Blazing Saddles
The film that I am analyzing is the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles, directed, produced, and starring acclaimed actor/director Mel Brooks. It’s the 1870s, the railroad is barreling westward, and the town of Rock Ridge is in the path. The state attorney governor Hedley Lamarr has the railroad men attempt to disrupt the town with violence to cause everyone to move out, allowing the railroad to steal the land. When this fails, he then convinces Governor William J. Lepetomine to appoint the first black sheriff to the town of Rock Ridge. Lamarr is attempting to play on the townsfolk’s racism to cause them to leave due to their unwillingness to accept a black man. The much closed minded town of Rock Ridge is reluctant of the new sheriff Bart at first, but soon he helps them to be more accepting and open minded. When Lamarr’s plan once again fails, he then hires thugs from not just all over the country, but also from several eras, such as Nazis and bikers, to form a group to destroy the town, allowing the railroad to seize the lands. Soon Sheriff Bart learns of Lamarr’s plan and he takes action. Sheriff Bart unites the townsfolk to build a fake town to lure the group of hired thugs to and blow them up with dynamite. The movie closes with an all out brawl between everyone that flows over to the stage and surrounding area in Hollywood, adding to this spoof Western. This movie, in a satirical comedy approach, addresses several issues faced in the 1870s Wild West. The prevalent issue being faced in this spoof is racism and violence; however this movie portrays underlying issues of railroad ruthlessness and extreme government corruption. The first fifteen minutes help demonstrate all of these ideas.
Blazing Saddles opens showing predominantly blacks and Chinese working on the railroad. The few white men present are in charge and prod about the stereo type of how blacks can sing, and attempt to have the men sing. The blacks confront these men and ask the rhetorical question just because they are black, why is it assumed they can sing? Soon, the railroad workers have the whites singing instead when the boss, Taggart, comes up. He throws a fit over why no work is getting done, then promptly has two black workers, one is the future Sheriff Bart of Rock Ridge, take a handcart and inspect the tracks ahead for quicksand. Soon these two find themselves sinking in it when Taggart comes up.
At first, it looks like Taggart isn’t as racist as the others. He expresses his concern over the men, and getting the cart stuck in the quicksand. He quickly has one of the hired hands take a rope to get them out. Then you realize he only cares about getting the cart out when the hired man ropes the hand cart. After it’s recovered, and Bart and his friend are still stuck in the quicksand, Taggart expresses his relief of how they saved the expensive hand cart and ignores Bart and his friend in the quicksand. Bart then helps him and his friend out and as they are lying on dry land catching their breath, Taggart turns and asks why they are laying around for, that break time is over, and it’s time for them to get back to work. Taggart then directs his attention to a messenger and recites a message saying how they encountered the quicksand and will have to go through the town of Rock Ridge. Bart then takes a shovel, sneaks behind Taggart, and hits him in the back of the head! Taggart goes to the state assistant governor, Hedley Lamarr, and tells him how Rock Ridge stands in their way of the railroad due to the quicksand. They decide to go through town beating everyone and raping all the women in order to chase the townsfolk out. Taggart then asks to have Bart hung for his offense. This whole scene represents the mistreatment of the railroad towards its workers, the racism that these workers experienced while working on the railroad, as well as the corruption of government.
Next you are introduced to the town of Rock Ridge. The camera pans across as the town opens in cheerful song. They sing of how nice and peaceful the town is, and is such a great place to live. Then in the middle of the song, thieves and criminals, hired by the railroad, come galloping through, killing the sheriff, destroying everything while looting the stores and businesses, and shooting bystanders. The townsfolk then sing of how they need someone to come to their rescue. They have a meeting in which they write for assistance from the governor. At the end of the meeting, a stick of dynamite is thrown in! This just reaffirms the violence of the west, sanctioned by the railroad’s greed and government corruption.
The governor is in no position to help the town however. Lamarr has him in his back pocket, and you can see the corruption all around. He devised a plan to have the governor appoint Bart as sheriff, hoping to offend the town of Rock Ridge so badly that they will all leave. Lamarr tells of Rock Ridge’s lawlessness. He tells of how it needs a new sheriff, and convinces the governor to appoint Bart as sheriff. Lamarr says that if he appoints Bart as sheriff, he can be elected to a federal position because he appointed the first black man to a public office. This once again plays on the widespread racism and even more corruption.
The freshly appointed Sheriff Bart of Rock Ridge experiences a less-than-warm welcome. The whole town is appalled at having a black man for sheriff. In the following scenes, it shows him being polite as he is walking through town, and being snubbed by everyone. However, this soon changes when Taggart, after seeing the town hasn’t left, sends in Mongo, the biggest, roughest, meanest cowboy they have, to town to kill Sheriff Bart. The town is in an uproar, and asks Bart to stop Mongo from tearing the town up. After some quick thinking, Sheriff Bart successfully subdues Mongo, and even befriends him. The town is overjoyed and finally opens their arms to having a black man sheriff. The scene helps to demonstrate the commonplace violence and closed mindedness of the era.
Lamarr is fed up at the town’s acceptance of Bart and hires thugs of all kind to destroy the town finally. He has Taggart recruit the men and head to the town, but Bart is one-step ahead. He unites the townsfolk and convinces them to stay and build a mock town for Taggart and his men to destroy, giving the townsfolk a chance to blow up Taggart and his men with dynamite. However, the dynamite fails to go off, and soon an outright brawl breaks out between the townsfolk and Taggart’s men. Ultimately, Sheriff Bart returns the town to law and order, and shoots Hedley Lamarr, killing him. The town is finally at peace and more open minded towards new ideas. They are no longer as racist and closed to outsiders.
This whole film focuses on the issues of racism and violence; however, it also addresses subtly the underlying issue of government corruption and the greed of the railroad as it moved westward. If the railroad wasn’t trying to steal the land from the town, then ultimately there would be no movie would there? Therefore, one can argue that while the main theme of the movie is racism and violence, the railroad greed and government corruption is actually the theme, even though this is never directly addressed. The movie captures and holds your attention on the racism, prejudice, as well as the widespread violence experienced. What if the railroad hadn’t been so ruthless in its acquisition of lands on its Westward journey? What if the railroad had properly treated its workers? What if the government wasn’t as corrupt? How would have the West been changed if these issues were not being faced?
Works Cited
Blazing Saddles. Dir. Mel Brooks. Perf. Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn. Warner Bros, 1974. DV
Daniel Couch 
Leave a comment