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It's been three decades since audiences were blown away (in more ways than one) by director Mel Brooks' uproarious spoof western Blazing Saddles. As well as being one of the top box office earners of 1974, this story of a black sheriff facing adversity in a town populated by bigots and morons was also nominated for a clutch of Oscars - including a Best Actress nod for the late Madeline Kahn.
Full O'Beans
"It truly broke ground, and it broke wind," says director Mel Brooks, who does most of the talking in a meaty half-hour documentary Back In the Saddle. Co-writer Andrew Bergman, producer Michael Hertzberg, and stars Gene Wilder and Burton Gilliam also take a trip down memory lane, recalling some of the challenges that threatened the production from the early stages. Among these, Brooks experienced difficulty in finding actors who were prepared to use the "n-word" on film (studio execs felt similarly antsy). Conversely, Wilder talks about the way the movie "smashed racism in the face while making people laugh".
But it wasn't just the race issue that bothered studio suits; the notorious campfire scene was also a hot potato, since actors breaking wind on film was unheard of. An edited-for-TV version of this classic sequence appears in the additional scenes section, substituting cowboy farts for the sound of horses whinnying. It's still funny, but for very different reasons.
Hot Air
Much less funny is 70s sitcom spin-off Black Bart, starring Louis Gosset Jr in the role of the sheriff (played by Cleavon Little in the film). Frankly, the writers should have been horsewhipped for what is essentially a string of lame punchlines that would hang dead in the air except for the canned laughter. This is so bad you may be tempted to slip your own head in the noose after five minutes. It really does no justice to the movie, so its inclusion on this DVD just beggars belief.
The Intimate Portrait of Madeline Kahn is also a disappointment. At just over three minutes long, it's hardly intimate. But perhaps the greatest tragedy about this - aside from Madeline's untimely death - is that Dom DeLuise was one of the few celebrities available for interview.
If you're expecting a quick-fire commentary from director Mel Brooks, think again. There are long pauses where he seems to struggle with the power of recall, but when the penny finally drops he can ramble in endlessly painstaking detail about the most trivial points. A case in point is a story he relates about the day a friend passed him the Saddles script over lunch: "I got some scrambled eggs and sliced tomatoes on rye toast - and I was having butter in those days so it was rye toast with butter..." Needless to say, this track requires a lot of patience.
A newly polished presentation of the film goes some way in making up for what is a patchy Special Edition release. Like a drunken gunfighter, it's hit-and-miss.
EXTRA FEATURES
