Observation:

[dreamflower]

Blazing Saddles is crude, filled with racist language, ethnic slurs, sexism, political incorrectness, potty humor, ridiculous slapstick and jokes that were old enough to grow mold even then. It would be impossible to make a movie like that now, and I am not sure that's a bad thing.

It's also very funny.

And Madelaine Kahn was brilliant.

Just saying.

Comments

[gamgeefest.livejournal.com]

I laugh inappropriately even just thinking about that movie. It's so bad and yet so good. :D

[dreamflower]

Exactly!

And Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder were perfect together!

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

oh gosh, yes, I remember that one! ;D

[dreamflower]

It's a little hard to forget!

"Candygram for Mongo!" LOL!

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Madeline Kahn was a goddess.

[dreamflower]

*nods* She knew how to take something and just run with it--Lily Von Shtupp is one of her most OTT characters and she's just perfect!

[aearwen2.livejournal.com]

I love Blazing Saddles. Yes, it was crude and racist and all that - and I think Mel Brooks was satirizing those attitudes to show how totally ridiculous they were.

I put it in the same category as I do Monty Python, FWIW.

And yes, Madeline Kahn was fantastic. She had a voice like an angel - or like a bad Marlena Dietrich. She was incredibly talented, and we lost her too soon.

[dreamflower]

Mel Brooks was certainly America's answer to Monty Python--very OTT slapstick humor, and very much satire!

We really did--both she and Gilda Radner were talents that left us too early!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I never cared for Blazing Saddles, even though I like most satire. But I agree with you about Madelaine Kahn. She was a treasure, and one of the best comic actresses ever born. I would watch her in anything, even High Anxiety, which I disliked except for her.

[dreamflower]

The DH often watches the Western channel, and once in a while my attention is caught by what's on. I've always seen Blazing Saddles in bits and pieces, seldom from start to finish. It's even funnier that way, but certainly not the sort of humor that's normally to my taste.

Madelaine Kahn was a comic genius, as was her friend and colleague Gilda Radner--both of them gone too soon.

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I love Mel Brooks and Blazing Saddles is a favorite of mine. Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little are pure gold together! I've never thought of the film as racist though because the bigoted town's folk are the ones that come out looking like idiots at every turn. I think the film is like much of the humor of that time. It sets about to show people how wrong their bigoted ideas really are. (All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Soap, etc). People weren't as open about what was obviously wrong with our society and films like this one, kind of slipped in the idea with humor. Mel Brooks' film, The Producers does this too. I think people often miss the fact that the bigots are the ones being lampooned.
Madeline Khan was wonderful! When she performs "I'm Tired", that completely cracks me up. I'm so glad she was in Mel's films. She is great in Young Frankenstein too. Mel always knew who to cast. I saw a special with him on PBS called "Mel Brooks Makes a Noise". He is a lovely man with a sharp wit.

[dreamflower]

Oh yes! It's definitely satire, and I agree with you about the subversiveness of it all--very much along the lines of the satire of "All In the Family" and "The Jeffersons"--and yet I think nowadays that satire would be lost on a lot of people--it was "of its time" as people say.

Oh, I loved Young Frankenstein!

Mel Brooks was so funny! I think my favorite is Robin Hood: Men in Tights. But Blazing Saddles was also brilliant.

[shirebound]

I had such a crush on Gene Wilder! I loved everything about that movie (except maybe for the bean scene, LOL).

[dreamflower]

Gene Wilder was amazing! Like you, I don't think I've seen him in anything I didn't like.

[pearltook1]

I also don't think I've ever seen Blazing Saddles straight through. Like many comedy films, there's a lot that isn't my kind of humor mixed in with some very funny stuff.

Madelaine Kahn was a wonderful comedian, and I love Gene Wilder. He brings a gentle, elegant touch to his roles as well as just being hilarious.

[dreamflower]

It's really hilarious when you do see it all, because so much of the humor at the end is based on the humor at the beginning--much like most of the best stand-up comedy routines.

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

The hubs and I can almost recite the entire movie; of course, he leaves me the Lily von Shtupp parts. Our favorite line is

"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."

[dreamflower]

I know. I adore that line. And Gene Wilder delivers it with such sweet sincerity, LOL!

I also love how every person in town is named "Johnson".

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

Mel Brooks is a hoot to the gazillionth power, and Blazing Saddles is a scream. Yep, it has all that stuff and more, but I have always seen it as satire. Just like outrageous The Producers.

Brooks has a lot of chutzpah, and yep, it would be difficult to produce his films now.

With regard to political correctness, I recently watched a deeply satirical, pitch black comedy recently. It was LOL funny, but I am reluctant to even identify the movie, thanks to recent Real World events, because of the potential blowback.

[dreamflower]

Of course it's satire, but it's the sort of OTT satire that very often backfires--that Blazing Saddles was a success is due to a very particular combination of comic geniuses and the times when it was filmed.

I'm not the sort of person to go overboard about PC-ness, but I don't dismiss it either. There's a lot of talk these days about "privilege" and there's a reason for that.

That said: Yes, Blazing Saddles is still falling-down funny!