madeleine Kahn's character of "shtupping" with someone else's husband
When my parents saw this they went back another day because they missed a bunch of the jokes the first time due to the entire audience laughing out loud. The 2nd time they went they brought me. Thanks mom and dad. For those of us who had seen it back then, it's a classic movie. There are quotes that I still quote at various times. "Candygram for Mongo." "Excuse me while I whip this out." There is also the image of Baskin Robbins, but at that time, there was only 1 flavor, not 31. I am happy to hear you liked Monty Python and the holy Grail. And if you want to do a deep dive into their stuff, the tv show is currently showing on Netflix as well.
I saw it in the theater too when it first came out and also missed lots of dialogue due to hysterical laughter all the way through. My boyfriend and I went back several times to see it again....and laughed hysterically each time.
Such a brilliant movie! "You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons." Makes me laugh me every time! :)
Cleavon Little was a Broadway stage actor prior to this movie. It was originally supposed to be played by Richard Prior but on the first day of shooting he had disappeared (turned out he got drunk and high on something then boarded a private plan to Paris) So Mel Brooks asked Cleavon to fill in the role which turned out being perfect.
I've watched a number of reactions to this film, to see how young people and people from other countries viewed this film. I'm pleased that all the reactions were very positive. It's often opined that they could never make this film today. Maybe not, but I'd like to see a young filmmaker try. There's still a place for this type of smart, but irreverent comedy. The fact that so many younger audiences enjoyed it is evidence of that fact.
Of course they couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today. If you walked up to an exec and gave them the script, they would say “this is the script to Blazing Saddles, this movie has already been made”.
At the time that this movie was made, tractor trailers had YES and NO painted on the back to try to discourage drivers from passing on the right. That's why the YES and NO were painted on the ox. It's a shame that no one ever gets the Cecil B. Demille joke...
the old guy at the intersection actually wasn't supposed to be in the film, he just walked into the middle of the shot ... they had to convince him to sign some papers after the scene was shot
You should definitely check out spaceballs it's another Mel brooks movie that paradies sci fi movies like starwars and has one of the best 4th wall breaks imo
@@russellcollins52 To Be or Not To Be is a not one of Mel Brooks' most popular films, or even his funniest, but it had one irreverent, hilarious scene featuring a very young Christopher Loyd that is a show stopper. It's like the entire movie lead to that particular scene and holy crap, did it deliver. I highly recommend it.
@@nishikaze I loved how when they were heading in the basement during the bombing and the one guy was crossing himself and the next did a star of David.
You get it!!! You r the only young reactor that I have seen watch this and really let themselves enjoy it. Too many people are afraid to laugh because of how raw this movie can be. It was written by the great Richard Pryor. He was a talented black comedian from back in the day. Your good attitude made me subscribe!! Enjoy
Love seeing a Millenial watching a true comedic masterpiece!! She finally got it at the end. I was in 8th grade when this movie came out. TRUE Genius!!
The "yes" and "no" is a reference to the same were painted on the back of busses in the 50s, indicating which side to pass on, playing on the fact that Mongo and his bull were big as a bus.
Cleavon Little was a national treasure.... RIP gone too soon. He is also outstanding in Once Bitten, an early Jim Carrey vampire comedy! I would love to see you react to that.
I loved your reaction to this. Had me cracking up the whole time. There was one point where I involuntarily said "Oh my god I love her". Out loud. By myself in my office. The words just came out of my face of their own free will.
Yes,Gerald,so true.Some comedians are catching %%%% for some of their content in their stand-up today.We all know about the attack on Chappelle,while he was on stage. People are really WILDING-OUT in today's society.
The Yes / No painted on the bull is a sight gag people won't get today. Back in the day oversized vehicles sometimes had Yes / No on their mudflaps, essentially reminding people it was OK to pass on the Left, never on the right as they would get run off the road if the truck takes an off ramp.
There's a lovely gentleness to this film. It takes the p*ss out of cr*p behaviour (racism, as well as wealth, power, smugness etc) head-on but leaves the individual humans intact. Gene Wilder plays such a nice character that he prevents the whole thing becoming a white vs black drama. And Cleavon Little's sheriff is fabulous, like a force of nature and the absolute kryptonite against badness. The message isn't "don't be white" or "all baddies die". It's "gits (mostly) walk away alive but don't win and have to endure a bit of amusing backlash to bring things back to a nice place". Hedley dies though! It's fun enough to do that really well. Loads of the jokes crack me up too, from "excuse me while I whip this out" to "well, that's the end of THIS suit!" and "someone's gonna have to go back and get a sh*tload a dimes".
Now you've done it Aideen. Once you start watching a Mel Brooks movie, you gotta watch'em all. Brooks is one of the greatest comic geniuses of all time with a career spanning over SEVEN DECADES! I'm glad you got to watch this classic comedy and can tell your friends about it. 🎥💙
Not sure why, but when I first saw this in theatre in the early 70’s one of the biggest laugh lines was at the tollbooth. “… somebody’s gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!” Just one of the most ridiculous conceptual jokes. Great film, it’s aged so well.
That orchestra playing in the desert as Bart rode towards Rock Ridge was led by the legendary jazz bandleader Count Basie. During that scene, he's playing a portion of his song "April in Paris".
Cleavon Little is the actor who played the sheriff in Blazing Saddles and later in the 80's also co starred in the vampire comedy called Once Bitten Starring Jim Carrey which is a must see. Cleavon Little is from where I Live in "Tulsa,Oklahoma " but sadly he passed away from cancer in the early 90's
Mel Brooks at the top of his game, along with "Young Frankenstein" (a take off on the classic Universal monster movies) and "High Anxiety" (a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock suspense movies).
The governor (in the boxers) is Mel Brooks, an american treasure (and hero) who made this movie as well as Spaceballs and other comedy classics. As a young man he fought in WWII and was an army technician who diffused mines. He made his fellow troops laugh whenever they had idle time and they all told him he should go to Hollywood and get into comedy. And so he did.
He used to team with Carl Reiner and they did the 10,000 year old man skit. I remember well his true description about the difference between comedy and tragedy. Comedy is you falling off a cliff, tragedy is me getting a splinter in my finger
There's so many great scenes and quotes in this movie, but one that always makes me laugh is the whole "Up yours, ******" part. It's just perfect. Wrong, but perfect.
You should watch Top Secret! Nobody else has really done it yet, but it's by the same writers/directors as the Airplane! and Naked Gun movies. Same type of silly humor. I think you'll love it.
To answer the question about the yes or no on Mongo's bull, it's a play on old school bus's in the 50's on which was was alright to pass. It's a subtle play that Mongo and his bull are as wide as a bus.
28:17 - "This guy is totally not in it", you didn't know how right you were. The guy in the blue cardigan was literally a tourist who got lost on his way around visiting the studios and wandered onto the "set", and they just left him in!
I wanna say that they tried more than once to remove that guy and reshoot the scene, but somehow he kept getting back in. Finally Mel Brooks threw up his hands and said to get the guy a contract.
Off the rails? Try 1985's "Clue", which also happens to have actress Madeline Kahn (Lili Von Shtüpp). Clue is the movie based off the boardgame and is just crazy off the rails fun.
Glad you enjoyed that…you have such a wonderful laugh! I’m sure you’ve had people suggest “Airplane” & “The Naked Gun” which I would concur. They’re 2 of the best slapstick comedies ever made! Also have seen The Lord of The Rings before?
Comedian Richard Pryor wrote most of racy dialouge& was set to play Sherrif- movie was to be called 'Black Bart"- but was Uninsurable,he would join Wilder yrs later for' "Silver Streak', 'StirCrazy' etc- Pryor & Cleavon Little( sherrif) would also make ' 'Greased Lighting'..the Passing Gas scene was muted 1st shown on tv- Mel & Wilder were planning "Young Frankenstein " during this film
Pryor joined the writing team with the provision he would NOT write scenes for Bart. He didn't want to be hired to write for the black character. The Mongo stuff was mostly Pryor. "Mongo just pawn, in game of life".
@@nimawhe in dvd back story , Mel questioned Pryor about " His" racy dialouge...Pryor ( according to Mel) said - " Its the whole movie,its gotta be left in" - Ex NFLer Alex Karras - became Mon Nite Football announcer soon after& said on air , it was easy to play Mongo- hardly any lines, but lots of bodies to bang around 🏈🏈
I was 10 when we snuck into out town theater The look on my dads face when I quoted a few lines It’s a shame we lost Clevon Little in 1992 awesome actor.
legend has it that the guy on the corner when everyone's running out of the studio squeezed his way on set, and then was escorted off, and snuck his way back into shot.
I don't know if anyone else has commented on it, but the Yes/No on Mongo's bull was a reference to old school buses. They used to be labelled that way so drivers would know to pass a stopped school bus on the left (yes) instead of the right (no) where the kids were getting off the bus. This was for "safety" until they realized drivers should just stop when the bus does.
Cleavon Little also played the blind DJ in the cult car-chase classic Vanishing Point (1971) as well as appearing in the 1972 - 1974 hospital sitcom Temperature's Rising.
I love your reaction to this movie!! I may not get the quote exactly right but Mel Brooks has said he wanted to represent 1974 but in 1874. Also, Hedley Lamar was an actress that sued Mel for using her name and he actually just paid her off. I think it was like $20,000. This is one of my all time fav movies that I can quote line for line and I'm glad you enjoyed it the way it was intended! New sub 💜💜💜
The actress was Hedy Lamar, not Hedley. They kept calling him Hedy, and he corrects everyone throughout the film "that's Hedley". And the Governor (Mel) makes a joke about the lawsuit in the film. In addition to being a fantastic performer, she was an inventor. She helped to design a frequency switching device and protocol that may have been useful for the Navy. They didn't end up using it, but her work became the foundation of modern Wi-Fi technology
Hilarious film! Mel Brooks was on a roll in the 70s with "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" & "Young Frankenstein," but "Blazing Saddles" is an all time comedy classic! GREAT reaction video!
And yes, when the foreman wanted the black railroad workers to sing they intentionally performed in the style of famous white singers/groups of the 1950s. The movie was genius on so many levels.
31:20 The point of the racial slurs was to make fun of the racists, and to belittle racism. Who comes off looking like fools? The racists. Even at the very beginning, when it comes to the two groups and their different songs .. and then throughout the rest. I get that it would not fly today, but at least the idea back then was not negative, but positive. Also, as some have probably said already, one of the main writers was Richard Pryor.
"De Camptown Races" was written as a minstrel song and as such used vernacular. If you listen to Clevon singing, he uses the more "proper" wording. "The" for "de", "Going" for "Gwine". Based on the rest of the movie, that has to be intentional.
No she didn't. She misunderstood or entirely missed most of the jokes. For example she clearly didn't get the whole 'sing a work song' sequence where she was more interested in Bart's voice than his song choice and how ridiculous the white overseers were doing 'Camptown Races' rather than seeing the role reversal.
@@daletrecartin1563 Of course. There is a lot of history and celebrities and names of the past before 1974, of the day in this movie that is lost on the younger generation. I saw someone watch It;s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and totally miss all the celebrities that appeared in the movie...even said too much slapstick etc. But someday their generation will wonder why the new generation does not know Jim Carey, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga or whomever.
Star Cleavon Little showed his great singing voice earlier in the broadway musical “Purlie” - in the early 1970’s my mom loved playing the soundtrack record.
I still cannot get over the fact that some people actually get offended by this movie. It's not promoting racism, it's making fun of ignorant racists.
I love it as a white person. It's like the Producers - they roast everybody. No one is safe.
Yeah. This movie is just promoting how stupid racism is.
They did? People were still pretty rational in 74. But yeah you're right. This is the proper way to end racism, by lightening up and making jokes and not taking it seriously.
@@st0n3p0ny That was Brooks' way of handling things, like laughing at Hitler and those who espouse his evil ideology: you take their power and influence away by making them the butt of jokes, not to be taken seriously.
And that's why they are mad.
When Gene Wilder died I went back to rewatch this classic and had a good cry over his last line:
"Where ya going, cowboy?"
"Nowhere special."
"'Nowhere Special.' Always wanted to go there..."
RIP Gene. Thanks for all the good memories.
He was a rare comedian who could do no wrong. What I mean by that is, Gene could even be in a bad movie, he would still be good in it. Once you cast him in a comedy, you were already half way to success.
Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor working together is the best collaboration ever. The genius ways they mock racism is hilarious.
And I think Paul Mooney said he helped a bit on this too. I think it was the "Where the white women at" joke
@@J1ntu Hadn't heard that before, good bit of information!
At think at this time it was more like Richard Pryor working for Mel Brooks. Richard Pryor was supposed to Star, I have head two stories of why it didn’t happen. First because Pryor wasn’t a big enough star. Second is because he was on too many drugs, which is totally believable.
IIRC Mel Brooks wrote the lines for the Black characters and Richard Prior wrote the lines for the White characters.
I have watch this movie half a dozen times and never realized that's a young Richard Pryor without the trademark hair and stache.
as a First Nations man I can say the best part was Mel Brooks playing the chief and speaking Yiddish, it's the "They're darker than us. woof!" that gets me every time.
First Nations? You're really gonna adopt a name the PC white liberals gave you? Huh, ironic.
Also spoke a bit of German too.
@@RCT1963 I think that was just the Yiddish, no? Since there are a lot of German words in Yiddish (or vice versa).
@@RCT1963 You might want to look up "Yiddish."
And absurdly wearing Red, White, and Blue war paint.
17:00 "You know...Morons" wasn't scripted. Wilder improvised the line, and Little's reaction was genuine 😆
Too bad she was talking at that point and we couldn't hear the line. It's a problem all "reactors" seem to have. Since it's the first time they've seen the movie, they don't know a punchline is coming.
It absolutely breaks my heart that she missed one of the greatest ad-lib lines in cinema history because of her commentary
She doesn't laugh at half of the great jokes I don't think she understands some of them probably too young!
@@thelastremainingmoderate1997 and she missed a lot of them, i saw this as a kid when it first came out an l missed them too, l found it funnier as l got older and saw the satire
The whole story about how Wilder got the role of the Waco Kid is amazing. Mel Brooks and Wilder were close friends, and Wilder was a "sounding board" for Brooks as the movie was written -- so Wilder knew the whole script.
Mel Brooks hired an old cowboy actor who was a real drunk for the role of the Waco Kid. During the first week of shooting, the guy got sick and ended up in the hospital. Brooks called his friend Gene Wilder (in NY) in a panic: "My actor is in the hospital! What should I do??"
Wilder told Brooks he was getting on a plane to fill in. He was there the next morning and was fantastic in the role. So, Wilder actually cast himself in the role.
Also, Mel Brooks wanted Richard Pryor (who co-wrote the script) as Sheriff Bart, but the Studio refused. That's why Cleavon Little was cast.
Girl that band, was Count Basie Orchestra. The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world.
That "band" in the dersert is the one and only Count Basie Orchestra, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. The band survived long past the Big Band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984.
and the song being played is "April in Paris", one of the bands greatest hits
Also, that wasn't Cleavon Little singing earlier; it was Nat "King" Cole, father of Natalie Cole.
Props for recognizing Bart was trolling the white cowboys during the sing off. Most people don't seem to get the joke.
@@Caseytify I never knew that wasn't Cleavon Little singing. RIP.
The irony was lost on many. The beautiful professional black band playing outside the city limits, the amateur white band in toen to greet him. Not sure this was Brooks idea, but certainly represents the parody of the film.
@@markinman8156 and every misses or ignores the fact that Count Basie didn't exist in the time that this movie is set in.
That's the joke.
Don't complicate it.
"The little bastard shot me in the ass." For me the funniest line in the film, probably because of Gene Wilders' delivery. 🤣👍
💙💛
A bit of history regarding Bart saying, “My grandmother was Dutch”. That's a reverse play on the "One drop rule" where a social and legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th century United States that asserted any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry ('one drop' of 'black blood') is considered black. Bart was implying that since he had "one drop" of Caucasian blood that he wasn't really black. A subtle yet brilliant joke.
Thanks for that. Not having grown up in the US, I wasn't aware of that classification so didn't get the reference. I figured it was some kind of reference (if it was in the movie, it was there for a reason) - just didn't know what it was.
The law is still in effect, one Black ancestor you are Black.
And I'd say that Bart was correct. It's all about how you identify.
If anyone else needs more evidence that the race thing is stupid, speaking of Dutch, Bob Marley's (of reggae fame) father was a 100% Dutch man, straight from the Netherlands.
I didn’t realize that was what it was referring to. The writing is so clever here, so many references to keep discovering. These are my favorite types of movies.
Racism and its rules are ridiculous and repugnant. Never made sense then, doesn’t make sense now. It’s part of why I like the line about them not wanting the Irish at the end. (Yes I know they were discriminated). It just illustrates how ignorant people will always find some way to hate the “other”, whether it makes sense or not. Whether you (just) accepted another group you previously hated on the same flimsy premise used to hate the next “other”.
I saw this for the first time in a theater in Chicago. The theater had every race of people watching and I never heard such loud laughter in my life from everyone. We all left happy smiling at each other.
It was shockingly funny for everyone. Even out here in California. kekek
You nailed it - this is about trolling the idiot racists. Two of the greatest lines in cinematic history - "To tell a family secret, my grandmother was Dutch", and "hey - where the white women at?"
Back in the late 70s-early 80s I was in the high school band. We had an away game once in a town where a klansmen had unsuccessfully run for mayor. One of the black guys in the band stepped off the bus and yelled "Hey, where the white women at?" We all caracked up.
I always liked "These are people of the land, the common clay, you know.........Morons"
Those first went there just because it was the '70s they were purposely put there
@@cookware9796 Gene Wilder improvised that .... Brooks left it in!
"Excuse me while I whip this out....." LOL!
Cleavon Little was an award winning Broadway actor. He could sing and dance and was a fantastic actor!
Cleavon Little was a Broadway actor before he got this role. Richard Pryor who was one of the writers was Mel Brooks’ first choice to play the sheriff but the studio said he was too controversial. Brooks said the studio censors came up to him and told him all the things he had to cut. He nodded and agreed. As soon as they left he threw their notes in the trash. He made the movie exactly as written as he knew the studio execs would be too busy to care.
Haha I love that! Richard Pryor would've been really funny too but I think Cleavon Little was made for this role!
I love this movie, but I would really love to see the alternative universe version of this film where this was the first Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor Buddy Comedy.
@@timhibbard4226 You really must watch Silver Streak with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. You will love it.
@@NoxSoSubtle Cleavon Little also shows up in a smaller role in the hilarious sequel to the Chevy Chase 80's comedy "Fletch" called "Fletch Lives." Both are worthy of a watch.
Funny enough, Pryor helped write the script for this film. While he only made suggestions to the other writers on the racial jokes, Richard Pryor was completely responsible for writing all the Mongo scenes.
Side note: I am now 77 years old and was very young when this movie first was released. I must say that I, along with millions of othes, fell madly in love with Cleavon Little. Not surprising. He was amazing.
Greatest piece of satire in history. Still holds up after all these years.
As the movie poster said, "Never give a saga an even break."
My favorite part, among many, is the ending when Gene wilder is holding the popcorn while being back in the movie on set after Cleavon Little gave his ending speech.
"Is that the studio?!"
Blazing Saddles may have one of the greatest extended fourth wall breaks in cinema.
I think this movie has more than 4th wall breaking. They need another term when you break this far. 8th wall?
Right! When you have a line like Drive me off this picture, you know that a lot of movie rules are being broken.
Literally.
And that gag has been repeated few times since then. IIRC John Bon Jovi did it in "say it isn't so" music video.
@@robertreichle1 I think it goes beyond even the 8th wall. I can't exactly think of how to describe it lol.
Yes and No is a joke about the 1970's safety program placing yes and no stickers on buses and trucks reminding people the safe side to pass on.
No one who really loves this movie is “Fan” of the slurs. They are there to shock and remind us of a time when that type of thinking was prevalent. It is obvious that the classiest man in the movie IS the sheriff. He uses his charm and wit to show the town folk how wrong they are. It’s Brilliant satire that was shining a light on these subjects 40 years ago. Sad that we still need to be reminded
Exactly, the more racist a person is in the movie, the more stupid they are. 💯✌
@@iKvetch558 The common clay of the New West.
Satire is unfortunately a dying art. South Park is about the only current example. And even they don't do it correctly all the time.
@@jvgreendarmok I freaking love the writing in that scene, the lines are so good, and Wilder's delivery of each one is near perfect. 🤣💯
@@jvgreendarmok - And then that line, "You know, morons." was an ad-lib by Gene Wilder and that was a genuine laugh that Cleavon had reacting to it. Those two together were just the best in this film.
I saw Blazing Saddles at the cinema as a teenager when it first came out, it was the funniest film I had ever seen. I have seen it numerous times since. I love Mel Brooks movies, they are all hilariously silly. Young Frankenstein is also a favourite with the great Marty Feldman.
Lily von Schtup (the marvelous Madeline Kahn) is actually doing a spot-on impersonation of Marlene Dietrich who was a actress from the early days of Hollywood.
Madeline got intentionally fired from Mame the musical in order to star in this film. Lucielle Ball took her place, also, Maddie went on to garner a nomination for best supporting actress in this Mel Brooks romp
Also known for her humanitarian efforts during World War 2 , housing exiles, financial support, improving moral in the front lines, and she sang my favourite song Lili Marleen
It's a parody of Dietrich's role opposite Jimmy Stewart in Destry Rides Again -- which is a great comedy western from the late 30s.
Don't forget about Headley Lamarr and Heddy Lamarr
@@robinford4037 Heddy Lamarr was a woman - perhaps the most beautiful woman to ever be in films. She was also a brilliant inventor whose innovation of frequency hopping is the basis of modern telecommunications.
I think my favorite part of this movie is when Gene Wilder is describing the people as "The common clay of the new West. You know... morons." and Cleavon Little can't hold in a laugh.
Mel Brooks was asked in an interview if he would be able to make “Blazing Saddles” now. His response was we couldn’t make it back then. The fart scene was the first time the sound was used in a movie. The sounds are from Brooks, an editor and people passing by the office they grabbed. The Yes/No on the Ox was in reference to which side of the bus to pass on (right side no, left side yes). The song that Lily sings in the movie Mel Brooks said was the dirtiest song he’s ever written. The guy on the corner near the end was just a pedestrian that didn’t understand they were shooting a movie. They finally gave up on a shot without him and just put him in it. Now that you’ve seen this movie you need to check out Robin Hood Men in Tights.
With ya until Robin Hood. Young Frankenstein is next in order.
@@chronomatt6990 I think most of her audience would be good with either
Mongo Santamaria was a Cuban percussionist & jazz musician.
Some of the jokes haven't aged well, like "I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille," who was famous for all the huge biblical extravaganza movies he made during the 50s. Ditto for Randolph Scott, who was famous in cowboy movies before John Wayne.
The Hedy/Hedley refers to Hedy Lamarr, a well known actress during the 30s & 40s. She also invented a very clever frequency hopping method for Allied torpedoes during WW2. She actually sued the movie over the use of her name, hence Brooks' line "this is 1874; you can sue her!"
@@chronomatt6990 He's referring to the Blazing Saddles reference at the end of Robin Hood.
I have a feeling it was likely used in movies in other countries prior, particularly seeing as apparently the TV edit in the US absurdly even edited out the farting sounds.
Thanks for watching this and glad you enjoyed it.
He (Clevon Little, the Sheriff) is like Bugs Bunny, minus the racism.
Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor used racism in the film to point out how ridiculous racism, bigotry, and prejudice is.
Mel Brooks utilized a lot of vaudeville which you are seeing in this film. Mel Brooks, whose family was from the modern day Ukraine, included anti-Nazi material in many of his films so that why you seen the Hitler actor in the cafeteria and the WWII German soldiers in the bad guy line up. Funny thing though Lili Von Shtupp (Shtupp is Yiddish slang for sex; as in: to shtupp) is a stand in for Marlene Dietrich who was a famous actress who portrayed many promiscuous women, was anti-Hitler and escaped Germany before the war. The soldiers who appeared with Lili on stage were Prussian. And a nice tie=in was the Jesse Owens smashed Hitler's racial superiority theory at the 36' Nazi Olympics in Berlin.
It was a great western (and a homage to Hollywood musicals of sorts) and included alot of the bigotry, prejudice, and racism that other westerns left out in order to take down racism.
When you realize that the reason that the racial slurs were used to this extent in this movie was to shine a light on the absurdity and the ignorance of using such language, then hopefully you won't be as offended by hearing those words in this context!! This film is the ultimate parody of racism, western-style movies, and Hollywood itself!!!
The "Everyone is welcome, except the Irish" always makes me laugh
Me too...especially as I'm Irish!!
that's not how the line goes...
in 1850 Irish slaves were $3 and black slaves were $10 in the states
Mel Brooks has said he got the inspiration for the "beans" scene from his experience going to see Saturday western movie serials in his nearby theater in Brooklyn as a kid. He remembered seeing all the cowboys in these movies eating a lot of beans and drinking a lot of coffee, and then thinking to himself how crazy it looked that nothing else happened as a result; since his conclusion was when you eat that many beans and drink that much coffee, you're not going to be very pleasant company in the next 20 minutes.
At the time this was made surprisingly enough the fart scene was considered very controversial. So much so that when it first showed on TV the sound was edited out cuz you couldn’t fart on TV. It was weird watching the the scene with them silently eating and raising up for no apparent reason.
It was literally the first fart scene in a movie
@@MikeTaffet And that is why it was so shocking and controversial when the movie came out. Modern viewers don't realize now how that was reacted to then.
I LOVE how entertained she is by this movie.
I saw this when I was a kid.
Still one of my favorite Mel Brooks films.
The "Yes/No" gag on the Ox that Mongo rides into town on is a reference to A semi-Truck on the highway..you only pass on the left, not the right..
"Mongo! Santa Maria!" was a really obscure reference to Cuban jazz musician Mongo Santamaria.
@@brianturnbough4955 Well of course she is! lol
When getting on a horse, you usually mount on the left side. Hence, yes on left and no on the right.
I thought it was a reference to school buses?
@@Powerranger-le4up exactly!!! and in many places it still is...
Cleavon Little was so in charge of this movie. Gene Wilder... genius. Madeline Kahn so funny in whatever she did. Mel Brookes was amazing and so irreverent (Young Frankenstein!!). He never bowed to censors and made comedy that also had a message. Cleavon's sister-in-law was the teacher in my ethnic studies course in Jr High. Was fun to hear her take on this movie. 'Don't be offended, listen.'
I love all the little 4th wall breaks until you get to final scenes where they have a literal 4th wall break. Mel Brooks is a genius.
Mel Brooks initially approached John Wayne to play the Waco Kid. Wayne read the script and told Brooks, that: "He couldn't be in the movie BUT would be the first in line to see it."
Thats a myth, Wayne was a big racist
Mongo was played by Alex Karras, who at one time, was a fearsome defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions.
And I totally did not recognise him in Victor Victoria!
@@erinesque1889 There is a film that reactors seem to miss.
@@maruad7577 Agreed. It's so fun.
Also the dad on Webster
He’s also now in the Football Hall of Fame.
My first time watching one of your reactions. You are very fun to watch. I’m definitely going to check out more of your videos. 🔥
*_ANYBODY GOT A DIME?? SOMEBODY'S GOTTA GO BACK AND GET A SHITLOAD OF DIMES!!_*
I have watched the scene where he takes himself hostage dozens if not a hundred times and it _ALWAYS_ leaves me in stitches. It is probably the most brilliant bit of comedy created. You don't see it coming, all the actors play it completely straight, and the absurdity of it actually working cranks the hilarity up to 11. I don't know how they came up with such a ridiculous bit, but they are geniuses for including it.
OMG none of the other reactors have ever used the phrase, but when you said they were "trolling" the idiot racists I was mind blown! Yes! This movie is one big giant troll of the backward stupidity of racism. Well done!
17:25 - re: "Yes No". Trucks sometimes print "YES" on their left rear and "NO" on their right rear, to say "OK to pass on the LEFT, don't pass on the RIGHT"
Re: That word being used (particularly at the start)
An interesting bit of trivia: One of the actors (Burton Gilliam who played Lyle, the one asking for the work song) had a lot of trouble saying it to Cleavon Little & Little had to encourage him saying that it was alright because they weren't really his words (just those in the script) & allegedly joked that if he thought Gilliam meant them he'd knock Gilliam out.
Yup, he said if he thought Gilliam would say that word to him in any other context they’d go to fist city. But this was all in fun so don’t worry about it.
The shovel to the head was Slim Pickens's idea. He wanted his character to experience consequences for his racism. Turned to be a great gag too.
Leonardo DiCaprio had a similar issue with it in Django Unchained. Roy Wood Jr has a great stand-up bit on it.
Funny how many jokes are missed. Howard Johnson was a motel chain that was known for selling ice cream in their diners. The yes and no used to be on trucks to show you to pass on the left.
The one infamous scene between Lili von Shtupp (German for sex, or essentially f**k) and Sherrif Bart that actually was cut from the film was right after you hear the zipper and Lily says "Oh, it's twue, it's twue." After that, Cleavon had the line, 'I hate to disillusion you, ma'am, but you're sucking on my arm.' Mel Brooks told the story on Conan one night and said they were too scared to leave that in. This movie also makes me sad that Cleavon Little didn't do a thousand more movies. He was so incredibly great in this one.
You've *just* made me realise the callback to this in Clue, where Tim Curry accuses Madeleine Kahn's character of "shtupping" with someone else's husband
I rarely subscribe after watching just one video, but this is one of those times. This is the best reaction to Blazing Saddles! Subscribed
Nothing to do with the times. It was funny then and just as funny now. This kind of comedy is sorely missed.
This is my first watch with you. Blazing Saddles is an old favorite of mine. It's been a pleasure listening to you laugh. Thank you!
The band in the desert was legendary Jazz musician Count Basie and his orchestra. Great little cameo.
When my parents saw this they went back another day because they missed a bunch of the jokes the first time due to the entire audience laughing out loud. The 2nd time they went they brought me. Thanks mom and dad. For those of us who had seen it back then, it's a classic movie. There are quotes that I still quote at various times. "Candygram for Mongo." "Excuse me while I whip this out." There is also the image of Baskin Robbins, but at that time, there was only 1 flavor, not 31.
I am happy to hear you liked Monty Python and the holy Grail. And if you want to do a deep dive into their stuff, the tv show is currently showing on Netflix as well.
I saw it in the theater too when it first came out and also missed lots of dialogue due to hysterical laughter all the way through. My boyfriend and I went back several times to see it again....and laughed hysterically each time.
It is?!! A Blessing From The Lord! (the TV being currently on Netflix...)
@@gailwebb9619 Sadly I didn't get to see it till it was on TV. (Too young.) Have watched it so many times since though!
Such a brilliant movie!
"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons." Makes me laugh me every time! :)
Gene Wilder ad-libed the word “morons” onto the scripted lines and made that scene. Clevon Little’s laughter is real.
Cleavon Little was a Broadway stage actor prior to this movie. It was originally supposed to be played by Richard Prior but on the first day of shooting he had disappeared (turned out he got drunk and high on something then boarded a private plan to Paris) So Mel Brooks asked Cleavon to fill in the role which turned out being perfect.
I've watched a number of reactions to this film, to see how young people and people from other countries viewed this film. I'm pleased that all the reactions were very positive. It's often opined that they could never make this film today. Maybe not, but I'd like to see a young filmmaker try. There's still a place for this type of smart, but irreverent comedy. The fact that so many younger audiences enjoyed it is evidence of that fact.
Of course they couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today. If you walked up to an exec and gave them the script, they would say “this is the script to Blazing Saddles, this movie has already been made”.
Of course a movie like this could be made. The problem is, there aren't many comedy writers as brilliant as Mel Brooks.
Heck they almost couldn’t make it back then.
Your laugh, honesty, love of epic smartasses and beauty are staggering. I'll be staying as your reaction to this was awesome and hilarious.
At the time that this movie was made, tractor trailers had YES and NO painted on the back to try to discourage drivers from passing on the right. That's why the YES and NO were painted on the ox.
It's a shame that no one ever gets the Cecil B. Demille joke...
Him, Richard Dix and Randolph Scott.
I got the Cecil Demille joke.
There is a Laurel and Hardy word play joke in there too.
The GOV is called LePetomaine. LePetomaine was a real novelty music hall act who would fart popular songs of the day ,lol .
The song routine "I'm Tired" by Lili with the "monotone" voice is a parody of Marlene Dietrich, an actress popular during the 30's & 40's
the old guy at the intersection actually wasn't supposed to be in the film, he just walked into the middle of the shot ... they had to convince him to sign some papers after the scene was shot
You should definitely check out spaceballs it's another Mel brooks movie that paradies sci fi movies like starwars and has one of the best 4th wall breaks imo
Yes Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, Robin Hood Men in Tights, any Mel Brooks movies really.
@@russellcollins52 To Be or Not To Be is a not one of Mel Brooks' most popular films, or even his funniest, but it had one irreverent, hilarious scene featuring a very young Christopher Loyd that is a show stopper. It's like the entire movie lead to that particular scene and holy crap, did it deliver.
I highly recommend it.
@@nishikaze I loved how when they were heading in the basement during the bombing and the one guy was crossing himself and the next did a star of David.
Howard Johnsons was a big resturant chain back in 50's-70's
You get it!!! You r the only young reactor that I have seen watch this and really let themselves enjoy it. Too many people are afraid to laugh because of how raw this movie can be. It was written by the great Richard Pryor. He was a talented black comedian from back in the day. Your good attitude made me subscribe!! Enjoy
I was afraid at first that she wasn't going to let herself enjoy it; she gradually loosened up.
absolutely love how not true this is.
I've seen plenty enjoy it.
Love seeing a Millenial watching a true comedic masterpiece!! She finally got it at the end. I was in 8th grade when this movie came out. TRUE Genius!!
“My grandmother was Dutch” and “where the white women at?”
Always make me crack up.
"Excuse me while I whip this out"
"Mongo only pawn in game of life."
"For my next impression: Jesse Owens"
is the funniest joke I've ever seen in a movie.
@@dr.burtgummerfan439 Frankly, I was surprised she left that out.
Every Time
The "yes" and "no" is a reference to the same were painted on the back of busses in the 50s, indicating which side to pass on, playing on the fact that Mongo and his bull were big as a bus.
Cleavon Little was a national treasure.... RIP gone too soon. He is also outstanding in Once Bitten, an early Jim Carrey vampire comedy! I would love to see you react to that.
Yea, gone way to soon... I would have loved to see more movies with him in it. What a great scene presence he had. Such an amazing man.
I loved your reaction to this. Had me cracking up the whole time. There was one point where I involuntarily said "Oh my god I love her". Out loud. By myself in my office. The words just came out of my face of their own free will.
This movie is a classic. It never gets old. It's refreshing to see true edgy unapologetic humor. Too bad they don't make movies like this anymore.
Yes,Gerald,so true.Some comedians are catching %%%% for some of their content in their stand-up today.We all know about the attack on Chappelle,while he was on stage. People are really WILDING-OUT in today's society.
The Yes / No painted on the bull is a sight gag people won't get today. Back in the day oversized vehicles sometimes had Yes / No on their mudflaps, essentially reminding people it was OK to pass on the Left, never on the right as they would get run off the road if the truck takes an off ramp.
There's a lovely gentleness to this film. It takes the p*ss out of cr*p behaviour (racism, as well as wealth, power, smugness etc) head-on but leaves the individual humans intact. Gene Wilder plays such a nice character that he prevents the whole thing becoming a white vs black drama. And Cleavon Little's sheriff is fabulous, like a force of nature and the absolute kryptonite against badness. The message isn't "don't be white" or "all baddies die". It's "gits (mostly) walk away alive but don't win and have to endure a bit of amusing backlash to bring things back to a nice place". Hedley dies though! It's fun enough to do that really well. Loads of the jokes crack me up too, from "excuse me while I whip this out" to "well, that's the end of THIS suit!" and "someone's gonna have to go back and get a sh*tload a dimes".
I love you got the sarcasm right off. Do you have a beautiful laugh? I love that you understood the movie you’re such a sweetheart.
Now you've done it Aideen. Once you start watching a Mel Brooks movie, you gotta watch'em all. Brooks is one of the greatest comic geniuses of all time with a career spanning over SEVEN DECADES! I'm glad you got to watch this classic comedy and can tell your friends about it. 🎥💙
I'm amazed no one has reacted to any of a number of Mel Brooks's '2000-yr-old Man' skits he performed with Carl Reiner.
Not sure why, but when I first saw this in theatre in the early 70’s one of the biggest laugh lines was at the tollbooth. “… somebody’s gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!” Just one of the most ridiculous conceptual jokes. Great film, it’s aged so well.
That orchestra playing in the desert as Bart rode towards Rock Ridge was led by the legendary jazz bandleader Count Basie. During that scene, he's playing a portion of his song "April in Paris".
Cleavon Little is the actor who played the sheriff in Blazing Saddles and later in the 80's also co starred in the vampire comedy called Once Bitten Starring Jim Carrey which is a must see.
Cleavon Little is from where I Live in "Tulsa,Oklahoma " but sadly he passed away from cancer in the early 90's
Nice, I'm diggin that Once Bitten reference
Mel Brooks at the top of his game, along with "Young Frankenstein" (a take off on the classic Universal monster movies) and "High Anxiety" (a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock suspense movies).
The birds parody was...
Crappy. 🙂
@@wesleyrodgers886 "High Anxiety" was more of a spoof of "Vertigo," but I see what you did there.
Silent Movie.....spoof on the silent movies....
@@thomastimlin1724 The only word spoken in the film was spoken by Marcel Marceau, the world-famous mime.
Mongo Santa Maria was a Cuban jazz drummer. Mel Brooks threw that line in as a tribute to him.
The governor (in the boxers) is Mel Brooks, an american treasure (and hero) who made this movie as well as Spaceballs and other comedy classics. As a young man he fought in WWII and was an army technician who diffused mines. He made his fellow troops laugh whenever they had idle time and they all told him he should go to Hollywood and get into comedy. And so he did.
He used to team with Carl Reiner and they did the 10,000 year old man skit. I remember well his true description about the difference between comedy and tragedy. Comedy is you falling off a cliff, tragedy is me getting a splinter in my finger
One of the best comedies of all time. Never gets old.
There's so many great scenes and quotes in this movie, but one that always makes me laugh is the whole "Up yours, ******" part. It's just perfect. Wrong, but perfect.
And then "sorry about the up yours n*****". 40 years later and i.still laugh at the old lady. My favorite character. Reminds me of my grandmother.
love how energetic and charismatic you are while your watching this movie and reacting to it!
You should watch Top Secret! Nobody else has really done it yet, but it's by the same writers/directors as the Airplane! and Naked Gun movies. Same type of silly humor. I think you'll love it.
To answer the question about the yes or no on Mongo's bull, it's a play on old school bus's in the 50's on which was was alright to pass. It's a subtle play that Mongo and his bull are as wide as a bus.
28:17 - "This guy is totally not in it", you didn't know how right you were. The guy in the blue cardigan was literally a tourist who got lost on his way around visiting the studios and wandered onto the "set", and they just left him in!
They paid him to be able to use the material.
I wanna say that they tried more than once to remove that guy and reshoot the scene, but somehow he kept getting back in. Finally Mel Brooks threw up his hands and said to get the guy a contract.
The sheriff was played by Clevon Little. A great actor. BTW, you have a beautiful smile. Hope it never changes.
Off the rails? Try 1985's "Clue", which also happens to have actress Madeline Kahn (Lili Von Shtüpp). Clue is the movie based off the boardgame and is just crazy off the rails fun.
The Yes and No on the bull is an old reference to passing traffic. Trucks used to have them on the back to indicate no passing on the right.
Glad you enjoyed that…you have such a wonderful laugh! I’m sure you’ve had people suggest “Airplane” & “The Naked Gun” which I would concur. They’re 2 of the best slapstick comedies ever made! Also have seen The Lord of The Rings before?
I never believe any of these people when they say, "I don't know anything about this movie." But I still get excited to see reactions.
Comedian Richard Pryor wrote most of racy dialouge& was set to play Sherrif- movie was to be called 'Black Bart"- but was Uninsurable,he would join Wilder yrs later for' "Silver Streak', 'StirCrazy' etc- Pryor & Cleavon Little( sherrif) would also make ' 'Greased Lighting'..the Passing Gas scene was muted 1st shown on tv- Mel & Wilder were planning "Young Frankenstein " during this film
Pryor joined the writing team with the provision he would NOT write scenes for Bart. He didn't want to be hired to write for the black character. The Mongo stuff was mostly Pryor. "Mongo just pawn, in game of life".
@@nimawhe in dvd back story , Mel questioned Pryor about " His" racy dialouge...Pryor ( according to Mel) said - " Its the whole movie,its gotta be left in" - Ex NFLer Alex Karras - became Mon Nite Football announcer soon after& said on air , it was easy to play Mongo- hardly any lines, but lots of bodies to bang around 🏈🏈
The "band" in the middle of the dessert was the amazing Count Basie and his orchestra.
I was 10 when we snuck into out town theater
The look on my dads face when I quoted a few lines
It’s a shame we lost Clevon Little in 1992 awesome actor.
Only Brooks and Gilliam are alive now.
legend has it that the guy on the corner when everyone's running out of the studio squeezed his way on set, and then was escorted off, and snuck his way back into shot.
My favorite part is when Bart goes where the white women at and when Mongo waxes philosophical about his role in life lmao
I don't know if anyone else has commented on it, but the Yes/No on Mongo's bull was a reference to old school buses. They used to be labelled that way so drivers would know to pass a stopped school bus on the left (yes) instead of the right (no) where the kids were getting off the bus. This was for "safety" until they realized drivers should just stop when the bus does.
Cleavon Little also played the blind DJ in the cult car-chase classic Vanishing Point (1971) as well as appearing in the 1972 - 1974 hospital sitcom Temperature's Rising.
"Super Soul" in Vanishing Point in 1971.
`The song in the opening was from the Broadway musical "Anything Goes" which shows their sophistication.
I love your reaction to this movie!! I may not get the quote exactly right but Mel Brooks has said he wanted to represent 1974 but in 1874. Also, Hedley Lamar was an actress that sued Mel for using her name and he actually just paid her off. I think it was like $20,000. This is one of my all time fav movies that I can quote line for line and I'm glad you enjoyed it the way it was intended! New sub 💜💜💜
The actress was Hedy Lamar, not Hedley. They kept calling him Hedy, and he corrects everyone throughout the film "that's Hedley".
And the Governor (Mel) makes a joke about the lawsuit in the film.
In addition to being a fantastic performer, she was an inventor. She helped to design a frequency switching device and protocol that may have been useful for the Navy.
They didn't end up using it, but her work became the foundation of modern Wi-Fi technology
Hilarious film! Mel Brooks was on a roll in the 70s with "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" & "Young Frankenstein," but "Blazing Saddles" is an all time comedy classic!
GREAT reaction video!
And yes, when the foreman wanted the black railroad workers to sing they intentionally performed in the style of famous white singers/groups of the 1950s. The movie was genius on so many levels.
and the Cowboys were singing and acting like they were in a Minstrel show, complete with on of the most common "minstrel" songs.
"De Camp Town Ladies? Sorry, never heard of it."
"Wide world of sports" was a TV program at the time.
Omg you are so young. Good to see the old classics are still appreciated.
31:20 The point of the racial slurs was to make fun of the racists, and to belittle racism. Who comes off looking like fools? The racists. Even at the very beginning, when it comes to the two groups and their different songs .. and then throughout the rest.
I get that it would not fly today, but at least the idea back then was not negative, but positive.
Also, as some have probably said already, one of the main writers was Richard Pryor.
"De Camptown Races" was written as a minstrel song and as such used vernacular. If you listen to Clevon singing, he uses the more "proper" wording. "The" for "de", "Going" for "Gwine". Based on the rest of the movie, that has to be intentional.
"Tell me, is it twoo what they say about your type?" Sound of trouser zip being unzipped! " Ooh! It's twoo, it's twoo!!!".
Not everyone gets this movie but you totally got this movie. Love it!
No she didn't. She misunderstood or entirely missed most of the jokes. For example she clearly didn't get the whole 'sing a work song' sequence where she was more interested in Bart's voice than his song choice and how ridiculous the white overseers were doing 'Camptown Races' rather than seeing the role reversal.
@@daletrecartin1563 Of course. There is a lot of history and celebrities and names of the past before 1974, of the day in this movie that is lost on the younger generation. I saw someone watch It;s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and totally miss all the celebrities that appeared in the movie...even said too much slapstick etc. But someday their generation will wonder why the new generation does not know Jim Carey, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga or whomever.
@@daletrecartin1563 Agree, too bad.
Star Cleavon Little showed his great singing voice earlier in the broadway musical “Purlie” - in the early 1970’s my mom loved playing the soundtrack record.