Ten Movies "Everybody" Saw -- Including Me: Blazing Saddles (#4)

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Monday, Monday, so blah to me. I've already had to think, and it's not even 10 AM here! Ouch. Wish I were watching a movie, such as this next classic on the list of films that it seems "everyone" has seen. Here's the next one. #4: Blazing Saddles Comedy is subjective. Having said that, there's something in this movie for everybody, given that there's not a comedy format that doesn't get used at one point. This brilliant film threw every kind of comedy shtick available in it, then added a few (the infamous farting scene), to produce one of the greatest comedies ever...with an underlying serious message of overcoming bigotry. I know people who can quote this entire movie. Heck, I can quote most of it. It's Mel Brooks' masterpiece, and from a career that gave us things like The Producers and Young Frankenstein, that is saying something! A few pieces of trivia for you: Richard Pryor, who co-wrote the script, was originally tapped to play Sheriff Bart. Even then, sadly, he had a drug habit that made him unreliable. And Frankie Laine answered the ad that Mel Brooks put in a trade paper for someone to sing the theme: "Wanted: a Frankie Laine-type singer." Laine wasn't told that the movie was a comedy, and he told Brooks that the theme about a man who "conquered fear and he conquered hate" moved him to tears. Oh, and John Wayne turned down a role in the film. He said there was no way his image would allow him to be in the movie. "But I'll be first in line to see it," he told Brooks. Him and everyone else. Blazing Saddles Directed by Mel Brooks Released in 1974 Frankie Laine performing the theme: