35 replies to this topic

[Bondian]

Hi,

I viewed Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles today. I have seen this movie at least 50 times and it still makes me die with laughter.

I find the humour totally delightful, but it is very racist.

What are you views on this very funny film and could {they} get away with it now?.


Thanks for reading.

( in a hight pitched voice ) "good luck"!.



All the best,

Cheers,


Ian

[Genrewriter]

I think it's a very funny movie, though Young Frankenstein is even better because there is a bit more balance. Could Mel Brooks get away with it today? Not a chance.

[Bryce (003)]

No way..Not in this day and age.

I was just about to PM you on your revised sig Ian - Great choice.

Now, from the same scene...

Lamar: Wait! (grabs legal book from desk) There could be legal precedence...
(flips pages) Land Snatching...Land, land, land...See Snatch....Here it is! Healy vs. United States - Healy 7 United States nothing...See?!? It can be done."

God Bless Mel Brooks.

Don't get either 004 or I started on Young Frankenstein.....

I-Gor: Times like this I remember my Dad and what he'd say to me....

DR. F.: Really? What did he say?

I-Gor: (working class cockney accent) What the Hell are ya doin' in the bathroom day and night? Why don't you give someone else a chance!

[Bondian]

Hi Bryce,

Ha-ha, glad you like this movie as well. PM me when ever you wish my very good friend.

I've only seen 'young frankenstein' the once. One line I remember is when our Franky leaves the 'blind man's' place and the blind man say's "wait, I was going to brew an espresso".

I will get this movie tomorrow so I can talk 'shop' with you!!.


All the best Matey,

Cheers,


Ian

[Genrewriter]

I have YF basically committed to memory.

"Put the candle back!"

As for Blazing Saddles, I think it has probably Gene Wilder's funniest performance, almost as good as Young Frankenstein.

[Bondian]

Hi Genre,

My thought's entirely. I'm going to purchase YF tomorrow to see what all the fuss is about......


Cheers,


Ian

[JackChase007]

Blazing Saddles is one of the greatest comedies ever.

And to be honest, I think it could have been made today - look at the South Park movie, and even the show.

[Dr. Tynan]

Off topic. Here's summat to make ya laugh

Originally posted by mattbowyer
And CBn rules, you guys should really try it!

Originally posted by sausagebrigade
I have. It's largely full of self-important windbags. Fifty posts to my name on there and not a single one replied to. Gets a little annoying, y'know?

Water off a duck's back me thinks

[Bondian]

Hi Dr.Tyan. LOL, great post mate.


Cheers,


Ian

[Dr. Tynan]

Question what 1980s BW movie was Mel Brooks involved in?

[Genrewriter]

The Elephant Man.

[Dr. Tynan]

I didn't think anyone'd get it so quickly :eek: :eek:

Very good.

And cheers Ian

[Bondian]

Hi Dr.Tyan,

Cheers Dr.

All the best,

Cheers,


The Wako Kid

[Bondian]

Originally posted by Genrewriter
The Elephant Man.

Hi Genre,

You know your stuff my friend. One personal AVATAR to you!!!.


Cheers,


Ian

[Bryce (003)]

Bart: Well, since you are my guest, and I am your host, what be your pleasures Jim? What do you like to do?

WK: Play Chess.....Screw.

Bart: Well let's play chess.

[Triton]

I cannot watch a Marlene Dietrich movie with a straight face after seeing Madeline Kahn's Lili Von Shtupp.

Perhaps they could release a movie that was just as vulgar as Blazing Saddles, but it wouldn't be as hilarious.

Of Mel Brooks' films, I think that my favorite is The Producers (1968) with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

I also love High Anxiety (1978), Mel Brooks' parody of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films.

[Tarl_Cabot]

There's a lot of racist humor in those 70's comedies. No, you can't get away with it but today you can be filthier and less tasteful, just not racist.One of the funniest racist things I've ever seen was "Love at first bite" when Dracula is in his bat form and flies into a puerto rican home in Harlem. The family is apparently so poor and stupid they think he's a chicken and they try to catch him so they can cook him. it's hilarious but EXTREMELY insulting to PRs.funny though.

[Bondian]

Originally posted by Bryce (003)
Bart: Well, since you are my guest, and I am your host, what be your pleasures Jim? What do you like to do?

WK: Play Chess.....Screw.

Bart: Well let's play chess.

ROLFLMFAO

I love it. What brilliant dialogue....Read it you wild bitch!....Hello boy's, had a good night's sleep I missed you!.

"Gud evening mame, aint it a lovely morning", "up your's n....".


Cheers,


Ian

[Bondian]

Hi Triton,

I too love 'High Anxiety', another brilliant film.

Have you seen 'Down and out in Beverley Hill's?. It's not very funny but it's pretty ok.


Cheers,

Hurrumpf,


Ian

[Triton]

Originally posted by Bondian
Hi Triton,

I too love 'High Anxiety', another brilliant film.

Have you seen 'Down and out in Beverley Hill's?. It's not very funny but it's pretty ok.


Cheers,

Hurrumpf,


Ian

I liked Down and Out in Beverly Hills . How can you not like a film with Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfus, and Bette Midler and a Border Collie named Matisse?

[Bryce (003)]

Originally posted by Bondian
"Gud morning ma'am, aint it a lovely morning?",  

"up your's n....".

SLOW DISSOLVE:

JIM: What did you expect? Come on in son, marry my daughter? You're dealing with farmers, the common clay of the new world....You know...Morons.

"That's Hedley"

"It is?"

Cheers Ian;)

[Bondian]

"G'darn nearly lost a $400 hand cart". "Say, is it me or is the world r-i-s-i-n-g".

Bryce....telegramme to matt's main office and tell I said owwwwww.


Cheers Bryce,


Ian

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Originally posted by Bondian
Hi,

I viewed Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles today. I have seen this movie at least 50 times and it still makes me die with laughter.

I find the humour totally delightful, but it is very racist.  

What are you views on this very funny film and could {they} get away with it now?.

Growing up, I was a big Mel Brooks fan and thoroughly enjoyed Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, Silent Movie, The Producers, the Bond spoof Get Smart and even the underrated Spaceballs. I never saw Blazing Saddles until much later and was somewhat disappointed. I think it was because I had heard for years how "it was the funniest Mel Brooks film ever!" and my expectations were raised so high no film could truly meet it. I saw it again recently for the first time in years and found it somewhat amusing but not the laugfest that either YF or even HA were. As for if Hollywood could get away with making it today, forget it. The politically correct censors would never let it happen. It's amazing to me that it even gets aired uncut on TV today without bleeping out the "n" word.

[Robinson]

Originally posted by Bondian
"G'darn nearly lost a $400 hand cart". "Say, is it me or is the world r-i-s-i-n-g".

Bryce....telegramme to matt's main office and tell I said owwwwww.

Cheers Bryce,

Ian

Sheriff Bart to Gene Wilder: "When the Indians attacked, the settlers circled the wagons. Since we were left out, we had to form our own circle."

CUT TO A SHOT OF A COVERED WAGON MOVING IN A VERY TIGHT CIRCLE.

That's got to be one of the funniest punchlines ever.

The closest anyone's come to capturing that kind of madcap, politically incorrect humour was in the original AIRPLANE. TOP SECRET! comes in a distant second.

[DLibrasnow]

Blazing Saddles is a very funny movie. It's been a few years since I saw it (at a drive-in) but it had us all rolling around in laughter.

[Triton]

Originally posted by Tarl_Cabot
There's a lot of racist humor in those 70's comedies. No, you can't get away with it but today you can be filthier and less tasteful, just not racist.One of the funniest racist things I've ever seen was "Love at first bite" when Dracula is in his bat form and flies into a puerto rican home in Harlem. The family is apparently so poor and stupid they think he's a chicken and they try to catch him so they can cook him. it's hilarious but EXTREMELY insulting to PRs.funny though.

But I think that Blazing Saddles can get away with its racist humor because it has Cleavon Little's Bart as its hero and he is the most intelligent and capable character in the entire film. The characters uttering racist slurs and comments are portrayed as buffoons.

[Jaelle]

Exactly Triton. I think it's entirely wrong to call BLAZING SADDLES racist, I don't think you guys get it. You're praising the film for having no sensitivity about racism the way films of the 30s or 40s had no such consciousness but nothing could be further from the truth. To the contrary, BLAZING SADDLES is definitely politically conscious about race, its makers were profoundly liberal civil libertarians and injected their humor with parodies of race jokes toward blacks, Jews, hispanics, Native Americans, etc.

It's the same sort of humor in ALL IN THE FAMILY. Remember that this was the 70s when *consciousness* about race issues was very, very sharp and infused a lot of the films and TV back then -- in a far better way than they do today, imo. The entire point of the racial jokes in BLAZING SADDLES is to *ridicule* racism itself. You're taking the jokes literally. I recall listening to a young woman who saw an episode of ALL IN THE FAMILY saying how she was incredibly offended at the show -- she took Archie Bunker's racist talk as if the show's writers and producers were *seriously* writing those jokes from an uncritical, thoughtless perspective. When the truth was entirely the opposite.

The reason BZ couldn't be made today isn't because people are too "PC" about race issues (I see nothing wrong about being aware of racism) -- it's that everyone on all sides of the issue has become so damned *literal* and just plain stupid about it. Americans have completely lost their sense of irony. Check out an episode of that wonderful 60s TV show LAUGH-IN or THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS. There ain't no way in hell either one of those shows could be put on American TV today.

Not only did they have the sort of humor about blacks and other ethnic groups found in BLAZING SADDLES, but they went after institutions that have now become absolutely sacrosanct in the US -- like the military. When was the last time you ever saw any comic on TV *really* rip into the military? You cannot do that today, even long before 9/11. On LAUGH-IN, Dan Rowan had a recurring character of an idiot general saying incredibly stupid, oxymoronic nonsequiturs, it was hysterical. People who complain about "PC" always talk about racial or ethnic minorities or women....but ignore the absolute "PC" ban on TV on government and religious institutions.

Shows like the above routinely ripped the Church and other Christian groups, Jewish rabbis and so on. The humor was very political, very liberal in slant, and made all groups a target.

BLAZING SADDLES is a favorite comedy of mine but my favorite Mel Brooks comedies are THE PRODUCERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

[Triton]

Thanks for the post Jaelle. It's quite tragic that some people don't understand sarcasm or satire anymore, or are afraid to laugh or admit that they enjoy it.

[Bondian]

Jaelle. "Thank you Mame".

A brilliant post if I may say Jaelle. Your a mind of information and talent.

All the best,


Cheers,


Ian

[booyeah_]

Blazing Saddles was a great movie but the radical PC police would do everything they could to stop it from being made today.

I agree with Jaelle too. Blazing Saddles is not racist but just very satrical. If it were malicous or trying to cause harm, then you could call it a racist movie. Keep in mind that the movie also plays on jokes of "rednecks".