Western Weekends - Blazing Saddles

I could use some laughs right now. With this in mind, I decided to take a look at Blazing Saddles. Directed by Mel Brooks - which he co-wrote with Richard Pryor - this 1974 comedy relentlessly mocks many of the tropes and cliches used in Western films, but also puts emphasis on the racism which was prevalent in the American West.

The ruthless attorney general Hedy Hedley Lamarr, played by Harvey Korman, is intending to profit off an upcoming railroad as it's diverted to the frontier town of Rock Ridge. His henchman Taggart, played by Slim Pickens, is sent to sack the town in a bid to drive the townspeople away. The townspeople (whose collective surname is Johnson) respond by petitioning Governor William J. Le Petomane, played by Mel Brooks, for a new sheriff. When Lamarr hears about this, he decides to appoint Bart, a black railroad worker played by Cleavon Little, who was due to be lynched for fighting Taggart. He believes that when a black sheriff is appointed, the townspeople will be so offended that they'll leave. After befriending The Waco Kid, an alcoholic gunslinger played by Gene Wilder, Bart slowly overcomes the hostility of the townspeople and moves to foil Hedy's scheme.

Let's be honest; the Western is a very whitewashed genre. In fact, it's estimated that a quarter of cowboys working on the cattle drives were African-American. So it's quite refreshing to see a western film with a black protagonist. Yes, there is hefty use of racial slurs. But it also depicts the racist characters as...well...morons. Those who don't change their attitudes get their comeuppance.

The characters are all a blast to watch. Bart is a quick thinker, and devises all kinds of zany schemes to solve the problems he faces; including taking himself hostage to avoid being shot when he arrives at Rock Ridge. The Waco Kid is battling the personal demons which accompany his mythic reputation, with a tragic backstory that's side-splittingly hilarious. Mel Brooks even steals the show with his cameos: the lecherous, cross-eyed, and incompetent governor; and a Yiddish-speaking Sioux chieftain.

The climax is fantastic. The battle between the Rock Ridge residents and Hedley's private army (which includes Mexican bandits, Ku Klux Klansmen, Nazi soldiers, and according to his demands, Methodists) spills out into a neighbouring set where Dom DeLuise is shooting a top-hat-and-tails musical number, and then into a commissary where it becomes a pie fight.

All in all, it's a funny movie, and worth seeing.